The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1898-05-21
STRANGE CONFESSIONS.
Men Who Have Confessed to Crimes
Which They Never Committed.


Which They Never Committed.
That a man on the rack, with
every nerve quivering, with every
nerve drawn to its utmost tension,
with the pain increasing inintensity
and violence, should confess himself
the perpetrator of crime is natural
enough. The prospect of relief from
actual pain is temptation that
blinds the sufferer to the future.
But it may seem strange, and is in
deed one the most inexplicable
things in human history, that men
have been induced by religious ex-
hortations and other means of per-
suasion to sign their own death
warrants by confessing crimes ac-
tually never committed. Such in
England was the case of John Per-
ry, executed near Can,pden in 1861,
with his mother and brother, for
numbering William Harrison, stew
ard for Lady Campden. The testi-
mony against them was chiefly the
confession of John Perry himself,
but, to the astonishmento of all, Har-
rison, who had been kidnapped and
carried off, returned two years after
the execution.
In 1912 man named Russell Col
win, living at Manchester, VT, dis
appeared, and suspicious of foul
play were entertained. Public opin-
ion attributed his murder to Stephen
and Jesse Boorn. Still, as there was
no definite ground on which to ar
rest them, the excitement gradually
drew away. In 1919, however, a Mr..
Boorn dreamed that he had been
murdered by two men, whom he
fixed upon as his nephews, Stephen
and Jesse.
The ghost of the murdered man
even specified the place of the mur-
der and the old cellar hole where
the mangled body had been thrust.
Here knife and buttons were
found, which were identified as be-
longing to Colvin. On this tie men
were arrested. Stephen and Colvin
had quarreled just before the disap-
pearance 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 ia
Their, after Stephen knocked him
down, had carried him to the old
cellar and cut his throat with a
jackknife. He further stated that
the next year they made away with
most of the bones Of their victim.
Stephen after a time admitted the
truth of Jesse's confession and &C
tually signed written confession.
On this they were convicted and
sentenced to be hanged on the 2Sth
of January, 1890. They applied for
communication of the sentence, and
as some believed their innocence adj
vertisements were inserted in vari-
GUS papers for Colvin. Not long aft
erward letter appeared in the New
York Evening Post, signed by Mr.,
Chadwick and dated Shrewsbury,
N. j., Dec. 6, 1919, stating that a
slightly deranged man named Rus
sell Colvin had been there five years
before. This was generally looked
upon as a hoax, but James Whelpley
Of New York, who knew Colvin, re-
solved to follow up the clew and &C:
tually 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 December.
The whole place was in a state of
wild excitement. People gathered
in from all the surrounding country
to see the dead alive. A cannon was
brought out, and Colvin was saluted
with a discharge of cannon and
small arms, Stephen Boorn firing
the first piece. There was much dis
oussiOn as to the motive for the con-
fession, some attributing it to the
effect Of imprisonment, a general
sort of panic and terror and others to
the injudicious advice and exhorta-
tons of a an.-'WOnderfu
Events and Startling Incidents.
Sea Anemones That Seem to BE Tame.
Sea anemones, when touched, are