Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-19
MOOSE ON INNOCENT NECKs.
Ctrcumstantial Evidence Has Sent
Many Victim to the GalIows.


Many Victim to the Gallows.
From the Brooklyn Citizen.
Ihat circumstantial evidence has put the
moose around the necks Of innocent men
ana that 1t has sent innocent men to prison
Will be admitted readily enough
young man had been surprised while in
the sleeping room of the head of the family
and had escaped by jumping through a
window He was pursued, but got away
Two hours later stranger In the city was
arrested The man and his wife, who saw
him. positively Identified the young man, as
did those who had Joined in the pursuit
To his attorney he persisted In protesting
his innocence. but could not account for
himself at the time the crime was com
united, except by saying he took a long
walk to the city. The attorney VINO at
nrst believed his client guilty, looked up
his record and became convinced that the
Young man was innocent, but his convic-
ton seemed a foregone conclusion.
one day the lawyer met man on the
street whom he mistook for his clieni.
Upon asking him how he had obtained bond
the stranger replied that the lawyer eYi-
IDENTIFY mtstook him for some one else
An Idea struck the lawyer. The stranger
looked as though he In hard luck and
a proposition to sit in the court room during
the trial was readily accepted. The lawyer
concealed the double until the case was
called Then he had the real prisoner sit
behind him. where he could not be seen
dock
Every witness identified the man positive
ly. and the prosecuting attorney looked
fully satisfied until the real prisoner was
put on the stand. Subsequently a convicted
burglar made a confession and among the
crimes of his commission was the one with
which this client had been charged.
In 1870 John Maley of Harrisville w.
Va sentenced life fmDrfs0p inns nt
for numbering his wife with arsenic
Twenty years afterward 1t was accidentally
discovered that the poison was given 20
Mrs. Maley by the servant through a mis-
take for medicine and that, frightened by
the result, she permitted Maley to be cor
victed.
In June, 1885, John Grow mysteriously
disappeared from a little town In Michigan
1t was supposed that he had been mur-
dered and suspicion fell upon John Van
Nieman. a brother-in-law of the missing
man.
Circumstantial evidence governed the
prosecution of Van Nieman and he was
convicted and sentenced to life imprison-
ment He served ten years in the Jackson
prison. Michigan.
Crow, in his wanderings about the wol id,
one day happened to read In an old news
paper the story Of his murder by John Van
Nleman. Thereupon in April, 1894. la set
about to get Van Nieman out of the Jack
son penitentiary. AS already stated, the
unfortunate man served ten years.
George Nelson. fresco painter, had the
pleasure of spending two years in the San
Quentin. Cal, prison. because his voice
sounded like that of a robber named Dor
sey. He was charged with robbery and at
tempted to prove alfbi by Swede and
his wife. at whose place he secured bis
supper. Through fear of being implcate1
in the crime the Swede and his wife de-
MED that they had ever set eyes upon Nell
son.
Upon circumstantial evidence Sacrament
to Jury convicted him and he was sen-
fenced to ten years Imprisonment. Two
years s.fterward two men, Shin and Dor
sey, were arrested in the east and brought
back to the coast. It had been discovered
that they. instead of Nelson, had commit
ted the robbery.
w. F. Harmon. young inventor OF San
Francisco, spent four years across the bay
as a penalty for the forgery of Louis l..
Trowbridge, an all-around crook. When
TrowbHdge was In st. Louis in 1893 he was
informed that Harmon was serving time
for his crime. He worried over the matter
and finally gave himself UP. However, this
did Harmon little good, for his term had
expired month previous.