The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1907-03-22
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH %, 1907
Innocent Man Hanged.

Zone of the strangest cases OF erroneous
conviction of which | ever knew, said the
old LAWYER, "was that of Jonathan Brad
ford, who was hanged in Oxford, England,
for the murder of Christopher Hayes.
Bradford was an innkeeper and very re-
spectacle man, too. One evening Hayes,
who was travelling toward London, stopped
two men at supper, mentioned to them
that he had upon his person 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 in pain. They both arose, lighted
candle and went softly to the door of the
next room. There was light in the room
and the door was ajar. They entered and
saw upon the bed, weltering in his blood,
the body of man. Another man stood
over him with knife in one hand and a
dark lantern in the other. The man
seemed as terrified as themselves, but his
terror carried with it all the indications 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 stand
ing over him was Bradford, the landlord.
They seized Bradford at once and disarmed
him of his knife, which was covered with
blood. Bradford assumed an air of limo
cence, positively denied the crime and as
serted that he, too, had heard the groans
and got out of bed, struck light, armed
himself with a knife for his defense, and
had but that minute entered the room be-
fore them. "This sort of defense was
of no avail 1t was proved at the trial that
Bradford had heard Hayes tell about hav-
ing a large amount of money with him.
1t was proved that Bradford's knife ex-
actly fitted the wound in the breast of
Hayes, the knife and the right hand of
Bradford were bloody, and with such APP
parent evidences of guilt the jury con-
victed 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 foot
man of Mrs. Hayes, who Immediately upon
stabbing his master rifed his pockets 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 muir
der and gave to the officers of the law the
watch and part of the money he had
stolen from his master
"But the strangest part of this strange
case has yet to be told. Bradford, though
innocent of the murder and in no way con-
nected with it, was, nevertheless, muir
derer 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 bed
room with the dark lantern and knife in
tending to kill and rob him. But when
he reached there he was struck with
amazement when he turned back the bed
clothes to find the man already stabbed,
bleeding and dying. In his agitation he
dropped his knife upon the breast of the
murdered man, and thus the knife became
bloody, and in picking it up his hand was
covered with blood, too. 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 clergyman
afterward made them public.