The Portland daily press., 1895-06-10
MISTAKEN IDENTITY.
Two Men Serve a Term in Prison for a
Crime They Did not Commit.
New York Sun. J

\NGW LOIh Souu
1t was an infamous outrage that was
perpetrated in this city ten months ago
by W. B. Ackerson, fish dealer, in swear
ing to the guilt of two innocent young
men whom he accused of robbery, and
who were sentenced to year in the peni-
Tertiary on the strength of his false testi-
mony. His victims have been incarcer-
a ted since August of last year. Their
innocence of the crime charged against
them, and for which they have cruelty
suffered, has been fully proven this week
When the men had been arrested, under
the description which Ackerson gave of
them, he positively identified them in
the station house, as subsequently also in
the police court; and again, when their
case was presented to the grand jury,
Ackelson positively swore'' of his own
knowledge that they were the robbers
and when they were put on trial, under
Indictment, in the court of general sessios
before Judge Fitzgerald, Ackerson sworo
as positively that they were the guilty
parties as he had sworn on the previous
occasions
All this time the two young men,
Patrick Shannon and John Henry, had
sworn to their innocence of the crime, and
to their presence in Philadelphia at the
time of it's commission in New York
but, as they had no means of proving an
alibi, they were convicted by the jury,
sentenced by the court and transported
to the pcnitentiary on Blackwell's Island
to serve out their term of punishment,
| for the period of year, which is now
nearly ended.
| Meanwhile, two other men, against
whom suspicion was recently directed on
account of words which they have uttered
| have been arrested, have been arraigned
before the Harlem police court, and have
there madeI confession that it was they
who were guilty of the larceny for which
! Shannon and Henry were made to suffer.
Moreover, the evidence to prove that the
| two innocent convicts were in Philadel-
phia upon the day in which the larceny
was committed in New York has been
| procured.
The revelations in the case are painful
to think Of
The larceny of Ackerson's property was
| the act of two thieves in Ackerson's en-
his Identification of them as he was in
that of the two innocent men. In the
present instance, his act of identifying
the culprits is useless, because of their
own confession. In the other instance.
his false Identification resulted in the
grossest wrong and injustice.
Ackerson admits now that he blundered
in August last when he made oath to the
guilt of the two innocent young men who
have suffered at his hands, and whom he
swore that he saw in his house on the
night of the burglary He says it was
only "a case of mistaken Identity" A
cruel case CT it, indeed A shocking case
of it, A case of it for which he ought to
be made to suffer. His guilt in the case
is of kind for which his victims can
never obtain redress. They have been
put to shame for deed which they knew
they were innocent Of from the day the
false charge as brought against them by
Ackerson until the time of their trial and
their imprisonment.
AS soon as the truth was brought out,
District Attorney Fellows took steps for
their immediate liberation from the peni-
Tertiary through the action of the gov
eminent He admits that under the new
law they have q claim against the state
for false imprisonment, and may sue for
damages 1t seems to us that they are
entitled to exemplary damages, and that
the district attorneys duty i'll the case is
chiefly to take care that the damages shall
be kept within reasonable limits
But what about Ackerson s..conduct in
swearing away the liberties of two
American citizens who were guiltless of
his charge against them?