Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1898-06-02
STRANGE CONFESSIONS
Non Who Have Voluntarily Confessed
to Crimes Which They
Never Committed.

That man on the rack with every
nerve quivering, with every nerve
drawn to its utmost tension, with the
pain increasing in intensity and vio-
lence, should confess himself the per-
petrator of crime Is natural enough.
The prospect of relief from actual pain
is a temptation that blinds the sufferer
to the future. BUTT may seem strange,
and ia indeed one of the most ineNplic-
able things in human history, that men
have been induced by religious exhorta-
tons and other means of persuasion to
sign their own death warrant by con-
Tossing crimes actually never commit
ted. Such in England was the case Of
John Perry, executed near Campden in
1861, with his mother and brother, for
numbering William Harrison, steward
for Lady Campden. The testimony
against them was chiefly the confession
of John Perry himself, but to the aston
ishment of all, Harrison, who had been
kidnapped and carried Off, returned two
years after the execution,
In 1912 man named Colvln, living at
Manchester, VI, disappeared, and sus-
PIGEONS 4 foul play were entertained.
Public opinion attributed his murder to
Stephen and Jesse Boorn. Still, as
there was no definite ground on which
to arrest them, the excitement gradual
ly died away. In 1919, however, Mr..
Boorn dreamed that he had been MUIR
dered by two men, whom he fixed upon
as his nephews, Stephen and Jesse, The
ghost of the murderer even specified the
place of the murder and the old cellar
hole, where the mangled body had been
thrust. There knife and buttons were
found, which were identified as belong
ing to Colvin. On this the men we're ar
rested. Stephen and Coyin had quar-
relied just before the disappearance Of
the latter, and Stephen had been seen
to strike him with a club and knock
him down.
In a short time Jesse confessed that
he and Stephen, with their father, after
NV JiNll hlOCNNN INN NlON II lluN Val lltO
him to the old cellar and cut his throat
with a iacll-knife, and further stated
thatneXt year they made way with most
Of the bones of their victim, Stephen,
after time admitted the truth of Jes-
SEES confession. On this they were con-
victed and sentenced to be hanged on
the 2Sth of January, 1920 They applied
for Communication of sentence, and as
some believed their innocence, adver-
tisements were inserted in various pa
pers Cor Colvin, Not long afterward a
letter appeared in the New York Even
ing Fost, signed by Mr.. Chadwick,
and dated Shrewsbury, n. j., December
16, 1919, stating that a slightly deranged
man named Russell Colvin lad been
there five years before. This was gen.
orally looked upon as hoax, but james
Whelpley, of New York, who knew Col
vim, decided to follow up the clew, and
actually found Colvin at the house Of
William PolhemUs, at Dover, N. j.,
where he had been since April 1913.
Mr.. Whelpley took him to New York,
the common council gave him means to
proceed to Vermont, and he arrived at
Manchester On the 22d day of Decem-
Der.
The Whole place was in state of
excitement. People gathered in from
all the surrounding country to see the
dead alive. A cannon was brought out
and Colyin was saluted with a discharge
of cannon and small arms, Stephen
Boorn firing the first piece There was
much discussion as to the motive for the
confession, some contributing it to the
effect of Imprisonment, general sort
of panic, terror, and others TO the in
judicious advice and exhortations of a
Clergyman Wonderful Events.