Smyrna times., 1901-11-13

about ffve miles away. claiming to have
a straight case against him, and the
mau had been under arrest three or
four days when l came into the case
again. A young man named Salters,
who was a student at the state normal
school. came to my house at 10 o'clock
at night to make confession He was
tine murderer of Higgins. Higgins had
by accident got hold of some love let
ters which the young man had written |
and had refused to give them up for |
less than $1G0. Not having the money |
to pay with and being rendered des- |
perate. he had gone to search the house |
at night. Salters told of the conversa- |
ton when Higgins came down stairs
now he got in and got out and all the
details. | advised him to go to the
police, and. as in the other case, they
locked him up and felt sure that they
aad the right man at last.
l was not retained by young Salters,
who announced that he would make no
defense, but | set out to clear up a few
points to satisfy my own curiosity. l
was not long in ascertaining that he
was not in love with any girl and had
never been known to write love let
ter; also that on the night of the mur-
der he was in a town 20 miles away.
| When these facts became known to the
police. they had to drop their case,
though SalterS protested to the last
that he was guilty. | had lost my keen
| interest in the matter when strange
woman, who introduced herself as Mrs
| Haskins, called at my office to make u
| confession. She was a woman Of 4G,
good looking and intelligent and claiIa-
ing 10 be a widow and to reside in a
town 30 miles away. She it was who
! killed MIR: Higgins. and she had with
her the pistol from which the shot had
been fired. The deceased, as she claim
ed with many details, had wronged her
only daughter While passing himself
off as a single man. She had haunted
his store. but he had lodged her. She
had tried to meet him on the street.
but he had evaded her. AS a last re-
sort she had entered his house and
made the noise that brought him down
stairs
In my experience as lawyer | never
heard a straighter story. PUT before
sending the woman to the police, as in
the other cases, | began to investigate.
The very first move proved that she
was either a monstrous liar or a bit
crazy. The lady at whose house she
claimed to have stopped had never even
heard of her. Then | discovered that
she had no daughter and that Mr.. Hig
gins could not have known her and
that he had not visited her town fol
u years. To cap the climax, she was
home on the night of the murder.
There was one more instance. and j
partOok of the ridiculous at once.
: one legged man named Wells, a resi-
{ dent of the town, gave himself up t
the police as the murderer He claim
ed to be somnambulist and that thu
deed was done while he was asleep
He didn't think he ought to be punish
ed. but he wanted to be tried and ac
quilted. Not one true statement diC
he make in all his story, and he wa
told to take his leg and get out Th
hunt for the true criminal was kept u
for year but he was never discover
ed. The police were no doubt right i
their first theory. The man entered th
house for plumber. and, being discover
ed, if not attacked. he fired the fats
shot and then escaped. 1t was NOR
than likely that he was a stranger
the town.
You will naturally ask why thos
people should have charged themselv6
with crime that they were not guilt
Of \ physician could probably Civ
you a clearer answer. My theory
F.. that they had taken Gn intense intere
. in the case. and from argument wit
!. themselves how the crime was cor
- mitted or how they would have cor
II. mitted it they got to the point of belle
~ ing that they actually did commit
- Such cases are by no means rare, and
- must be for some such reason TIL
90 courts often refuse to accept plea
- guilty and give the accused fair tri
: for his life and liberty. There are pc
~ pie, as every lawyer and detecti
80 knows, who are anxious to be witnes
-, es in a case and will perjure thel
- selves on the stand without seemil
~ ~ to be aware of it, and it is in carryi
GO out this singular line of conduct
- train of thought that one may come
-. accuse himself.