Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-04-14

ing, q remarkable alibi Of this kint
was presented. The men were accus
ed Of having broken into a house upol
the night Of certain Sunday, ant
they were positively identified by three
persons who swore they saw the pris
oners going to and coming from TIT
house in a trap drawn by brown
pony.
On the other hand, numerous wit
nesses were called for the defence t.
show that the prisoners were at hom'
and remained there all night. AL
these witnesses agreed in their de-
tails Of what happened during tht
evening, and the fiercest efforts Of thu
counsel for the prosecution failed t.
shake them in any particular In re-
ply to a question as to what was the
state Of the weather on that particular
Sunday night, the witnesses unani.
mously declared that 1t was dark
rough and wet. BY an almanac thai
was brought 1t was shown that there
was a full moon, but none In court
could remember what the weather ha6
been. The jury returned a verdict Of
mot guilty" and the prisoners were
released. Subsequent inquiry proved
that the night In question, when the
housebreaking had taken place, was
fine and bright, but that the night OF
the previous Sunday had been all that
the witnesses described. Their evil
dence had clearly related to the wrong
Sunday.
| A case in which an innocent man
was able to establish an alibi and refute
mass Of extraordinary circumstan-
tial evidence against him was that OF
the Cannon street murder. Sarah Mil
som was the housekeeper to large
firm, with premises in Cannon street
In which she lived. Upon the night OF
the murder, man, whose duty 1t was
to lock up the building after the hands
had left, closed the place and duly de-
livered the keys to Mrs. Nilsson. The
housekeeper and a woman who acted
as cook were now the only persons In
the place. The cook, In her evidence
stated what happened. Mrs. Milsom
was sitting In the dining room and the
cook was in the bedroom when, about
ten minutes past 8 there came a ring
at the door bell. The witness was
about to go down to answer 1t, when
Mrs. Nilsson called out to her:
Elizabeth, the bell is for me. I will
CO."
The cook stayed In her room, but
later on went downstairs, when she
was Mortified to find Mrs. Nilsson ly-
ing dead In the corridor, just inside the
door, She had been killed by terrible
blow with a crowbar that was lying
close by the body.
7 An arrest was made, and the pris-
oner was defended by Sergeant Bal
lantyne and Mr.. Montague Williams.
The defense was able to prove, by
the evidence Of witness after wit
ness, that the prisoner was at Eton
and Windsor upon the night Of the
murder at times which rendered 1t i'm
possible for him to have committed the
crime. A bootmaker and the boot
makers son, for whom the accused
worked, had seen and spoken to him
there. The alibi was incontestible,
and the prisoner was acquitted. The
murderer has remained undiscovered
to this day.
A young girl who lived with her pa
rents in a lonely part Of Kirkcudbright
was one day left alone in their cottage
while her father and mother were har-
vesting. On their return the girl was
found murdered. A surgical exami-
nation revealed the fact that the in
juries inflicted must have been the
work Of left handed man and the
police discovered in the soft ground
around the cottage the imprints Of the
boots of a running man. These i'm
pressions corresponded exactly with
the boots Of q young laborer named
William Richardson, who was ac-
quainted with the dead girl. and who
was also left handed. Richardson on
being asked where he was on the day
of the crime, declared that he was en-
ployed the whole day In the work of
his master, a farmer, some distance
away. This fact was borne witness to
by the farmer and Richardson's fellow
servants, and the police were baffied.
The alibi. in spite Of all the other
suspicious circumstances against the
prisoner. appeared so strong as to be
uha ssailable. But the police persever-
ed, and at last one Of the detectives
dicovered that Richardson and his fell
low servants had that day been en-
ployed in driving their masters carts.
These carts had been driven In a d.
rection which took them close to the
scene Of the crime, and while they
had been passing through a wood
Richardson had requisite lis .om-
rades to stop a few minutes while he
ran to smiths shop and back. They
did so, and one Of the drivers remem-
bered that Richardson when he re-
turned had been absent half an hour
by his watch. This was ample time
for him to run to the cottage. commit
the murder and run back again. He
had not been to the smiths shop. The
alibi, thus broken down, Richardson
was found guilty and, before his exc
cution, he confessed the justice Of his
sentence.
An ingenious system of proving an
alibi was that Of man named Cor
ton-at least, that was one Of his 20
names-convicted Of various clever
| frauds in the north Of England. He
had a twin brother, and while he was
engaged in a robbery the twin kept