The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1906-01-03
The CRIMINAL s DEFENCE
Trials Which Attempts Were
Made to Prove AllblS.
CASE OF GORTON TWINS
Where Lives Have Depended Upon
Accuracy or lnaccuracy OF d
cIock-striking Resemblance Be.
+.,ean Two Persons - Criminals

WheEe ElVSS tiofS
Accuracy or lnaccuracy OF d
cIock-Striking Resemblance BE.
tween Two Persons criminals
Favorite Defence.
The alibi has always been iaVor'
tie defence with calculating Grim
inals, It has, on the other hand IN
hundreds of cases, extracted the lnno'
cent from the meshes of a net OF CIT
cumstau,ial evidence which mus
otherwise have inevitably drassvo
them to unmerited doom.
Clocks have played an important
mart in these defences. Lives nave
depended on their accuracy or mac
curacy. In the case Of a man nameo
Hardy. who was accused of having
taken part in a murder with otnefS'
one Of the murderers, after the crlme
was committed, made his way nome
as fast as possible. 1t was nlgnt anu
there was no one in his house puI d
servant Putting the clock in the hali
back two hours, the man went 10 Deo'
snd rising shortly afterward aWoke
the servant and ordered her 70 go
down stairs and see what was inc
time. The girl did so, and once moro
retired to her room, when the mu-'
derer, stealing softly downstairs III
his bare feet, once more put the CLOCK
right The unsuspecting girls eVt
dence that the prisoner was in oed aI
tbel time when the crime was COLI
1nitted secured his acquittal on his
trial. The truth was made known
py a deathbed confession some years
later.
Witnesses who come forward to
rrove alibis by the clock sometimes
prove very unsatisfactory. In a muir
der case at the Central Criminal
Court two witnesses swore most per-
sistently to the prisoner having oeeh
in their company at the hour when
the prosecution contended he was en-
gagged in the crime.
"Are you quite certain OF the exact
time?" asked the counsel for the pros
ecution.
Certain" replied the first witness.
"How are you so sure about lt?'
asked the barrister.
1--WE were in the Bear public house,
and I saw the time by the clock in
the bar" replied the witness. 1T was
?7 minutes past g."
"You saw that time yourself"
asked the counsel.
Yes" -
One of the detectives engaged In
the case here whispered something to
the barrister, and he turned to the
witness once more. .,...
"You see that clock" he said, point
Ing to the clock in the court. What
is the time by it?"
The witness turned CHASTITY pale.
scratched his head, gasped, and was
silent. He could not tell the time.
The alibi bubble was burst. The pris-
cner was condemned.
A young girl who lived with her
parents in a lonely part Of Kirkcud-
bright was one day left alone in their
cottage while her father and mother
were harvesting. On their return the
girl was found murdered. "a surgical
examination revealed the fact that the
injuries inflicted must have been the
work Of left-handed man, and the
policei 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 young laborer named
William Richardson. who was ac-
quainted with the dead girl, and who
also was left handed. Richardson, on
being asked where he was on the day
IF the crime, declared that he was
employed the whole day in the work
of his master, a farmer, some dis
tance away. This fact was borne
witness to by the farmer and Rich
ardson's fellow servants,i and the po-
lice were baffled.
The alibi, in spite of all the other
suspicious circumstances against the
prisoner, appeared SO strong as to be
unassailable But the police perse-
vered, and at last one Of the detec-
tives discovered that Richardson and
his fellow servants had that day been
employed in driving their masters
carts. These carts had been driven
in direction which took them close
to the scene Of the crime, and while
they had been passing through wood
Richardson had requested his CON-
rades to stop a few minutes while he
I'm to- a smiths shop and back. They
did So and one of the drivers remem.
hered that Richardson, when he re"
turned, had been absent half an hour
~ his watch. This was ample time
for him to run to the cottage. commrr
the murder and run back again. He
had not been to the smiths shop. The
a!ih: thus broke down. Richardson
was found guilty, and, before his exc
cution. he confessed the justice Of his
sentence.
An ingenious system Of proving an
aiibi was that Of man named G- r
ton--at least. that was one Of his 20
names-convicted Of various clever
tr-rds III the north of England He
hat 4 twin brother, and while he was
engaged in a robbery the twin kept