The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-27
ODDITIES OF THE LAW.
CURIOUS TRIALS AND PUNISHMENTS
INFLICTED by THE COURTS.

1
liar Cases-Niscarri"Ge of Circum-
stantiaI Ev1dence, as Well as the
Strange Confession of Crime
Which Were Never Committed.
From the Washington Post.
Truth is stranger than fiction, and law
! is stranger than either Of them. The
| post of observation for the student of hui
man nature is undoubtedly the bar; not
| the bar presided over by the tender in
white apron. VINO mixes the intoxicating
cocktail, and is the repository Of wonder
full secrets concerning spirtuous chemis-
try, but that other bar watched over by
his honor, the judge, the secrets of which
no tender can uncork, unless, indeed, it
be legal tender. Here are discovered char
acters more extraordinary than any that
| live in the pages of Dickens or Thackeray.
Here are exposed to view most remarka-
bic twists and tangles of the human brain,
almost incomprehensible to the mortal
mind
Can any proceeding be more unac
countable than the confessions of prison
ers, acknowledging crimes which they did
| not commit confessions, bear in mind,
| NHlch were not made IN OfOeG TO protect
or eXonerate others, and which, indeed,
| seem absolutely purposeless. Yet such in
| stances abound in law trials
glaring illustration is the case of an
! Old couple who were accused of murder
| ing their ledger, who had disappeared.
| These old people lived alone with the
missing man, and the suspicion which nat
urally rested upon them seemed confirmed
| by the old man appearing in the lodger'S
! clothes. The couple made a voluntary
confession, accusing themselves of a most
| cold-blooded murder perpetrated upon the
LOGGER. The day of the trial was very
nearly at hand, when the supposed victim
suddenly appeared. He had gone away on
his own affairs, and his landlord and land
| lady knew no more where he was than did
| the general public. Under those circum-
stances the old man had appropriated his
| clothes. But what end these remarkable
| persons intended to serve by their confess
| sion must forever remain a mystery.
me charges upon which men and wo-
| men have been arrested are legion What
would the modern spirit of liberty say to
the arrest of lady travelling on Sunday.
| which occurred at Lebanon, Conn, in 1881 ?
| Ut the sentence of a Russian author
who, in 1s19, was condemned, literally, to
| eat his own words? This unfortunate
man had published a quarto volume in
| FAVOR of the liberties of the people, and
criticising rather freely the conduct of
/
tried his book was found to be a libel and
the sentence referred to above passed
| upon him. A scaffod was erected in one
| OF the most public streets of the city. The
| imperial provost magistrates and physi-
clans OF the car We're in attendance as
wen as an immense concourse of the peo-
pie Ihe book was taken from its bind
| ing, and the margin carefully cut from
| each page. This done, the unhappy all
thor was politely served by the provost
with a leaf at time. He was compelled
10 swallow each and every one on pain of
the knout. Every time the provost mt
| one OF these unpalatable morsels in his
mouth, the spectators were overcome with
hilarious delight, and encored enthusiastic
cally expressing the Russian equivalent
Tor such facetious remarks as See pana
weaving the baby RstAs soon as the medi-
cal authorities decided that he had receiv-
ed as much Of this novel nourishment as
was consistent with his safety proceed
lngs We're adjourned until the followina.
day, when business was resumed at the
old stand. 1t took three days to absorb
the whole book, but at the end of that
time every leaf had been actually szal-
lowed, and that political essay convert
ed into digest
criminal lawyers, are very often blamed
for undertaking the defense of malefac-
tors, of whose guilt they are themselves
assured. Frequently, however they have
from unmerited punishment; for often the
chain of evidence against the client is so
strong that even his counsel is convinced
OF ms guilt until with lawyers trained
mind he brings to light some little fact.
overlooked by all others, that breaks the
chain and sets the accused at liberty.
Sometimes these lost or forgotten pieces
OF evidence are so ludicrously obvious
as TO make 1t matter of wonder that
they dld not at once present themselves
to the people concerned Such a case
is to be found in Shepeys Maine Re
ports.
Money had been stolen in passing
through the mails. and a certain Mr.. Mer-
| rlman, postmaster at Camden was sus-
| pected. Three witnesses appeared against
him. Mr.. Pickard, mail contractor.
who had been employed by the Postmas s.
ter General to detect the thief, Mr.. Nit
chell, postmaster at Portland and the
driver OF the stage In which the mail bag
| was transmitted. Suspicion having fallen
upon Mr.. Merriman, Messrs. PickaSal and
Mitchell met at Belfast and laid a trap.
they wrote letter, purporting to be from
a debtor, to Gen. Mcclellan of Bath In
1t they inclosed marked money in such a
way that IL was easy to guess the con-
tents. They then took a chaise and ac-
companed the stage carrying the mail
After the bag had passed through the
postoffice between Belfast and Camden
and examined them in the presence of the
stage driver. The letter was found In.
tact; but when the inspection was repea I
: ed after leaving Camden they all three
claimed that the letter was not there
Mr.. Merriman, in enga ging lawyer, as
serted his innocence, but said that he had
no evidence to bring forward. He had
2 been alone in the office when the lette,
: came; he had stamped II and put it back
in the bag.
The legal mind reflected moment anC
l then propounded this question: HAY,
t you caused inquiry TO be made of Gen
3 Mcclellan whether he ever received such {
I letter. No, the postmaster had never
: thought of that The oversight was recti
fed, and it was discovered that the letter
had reached its destination in good order
money and all. The general had taken i
for granted that 1t contained a remittanc.
from debtor, and had forgotten all abou
1t until so strangely reminded; so II tn,
lawyer had refused what seemed a fla
grant case of guilt an innocent man woult
( probably have been convicted. AS it was
he was enabled to turn the tables on hi.