The morning news., 1894-10-21
n. HORNE, President.

the Bourne brothers, in Vermont They
were charged with the murder of Richard
Colvin, against whom they were known
to harbor a grudge.. ColVin had diSap-
peared and the BOurnes were imprisoned.
For many months, against the persua-
sions threats and cajolery of their goalers
they asserted the innocence of the charge.
but were not believed. The prosecutors
found themselves at fault, however, in
the absence of the corpus deficit, and with
nothing but suspicion upon which to base
their actions, their eXertions were re-
doubled to eXtort a confession. 1t is
thought that mitigation of the punishment
to Imprisonment for life was held out as
an inducement, but whatever it may have
been, finally one of the men, worn out by
Importantly and grown hopeless ot re-
lief, confessed that he did the deed anl
at the same time asserted the innocence
of his brother They were confined in
separate cells, remote from each other
and when Georges confession was made
known to Stephen he stoutly asserted
that he did the murder without Georges
knowledge and that the body was buried
beneath a stone heap in certain field
Bones of part of a skeleton We're found
under the stones, and Stephen was tried.
convicted, and sentenced to be hanged for
the crime. On the day appointed for the
execution Richard Colvin appeared, alive
and well at his old home. and explained
that he had wandered away in a fit Of
mental alteration. Hearing by chance
that Bourne was to be hanged for his
murder he returned with all speed, and
was just in time to prevnt the catastro-
phe The bones found under the stone
heap were finally ascertained to be those
of an animal other than man.
The history of crime proves confession
to be largely misleading and unreliable.
| 1t leads investigation by false lights and
frequently defeats justice A notable case
| of this sort occurred a few years ago IN
/ Paris and every one having to 10 with
| the detection of crime and the administra.
/ ton of the law should study its motif. An
/ old woman who kept a shop west of the
Seine was thought to have boarded con.
/ siderable money in course of trade In
| a room back of the shop she lived quite
! alone but employed a boy who lived II
the fourth story Of the same building. Ht
kept the key of the shop and locked il
every night.
one morning the door was observed tt
| be open before the customary hour. Som'
who looked in, finding nobody stirring
! went to the old Woman's sleeping apart
j ment and found her dead in her bed. Sh
| had been stabbed and bloody knife wa
found on the floor. This II was proved be
! longed to her shop boy. In one Of tn
/ yvoman's hands was Clasped a lock o
.
necktie were also the boys. Moreover.
was found that the door had not beel
broken open. but quietly unlocked No
body but the boy was known to have
KEY that fitted the lock. When confront
ed with the proofs the little fellow con
fessed the crime His trial was shot
and he suffered the penalty Of death. Bu
a few months afterward il was found h
did not commit the deed aud had nothir
whatever to do with it a boy employe
iu a neighboring shop fell III, ana whe
told he was upon his death bed, declare
he had murdered the old woman Tor he
money. He had been in the habit q
dressing the hair of the Other boy and ha
preserved many locks, some OF which h
nut IN the old woman's hand, togethe
with necktc he had abstiacted. Tie pa
taken a wax impression Of the door loc
and had made a duplicate key and, baN
ing stolen his companions knife. lie use
ii to inflict tho fatal wounds. What
delusion Of justice was the first boy
confession!
ON the other hand persistcncy in II
declaration Of innocence abs frcduenu
defeated the law, even when the prob
bllltios pointed 20 guilt A remarKab
case OF this kind was developed IN u
famous trial Of Margaret Speigs at Ola
, gov She was engaged 60 marry % your
{ scotnman named Walker. IL WI