The Press., 1899-08-17
STRANGE CONFESSIONS.
Men Who Have Owned Up to Grim e
They Never Committed.

wen VINO Have owned Up to Grim en-
They Never Committed.
That a man on the rack, with every
nerve quivering, with every nerve
drawn to it's utmost tension, with the
pain increasing in intensity ana vio-
lence, should confess himself the per-
pet1ator 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 indeed one of the most inexplica
BILE things in human history, that men
have been induced by religious exhorta-
tons and other means of persuasion to
sign their own death warrants 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 as
constituent of all. Harrison, who had
been kidnapped and carried off, return
ed two years after the execution.
In 1919 man named Russell Colvin,
living at Manchester, VT, disappeared.
and suspicious of foul play were enter
tanned. Public opinion attributed his
murder to Stephen and Jesse Boom
Still, as there was no definite ground
on which to arrest them, the excitement
gradually drew away. In 1919. how
ever, 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 murder
and the old cellar hole where the man.
gled body had been thrust. Here knife
and buttons were found, which were
identified as belonging to Colvin. On
this the men we're arrested. Stephen
and Colvin had quarreled just before
the disappearance Of the latter, and
| Stephen had been seen to strike him
with a club and knock him down.
In short time Jesse confessed that
he and Stephen, with their father. after
Stephen knocked him down had carried
him to the old cellar and cut his throat
with 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 confession On this they
were convicted and sentenced to be
| hanged on the 2Sth of January, 1920.
They applied for communication of the
sentence, and, as some believed their
| innocence. advertisements were inserted
in various papers for Colvin. Not long
| afterward letter appeared in the New
| York Evening Post, signed by a Mrs.
| Chadwick and dated Shrewsbury, N.
j., Dec. 6. 1919, stating that slightly
deranged man named Russell Colvin
had been there five years before This
was generally looked upon as a hoax, but
James Whelpley of New York, who
knew Colvin, resolved to follow up the
clew and actually found Colvin at the
house of William Polhenus at Dover.
| N. j., where he had been since April,
1873
| 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 dis.
charge of cannon and small arms,
Stephen Boorn firing the first piece.
| There was much discussion as to the
motive for the confession, some attribut
ing it to the effect of imprisonment a
general sort of panic and terror. and
others to the injudicious advice and ex.
hortations of clergyman.
Events