Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-10-26
Hanged an Innocent Man.

NA@ Ats~tGo a. Noldls
"One OF the strangest cases of er
roneous conviction Of which 1 ever
knew" said the old lawyer, was that
of Jonathan Bradford, who was hanged
in Oxford. England. for the murder Of
Christopher Hayes. Bradford was an
innkeeper and a very respectable man,
too. One evening Hayes, who was
travelling toward London, stopped at his
inn and while in conversation with two
men at supper mentioned to them that
he q upon his person a large sum of
money. Late that night, after every
one in the inn had retired, the two men
heard groans from an adjoining room,
as Of one dying Of pain. They both
arose, lighted a candl and went softly
to the door Of the next room. There
was a light in the room and the door
was ajar. They entered and saw upon
the bed, weltering in his blood. the
body Of a man Another man stood over
him with a knife in one hand and a
dark lantern in the other. This mar
seemed as terrified as themselves. but
his terror carried with it all the indi-
cations of guilt.
The two men soon discovered that the
murdered person was CHRISTOPHER
Hayes. with whom they had talked at
the supper table the night before, and
the man standing over him was Brad
ford, the landlord. They seized Brad
ford at once and disarmed him of his
knife, which was covered with blood.
Bradford assumed an air of innocence,
positively denied the crime and assert
ed hat he, too had heard the groans
and got out of bed, struck a light.
armed himself with a knife for his de-
Tense n had but that minute entered
the room before them.
This sort of a defense was of no
Ax-AI NO. - - -. -
Bradford had heard Hayes tell about
having a large amount Of money with
him, it was proven that Bradford's
knife exactly fitted the wound In the
breast of Hayes, the knife and the right
hand of Bradford were bloody, and
with such apparent evidences of guilt
the jury convicted him. and the judge.
in sentencing him to death, said:
Mr.. Bradford, either you or myself
committed this murder
Bradford was hanged shortly after
ward. protesting upon the scaffold that
he was innocent, but he died disbelieved
by all.
but Bradford was innocent after all.
The murder was actually done by the
footman Of Mr.. Hayes, who, immedi-
ately upon stabbing his master, rifed
his packets of his money and gold
watch and escaped back to his own
room just before Bradford entered.
Eighteen months after Bradford was
hanged, the footman became very i'll
and upon his deathbed confessed the
murder and gave TO the officers of the
law the watch and a part OF the money
he had stolen from his master.
But the strangest part Of his
strange case has yet to be old Brad
ford, though innocent of the murder,
and in no way connected with 1t. was,
nevertheless, a murderer at heart. He
had heard Mr.. Hayes say at supper
that he had a large sum of money with
him, and he went to his bedroom with
the dark lantern n knife intending
TO kill and rob him But when he
reached there he was struck with
amazement. when he turned back the
bedclOthes, to find the man already
stabbed, bleeding and dying. In his
agitation he dropped his knife upon
the breast of the murdered nan. and
thus the knife became bloody, and I'm
picking 1t up his hand was covered
with blood co.. At this moment the
two men entered and caught him.
These circumstances Bradford con-
fessed to the clergyman who attended
him after his conviction and the clergy
man afterward made them public"