Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-01-02

The WRONG CRIME CHARGED
A Man Found GuiltleSS of One Murder
but Proved TO Have Committed
Another.
Bones of n Dead Man Found Whose
Name Could Never be ASeer-
tanned
1t is Seldom That CircumStantial Eyi-
dence Fails of Furnishing the
Guilty Ones.

/ am a strong believer in circumStan.
ual evidence. Twenty wears service as D
detective has satisfied me that it punishe,
/ a thousand guilty men where it wrongs
one, Now and then there is newspaper
talk about thlS OF that person having been
| sent to his death while innocent of the
/ crime, and young lawyers will shake their
neaGS and delare that Circumstantial evi,
J 0ence Is Il dangerous weapon If the in.
nocent sufferer nov and then through
/ this cause, they also suffer through per,
! jury OF witnesses and other WAYS. 4 man
( perfectly innocent Of any wrong cannot
| possibly be convicted in open court of a
crime.
/ The first, the last, and the ouiv case |
| ever knew of personally occurred in
! Virginia soon after the close of the war.
. In some features it re>embled the Birch
| all case. \ Rhode Island soldier had re.
! turned to Virginia after being mustered
out Of the service, and had invested some
money IN lands. He had other money ia
invest. and made trips t. different parts
. of the state, having his Headquarters at
/ StalntOn. Near Charleston. w. Va. iv.
ed a young lady with whom this Rhode
/ Islander, Stephen Chase 10y name. fell in
/ love. The girl had two or three other ad-
mlrerS, an there was more or less hard
feelings between the men. On one oc.
caslon. when all met at the house there
were some hot words between Chase and a
young man named Talbot There would
have been fight but for the girt'S inter-
| ference. Both men had something to saw
about getting even with each other, and
| their expressions had great weight a few
weeks atterward when related hv witness
Is IN court. The unpleasantneSS occurred
On Sunday afternoon. On the following
! NedneS .ay Chase started out for Charles
I ton on horseback to again visit the girl.
lhlS was the last ever seen OF him alive.
| The horse came back the ne>t morning
/ with blood on the saddle. and the matter
was reported to the authorities and a
search instituted.
CHASE HAD NOT REACHED THE FARM
that day. 1t was nearly a week before
his body was found in Il thicket ten rods
off the road. He had been shot through
the heart as he was riding along. and his
body had been carried into the woods and
hidden.
| came into the case the day the body
wds found. was the one who found ii.
1t had been robbed of ali personal proper
ty, and coat. vest and shoes were missing.
For two or three days believed the object
of the murderer was robbery. Then ]
learned of what had passed between Chase
and Talbot, and | had another clue to
work on. Things came about Curiously.
found two meu who had seen Talbot near
the spot where the murder was committed.
and about the hour. found others who
had seen him IN possession of large roll
OF bills. There were yet others who said
he had told contradictory stories. The
young lady was a powerful witness against
Talbot. On the evening of the murder he
had come to the house in an excited state
of mind. He looked pale. and there was
a fresh cut on his cheek, which he said he
got 10y a fall He was i'll at ease. and
when he rose TO 60 he said:
People about here suppose me to be
poor, but am not. | saved several
thousand dollars during the war, and |
can keep wife in luxury
HE EXHIBITED THE ROLL OF BILLS
to her. and she laughingly admitted that
he was a good catch. inside of a week /
had sufficient evidence to warrant his ar
rest. He had gone to the home of an
uncle on Elk river, about ten miles away,
and it was there | found and arrested
MIN He was sitting on the porch alone
when drove up, and as soon as | an
nounced my crrand he grew very white
and gasped out:
''What am charged With"
Murder -
Good God! But who-who-"
The murder of Nathan Chase
But when-w where?'
'On the afternoon of the 18th. You
know where the body was found.
And you say ! killed Chase?'
That's the charge"
"TharE heaven I'll 90 with you
willingly. | had no more to do with his
death than you.
He was lodged in Jail. and everybody
believed him guilty. He had no parents,
and was about twenty-five years old. He
was trying to establish real estate and
! insurance business in Charleston, assisted
to some extent by his uncle, but things
were so disorganized that he made but
poor headway. When arrested he had
/ over 3, 900 in greenoacks on his person.
Chase was known to have had about tins
sum with him When questioned about
this money by his friends he could make
no satisfactory answer He finally claim
ed to have found it on the highway. He
had to admit that he was seen near the
spot wh,re Chase was killed, but strenu-
ously denied having seen the victim tina,
day.
When his case came to trial we had
nothing but circumstantial evidence. but
were well satisfied with that What could
be stronger? Known to be jealous OF
Chase and his enemy; seen near the spot,
suddenly possessed of considerable wealth
takes no part in the search; steals away
from Charleston to let the matter blow
over; furnishes every proof in his demean-
or that he Is guilty: refuses to account for
his time on the day Of the murder: gives
no satisfactory account Of the money In
his possession.
FURTHER THAN THIS
| had discovered that he had spent nearly
all that day in the woods, and that 5n his
return 10 town his clothes wers torn and
muddy. here was just one point In the
case where we were lame. Chase weighed
$50 pounds, and Talbot was a dapper lit
tie fellow who didn't quite balance l6S.
He had no mere muscle than a woman,
and the question was how be got the body
from the road into the thicket. There
had been rain the day before and the
ground was soft. We found the prints Of
feet and they were too large for Talbot.
We could not find that the body had been
carried in there on the saddle. neither had
it been dragged over the earth. 1t was a
question that yexed me many days and
nights, and the only way [ could satisfy
my self was By figuring that Talbot had a
confederate. All things considered, this
did not seem likely. And again, ! re-
membered his words and his conduct when
arrested. He was almost terrified when
charged with murder. but as soon as
said it was the murder Of Nathan Chase
he exhibited instant and great relief.
There was something queer about that,
and II bothered me.
Talbot had a lawyer from Richmond,
who defended him ably and well, but
without hope Of success. The young man
claimed 10 him that he found the money
and that be spent the day In the woods.
Further he could not or would not 90.
Previous good character and general
reputation were Of course urged IN de-
fense. but the lawyers might as well have
kept silence. The jury was cut only bf-
teen minutes, and when verdict Of guilty
had been rendered the judge sentenced
the prisoner 10 be hanged
THE DAT OF EXECUTION
was set about eight weeks ahead. Il was
az plain as day that the verdict aD1 zen
tence were stunning surprise 20 Talbot,
though expected by everybody else. A
guilty man couldnot have eountsrfeited bis
amazsmena He acted a. one Just aroused