Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-05-19
ss41@e@~ y -
CRIME OF EUGENE ARAM.

pealeu to IhomaS HOOD ana tSufNSi
/ Lytton, SO the one wrote a poem and
/ the ether book about the smurderei
! with the result that the name of 4
4 rather commonplace manslayer re
/ mains household word and is consid-
sered something to conjurs with by law
(! yers and orators. So much sympathy
/ for Eugene was created by Hood $
| poem that determined efforts have been
made At various times and by various
writers to prove that he was a martyr,
bat the evidence against him was too
conclusive to be argued away. One lit
tie matter has always been overlooked
by his defenders On the morning oil
the day tha; saw his execution, he adj
United that he deserved his punish
merit, and attempted to commit suicide
with Il razor. One balmy DAY in 1859
some intelligent British workmen Were
engaged in digging out stone in quar-
~ near Knareshorough when they
came upon n human skeleton. The
bones We're reVerently collected and
taken to town and the villagers engag
ed in q guessing contest as 10 whose
they might be- then one of the oldest
inhabitants remembered that a man
named Daniel Clark had mysteriously
disappered some 10 years ago. Daniel
had a rather rancid reputation and had
caused the local constables some an
noyance, so il was taken for granted
when he dropped out that he had
sought a change of climate. However,
now that the bones We're found, every
body felt quite sure that he must have
been murdered. Then another of the
oldest inha bitants recollected that
Clark used 10 be quite intimate with a
man named Houseman and somebody
else was sure that when Clark was last
seen he was in Houseman's company.
Mr.. Housemn. who also had a some
what ragged reputation, still INFESTED
the community, so he WIS rounded up
by the eenturious and asked to explain
the disappearance of his old-time rum
ming mate At first he professed tn be
greatly shocked that anybody would
think him guilty of contributing 10
Daniels disappea rance. His righteous
fndigna tor was worth going miles To
see. But when he had spent a few days
in the village tolbooth his conscience
got in its work, and he made a confess
sion. The bones which had been due
up we're not those of Daniel Clark. lie
didn't know whose they We're. Daniel
was buried in an entirely different
place. and he guided the officers to the
proper spot. They went to work with
spades and dug up the bones Of the
late Mr.. Clark That he had been
murdered was obvious. Some OF MS
bones were fractured and his skull had
been caved in.
In the excitement and enthusiasm
over this discovery the original bones
were forgotten, and the mystery they
never was cleared up. Ihey
also indicated murder, but the sea
must give up its dead before the ldeh-
t,ty of the victim will be established.
Then Mr. Houseman made an eian-
crate explanation of the whole busl-
ness. He and Clark and Eugene Aram
had been associating for some time III
a general scheme of swindling. Aram,
who was educated and clever. directed
operations and Clark and Housemaa
aid the coarse work. Aram wasn't ex-
actiy popular with his associates. He
was domineering and treated them con-
He spent his evenings IN
his cottage, reading and studying,
while they were out rustling, and then
they had to call upon him and divide
the spoil. Naturally they felt that
their faces were being ground by the
iron heel of. tyranny.
One evening they made an especially
good haul, having disposed of some
goods which had been obtained os
fraud. and when they called upon Eu-
gene to declare a dividend he COM
rlained that the cottage was close ana
stuffy. and invited them to take Walk
18th him. Aram and Clark went on
ahead into a field. Presently House
man heard them quarreling and then
heard the sickening thud of a clup
striking human flesh, He ran TO the
scene of the disturbance and found
clark living dead. Houseman was pad
ly ratified and ran away. The next DAY
he visited Aram's cottage, and Eu-
gene threatened him with all kinds OF
cntastrophes if he spoke of what he
had seen. Knowing that Eugene was
dangerous Mr. Houseman preserved a
mo sterlv silence. and the murderer
moved away from the neighborheed.
The village sleuths got busy anol trac-
ed him to Kings Lynn, where ne was
now quietly employed as an usher M d
school and from that school he was lea
forth with gives upon his wrists.
He made strenuous defense wnen
,laced upon trial There is no record
mat he ever denied committing the
crime, but he tried to prove his ,nno-
,er,ce by technical stra HAGEN. ne
weak point of the prosecution was that
HE only direct evidence against nun
was the testimony of Houseman' ana !.
was generally agreed that Hou House ian
couldn't tell the truth without unuer
Going a severe strain. Aram's n illssa
was that the bones were
those of a woman. but the meolcai
practitioners soon disposed OF tna'-
Thtre were many witnesses VINO tes.l-
fled TO the good character OF the prs
oner. and Aram cried out passioha.sas
that his days were honestly iaoorious'
his nights intensely studious. Then ms
Ia,vver tried to show that the conoitioh
of the bones didn't necessarily indica.e
,nrr1er The bones of the skeleton were
fractured but so were those OIL .ne
A rchbishop of York when exhumea III
,7.s and he certainly was not muraer-
cd. Every trick known to the iawyein
of that period was resorted to, oul an
in vain. The jury found him gmii.s
and Aram was returned to his cen W
Il. +na oyartltioner.