Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-01-21
A DOUBLE
CONFESSION
The Singular Case Of a Pair
of Lovers
By JOHN z. 0uELvle

One OI tue QueStiuHS Us " "Ha' 10
and what is not allowable In the legal
profession that luyneu are not apt to
understand Is whether 1t is honorable
for u lawyer to defend client who
has confessed hiniself guilty Of the
crime with which lie Is charged. One
Of the reasons why this is not only al,
!owahle for an attorney. but IL hls
duty. Is that the confession may he
false. Mury persons have lGborei I'm,
Ter hallucination that they have
committed crime of which they are
entirely innocent.
had very singular case of this
kind VIXEN was practicing. before
went on the bench. A young mnn
was uccused Of forging his uncle's will.
He was heir-atlnw to the property In
volved by reason Of relationship to the
testator. But several years before the
will was drawn one waS executed leaV.
ing the property to u woman who was
his housekeeper. 1t was this house,
keeper. Anna Blake. who accused the
| beneficiary under the second will with
having forged his uncles name to 1t.
| Arnold Jefferson. my client. when
| came to confer with him about his
| case, asked me whether | would de-
fend person who confessed himself
| guilty. | said that would. where
upon he told me that In order to pre-
vent his uncle's property from going
out of the family and secure 1t for
himself he had forged his uncle's name
to the second will.
| was somewhat staggered Mt this. for
If proved him innocent would divert
the property from the channel In which
the testator intended 1t to go and de-
prive the real owner Of 1t that 1t might
| 70 to criminal. piled the young man
| with questions as to how he had come
| to perpetrate such crime. and he told
Inc that he was In love with girl
| whom he would like to marry and did
not consider himself able to do so with
out this property. Besides. he believed
that his uncle was intending to leave
It to him at the time Of his death.
I'll declined to take the case and he
could get no other lawyer to do 80 the
| Judge would assign him counsel. There.
fore | proceeded with II, though reluc-
family. for It Is not pleasant for con-
scientious lawyer to defend man who
has admitted his guilt. would content
myself with trying to get my client on
with az light sentence as possible.
There was a chance for the young
man In this-experts In chirography
would be called who would compare
the signature to the will with Jeffer.
sons handwriting These experts are
apt to differ In such matters. The
plaintiff called the most prominent one
Of the lot. who declared that my client
must have written the signature to the
will. employed another expert, who
testified that he could not have written
II. But unfortunately of the Eve ex.
perts called four testified that there
were certain strokes In the signature
that were to be found in Jefferson's
writing.
There were two signatures Of wit.
nesses to the will Jefferson was charg'
ed with forging. One Of these persons.
Edward Bronson. was dead: the other.
Silas Ormsby. was not to be found.
They were supposed to be myths. and
the plaintiffs attorneys. though they
had no proof that the defendant had
written their names. threw out broad
hint that he had done 80.
The case looked 80 desperate that ]
advised my client to produce his con.
fession and throw himself on the mercy
of the court. BY this mems he might
secure a light sentence. whereas II he
persisted in denying his guilt In the
face of such conclusive evidence he
would very likely get heavy one.
He said that he would think the mat
ter over. This was after court ad
journed on Saturday. and feared ]
could not keep the trial In progress
more than day or two longer And
rs the case stood Jefferson was sure to
be convicted Sunday evening ! re
ceived call from a young lady. Miss
| Dora Wentworth. who turned all my
expectations awry. She told me that II
was she. and not Arnold Jefferson. who
had committed the forgery.
felt II incumbent upon me to sub
| ject her to u searching examination
| to get at the truth. She said that she
was the person whom Jefferson was
engaged to marry. He Ind been al
lover should be until about the time
his uncle had died md no will was
found leaving the property to him
| Then she told him that will would
he found II she had to write one her
Eelf. This. she added. she had done.
| asked Miss Wentworth II she
would sign written confession to
this effect. and she said she would Sc
| asked her to write II. Before she
could again see Jefferson went to the
Jail and. showing him her confession.
asked him why he had made false
one himself He seemed good deal
agitated at seeing the matter laid
down in black and white. Then he
burst out passionately:
II didn't believe when she threaten
ed to do this thing that she would he
40 desperate. Nevertheless when the
second will was found feared abe
had written md signed It. Preferring
to suffer myself rather than that she
should suffer for her crime. have
stood In the brench. And ! propose
before the court and the world b
continue to stand In the breach. ]
still claim what have claimed-that
concocted the will. signed my uncie's
name to 1t and put In the names OF
witnesses who had no existence"
Here was mixed up affair. and no
mistake. A pair Of lovers were each
claiming to be guilty. and solely
guilty. Of a crime. Which was the In
nocent. which the guilty One7 ! had
nothing by which to decide. | Thoughts
of the experts. Should submit this
new feature Of the case to them
What would It avail? A prep0nder.
ance Of their evidence had proved JET
ferson guilty. They could not be ex'
pected to go back on their former evil
dence by declaring that Miss Went
worth committed the forgery.
could get other experts who had not
yet been brought Into the case. but II
they declared that Miss Wentworth
had done the writing II would only