The Portland daily press., 1893-07-21
CIRCUMSTANTIAL.

created the usual nine days sensation,
which died away temporarily at least on
the committal of James Thompson, the
deceased's butler, to take his trial for
the crime. The case could not come on
in &he ordinary course ofevents for four
OR five mo1ths at nearest, so the public,
having taken the learned opinions of the
various newspapers, entered unani-
nous verdict of guilty against the &C.
cused and turned its attention to other
matters. The law officers were to be
trusted to do their duty at the appointed
time, and the papers would, of course,
make things as amusing as possible
when the time came, so James Thomp-
son languished in his cell, forgotten,
save by those officially interested in in
Producing him to the awful majesty of
the law.
Vox populi, vox dell Let US follow
the example of the sovereign people and
leave, old James in his solitary cell while
we give short account of M. Weather
craft and his melancholy end.
He wasSa man of go or whereabouts, a
retired stbckbroker, rich, and of good
standing In the,community, living in a
well appointed house, with a large staff
OF servants, much given to quiet hos
pitality, and siace. his retirement paying
more attention to- his Kitchen and wine
cellar, than TO the fluctuations of the
market. and the ga1nbolling (save the
nafka 6fssbulls and bears. An old house
keeper presided over his establishment,
dne1ta TO her IL Importance came the
butler; almost as old both in age and
thine OF service, he whom we have just
left waiting trial for the murder of his
master.
Z 1t would have been difficult to point
out any pafticularity about Mr.. Wealth
ercfa4t, anythfng to distinguish him from
other hale, genial old bachelors of the
same class. He was commonly supposed
to have no eccentricities, no hobbies and
a few strong opinions; in fact. those
who knew him said he was only a crank
on one subject.
To be called crank is the penalty
nowadays for holding and airing an
opinion IN which at least nine-tenths of
the community do not concur.
! Mr.. Weathercraft was what may be
called circumstantial evidence crank.
He held indirect evidence in the deep
est distrust, and though as firm be-
lever in hanging for murder as any
criminal lawyer on or off the bench, yet
held that NO evidence save that of repu-
table eyewitnesses should send man to
the gallows
On this cheerful topic he was much
given to after dinner discourses, nor was
his rather hating style unknown to the
correspondents columns of the daily pa
pers. He was known to have written
magazine article on the subject, which,
however, never saw the light, though it
spent a whole year making the rounds
of the magazine Offices. Such is the
blindness Of the editorial mind. His
Letters, to the Editor" got him inter-
viewed once or twice. when newspapers
were very hard up for copy. He en-
ioyed the process hugely and always
asked the reporter 10 "call" again.
When the old raan was dead and his
butler.arrested, people said it was a clear
case Of Nemesis that the evidence against
his slayer should be SO conclusive and at
the. same: tipaezso purely circumstantial,
and some yag Of q 1repor teriwas heard to
wonder Whether after Thompson's trial,
conviction and execution old Weather
crafts ghost Would address ghostly de-
nunoiation t0sghosfly newspapers from
- ~ IL .,
corner of ghostland and refused to be in
teryiewed. The case indeed seemed clear
enough. Weatharcraft had gone to bed
on the 18th of November well and in
goooad spirits. On tho following morning
he was found dead, stabbed to the heart.
The weapon which was found buried in
the old mans heart was an old fashioned
silver skewer, part Of the family plate,
and had, clearly been sharpened for its
deadly purpose. The sharpening seemed
to have been done with a file or some
such rough implement. There was very
little external hemerrhage, only few
lropsiof blood being visible.
Theiast person who saw the master
alive was the accused himself. Accord
Ing to his story, he had gone up to Mr..
WeathsrcTafb's room with the plate
chest, 1t being the. old mans habit to
keep the silver in his own room at night,
though the, key was left with the house
keeper after the chest had been locked
UP. This had been the custom in the
house for many years. His master was
in bed reading novel and said 'good
night" in his usual way. Mr.. Weather
craft never looked his door at night as
the footman was expected to come IN at
s o'clock in the morning, fill the bath
and light the fire.
This was all the accused could or
would say beyond denying all knowledge
Of how his master had come to his death.
The feotman, on being examined, tes-
tilted to having found the body. He had
entered as usual at o'clock, scarcely
waiting TO knock, and had made arrange
ments for his masters toilet, thinking
him asleep. FIR. Weathercraft was a
heavy sleeper. but usually awoke when
Che bath was bong filed. AS his master
did not move, tho witness went to the