Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-01-05
WOES OF INNOCENT.
PATHETIC STORIES OF UNFOR-
TUNATE VICTIMS.
Wrong fully Convicted on Circumstantial
Observation-Disclosures In which the In
nocent Suffered Even the Extreme
Penalty for Uncommitted Crimes.

Circumstantial evidence and the pos
sibility of wrongful conviction thereon
are topics never lacking in interest
among lawyers.
One of the most remarkable OF
wrongful convictions came to light IN
Boone county, Mo-, in 1893. Seven
years earlier George Watkins, with his
young wife, removed from Kansas TO
Missouri, settling as tenants on plan
tation owned by Andrew Hedgepeth.
Hedgepeth remained on the plantation
and soon fell in love with Mrs. Wat
kins, who encouraged his attentions
openly. Desperate jealousy took pos
session of Watkins and several quar-
rels over the woman occurred between
the two men. One day, having patched
up their differences, apparently, Wat
kins and Hedgepeth went to the county
seat together in wagon. Hedgepetn
returned alone, saying he did not
know what had become of Watkins. A
few believed Hedgepeth's story, but
most of his neighbors secuted 1t, es-
pecially as Watkins overcoat, in the
pocket of which were his gloves, pipe
and wallet, was found in the wagon
where Watkins had left it. Worse yet,
there was a bloody Ratchet in the
wagon. Hedgepeth's arrest and trial
for murder followed. He seemed
nervous and unstrung while the chain
of circumstantial evidence was being
l.; but ipcictp1 nnOn
being sworn. On the stand he admit
ted frequent quarrels with watkins
about the latter's wife, and also said
that they had Quarreled over her on
the day they went to the county seat.
But he averred, with seeming sincerity,
that he had not harmed Watkins, who
had declared his purpose to leave the
country rather than endure the ex-
listing situation. 1t is probable that
Hedgepeth would have been declared
guilty, anyway. but probability was
rendered certainty when Mrs. Watkins
went on the stand. For in a fit of ap-
parent remorse, she swore that she ana
Hedgepeth had conspired to murder
Watkins. and she apparently believed
Hedgepeth guilty, though she denied
knowledge of the crime in detail. Be-
ing convicted, Hedgepeth appealed ana
got a new trial, which resulted in a
second conviction. In due time he was
hanged, and soon afterward Mrs. Wat
kins died of real remorse. Six months
later the lawyer who had defended
Hedgepeth found Watkins alive and
we'll among friends in his old Kansas
home, where he had been living quiet
ly ever since the day he went to mar
ket with Hedgepeth.
Scarcely less remarkable, though it
did not eliminate in an execution, was
the case of John d. Cochran of Illinois,
who was convicted in the Wabash
county court of numbering John Buch-
enberger. Buchenberger went from
Evansville to Mount Carmel on Oct.
IL, 1888. On the 18th he bought q re-
volver. Next day, having been seen
with Cochran meanwhile, he was found
dying under lumber shed, his revol-
yer near by, with one empty cartridge
chamber. Cochran was arrested, and
tissue of circumstantial evidence, fur
nished mostly by Charles Reese, who
had served a term for horse stealing,
was woven about the prisoner. The
trial attracted attention throughout the
middle west, Cochran's defense being
a complete denial. His attorney sought
to prove that Buchenberger committed
suicide, but could not prove it, and
Cochran, being convicted was sent to
the penitentiary for life. In 1899 it
was learned that on the day after
Buchenberger's death his wife, living