The Washington herald., 1910-08-29

official Records OF Murder Com
mitted in I74f Under Hammer.

From the London Chronicle.
That very night. while gentle sleep
The urchin eyelids hss'd
Two stern-fnced men set ont non Lynn
Through the cold and heavy mist:
And Eugene Aram walkd between.
With uves upon his wrist.
so ends Hoods poem. The Dream OF
Eugene Aram." in which the principal
figure in an historic murder or 16s years
ago-st the time OF his arrest an usher at
a school in Kings Lynn-is made TO tell
the story Of his crime. To-day eleven
original documents relating 10 the case
viii come under the hammer at Messrs.
Sotheby's.
The documents. which a representative
was able to examine. are the official rec
ords OF the coroner. John Theakston,
whose duty il was TO investigate the cir
cumstances Of the crime They consist
principally OF the witnesses dispositions.
including those Of Anna Aram. the
murderers wife. All are well preserved
and easily decipherable.
II was on February S. 1744, at Knares-
borough IN Yorkshire. that Daniel Clark
(Aram's rictim) suddenly disappeared.
Fourteen years after-in August. 175S-
workmen digging for stone on Thistle Hill
came upon the skeleton OF a man An
inquest was held, and the jury found
that the remains were those Of the miss
ing man. Clark. adding In the old-tlme
phrase that he had met his death at the
hands Of some person or persons not
having the fear OF God before their eyes
but being moved and seduced by the
irstigation Of the devil"
Suspicion fastened upon Richard House
man. an acquaintance Of Clark. and he
was arrested. Houseman then declared
that the bones which had been found
were not those OF the missing man,
! though he admitted that Clark had been
murdered In consequence OF informa-
ton which he gave, a search was made
at St Roberts Cave, where another
skeleton was found, and Coroner Theak-
ston again summoned a jury. who sat
/ isfied themselves that these were the re-
mains Of Clark.
HOuseman asserted that Aram had
killed Clark near the cave in the course
of a quarrel about some goods which
they were to share. Strong circumstan-
tial evidence was given by Aram's wife,
whose story is thus recorded:
That about o'clock in the morning
the said Daniel Clark and one Richard
/ Houssman came with her husband home,
and came upstairs 10 the room where
she was. and stayed about ar hour. Clark
said that he must soon be moving That
/ they then all went out OF the house to-
/ gether. and where they went she knows
not, and when Clark came to the door
/ he took up sack and laid it upon his
back; and when they went out It was
about o'clock.
That about 5 o'clock the same morn.
Ing her husband came back, and House
man with him. and her husband came up
stairs. She asked what they had beer
doing. but he would not give her any
answer. That when she came
down in the morning all the ashes were
taken away from out OF the CRATE below
stairs. That she examined the ashes
which were thrown in the yard. and
found some pieces of linen and wooler
cloth. That nothing was missing OF any
cloth Of the family"
Though he protested his innocence
Aram was convicted and executed. Tn,
documents which are to be offered FOL
sale to-day have come down to the pres
ent owner from his ancestor. Coroner
Theakston.