Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-06-30
TUE IsxoeENT CONVICTED.
Shot DefsnAlng His Master and Hung
a. . Murderer.

Shot DefsnAing His Master and Hung
a. . Murderer.
From the Chicago Fest.
Appearances are deceiving," said an old
lawyer the other day. THE strongest case
Of eircumstantial evidence ever knew was
against an innocent man. My father was a
lawyer, and In the criminal practice. One
Of his clients was hanged for a murder
which he never committed. Listen.
Just at the edge of our town lived a rich
old man in a grand Old house. He had nc
family, and was alone with his servants.
One night there was a fearful disturbance
in his house. and neighbors hurried in.
Several pistol shots had been fred. The
rich old man was dead. with a bullet in his
brain. and the butler lay. with his hands
full OF jewelry and watches, right in the
doorway of the old mans room, with a
bullet somewhere in his head, but he was
not dead.
His revolver lay by his side. and. SO
far as could be seen. the whole story was
told right there. The butler. who had been
in the house Only about six months. had
attempted to rob his master. had been
caught in the act and shot. but had killed
the old man in the fight That was the
other for several days. because the butler
lad very serious wound and was de-
lirious for week. However. IL was not
fatal. and as soon as he was himself he
made statement to the effect that he had
been awakened in the night by footsteps,
and had taken his pistol which had only two
loads in 1t cut of five. and gone down into
the hall below to see what the noise was.
He noticed that his masters door was
partly open, at the far end of the hall, ana
hurried toward it. As he approached II
ne heard mis- master speak to some one,
asking who was there. and with that there
was pistol shot and he jumped into the
room, grabbing burglar as he did so. and
al the same time getting a shot in the
head from his masters pistol Beyond that
he remembered nothing more. His story
was generally disbelieved, for there was no
evidence of any person in the house with
evil designs. and all the plumber that he
mad not caught In his hands was lying on
the floor about him, so that there was 10
apparent reason why burglar should be
tnere All the doors were found locked by
tnose VINO came In response 10 the alarm,
and there were absolutely no signs of any
Durgiarizing from the out sde
Another strong point was that the bull
let which was found in the buffers head
exactly ntted the pistol of his master
showing conclusively that it was the mas
ter and not the burglar who shot him. This
was the condition of the affair when my
1ather took charge of it, and though he
really believed the buffers story and tried
10 prove II, he could not do it. and the man
was finally hanged. A year later a burglar
was shot by policeman in the city near
est us. and he confessed on his death he'd
mat he was the murderer of our rich man
He had hidden in the house early in the
evening, had collected all he could of lew
cry and other portable valuables and was
ABOUT getting out when he was caught both
ny the OLD man and the butler. and that
t tHe outier had got the bullet intended for
MIN. as ne had run into the room lust as
the OLD man fired. Dropping everything
IN mis- sudden surprise, he had rushed down
STAIRS and hidden in the hallway. from
where he had slipped out as soon as the
front door was opened. In the excitement
ne was not observed. and he got away
without any trouble at all, as the nearness
~ tne Guy made strangers SO common that
their presence excited no susnicion iii
never forget that incident, and III never
De IN favor of the death penalty on cir
cumstantial evidence, 1 don't care how
just. " 1858 oh-