Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-04-20
CAUGHT BY A MARK.
. Was tho Only Evidence. and Then the
Assassin Gave Himself Away.

. Was tho Only Evidence. and Then the
Assassin Gave Himself Away.
Cases IN which a man has been
,onvioted OF crime on purely circum-
itantial evidence are OF frequent oc.
,urrenes, but In the majority OF in
stances 1t would not be difficult to
point to 1t least enc weak link In tho
,hain OF guilt Though numbers OF
lnnoeent persons have in this way
suffered punishment here Is q strik-
Ing case In which q prisoner was
found guilty on testimony that lett
40 room for oven tho shadow Of q
aoubt.
Ono night an assassin entered
arover's house In Ohio. killea the in
mates md secured a scaled package
containing $1,000 Ia bank notes. In
order to conceal his crime, he set
Gre to tho house before leaving it.
The building burned slowly. and the
neighbors were enabled to extinguish
the flames and to discover tho muir
derous work which had been done.
The assassin. before leaping over
the fence, had torn open the wrap
por OF the package and flung it on
the ground. This was picked up
by the police and marks OF blood
were found upon it. 1t was the only
clew in their possession.
After twenty-four hours the MUIR
derer returned TO the town. The po-
lice suspected him. because he had
been mysteriousiy absent and was
known to have been intimate with
the drover They did not arrest
him, but constantly watched him for
four months
He had been poor, but now seemed
to have money. In the course of q
week he married and went away on
wedding tour. Two detectives fol-
lowed him. Whenever he paid ho-
toll bill or offered money for any pur-
pose they secured the bank notes
which had been in his possession
subsequently he made several
journeys with the detectives behind
him. and finally vent to Minnesota
There he paid out $50 bill with O
red thumb mark on one corner. The
police arrested him as soon as they
examined it.
On the trial the torn wrapper with
It's blood mark was identified as hav-
ing been in the drover's possession.
The bank notes, which had been
traced to the assassin were put in.
with the last one paid out by him on
top
TT n srooor ~ b1ood ~, +l,o ,r,ox,,o-
correspondent precisely with tie
marks of the bank notes underneath.
The specialists magnifying glass re-
vealed unerringly how the murderer's
thumb, in tearing open the envelope,
had touched the first bank note. 1t
was circumstantial evidence conclu-
sive of guilt. The murderer was
convicted and hanged.
The police in tlis instance under
stood their business. They had their
theory in relation TO the crime. but
they had no evidence upon which TO
secure a conviction. They had their
torn wrapper, and were confident
that tic bank note which he'd been
directly Underneath would haze q
CORE spending smear Of blood,
They allowed the assassin to 90
where he liked. and waited patiently
for him to convict himself. In the
end they secured evidence establish
ing his guilt with absolute certainty.
Circumstantial evidence can )e as
conclusive as direct proof, and it is
sometimes more trustworthy. because
there is loss chance for perjury o.
conspiracy.
1i,so, ,,ho-1- ,,-osi,Lt 1e rnCIn,Tned save ths