Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-11-06
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Solution of an Old-Time Mystery

"a few days after the termination
of the trial of a man upon a charge
of murder in the first degree which
was held before me as justice for the
Supreme Court, l. met Thurlow Weed,
with whom my friendship had long
been maintained, and 1 found that he
had been interested In reading the
newspaper report of the trial, for the
first thing he said to mo after We
met had reference to some features
of the trial He asked me If in my
experience as a trial justice any per-
son accused of murder had been ac-
quilted by the jury whose acquittal
believed not to be justified-in other
words, whether I as judge was sitis-
fed that the accused was guilty"
This was said to mo by the late
Noah Davis, who when sitting as
Judge of the Supreme Court of New
York had before him some cases that
are now known as celebrated causes.
One of them was that of William M.
Tweed, who was convicted and SEN
fenced by Judge Davis to twelve
years of imprisonment. Another was
the case of the late Edward 5. Stokes,
who upon his second trial Tor the
murder OF James Fisk was convicted
of manslaughter and served -FOUR
years in State prison.
IT told Mr.. Weed that one of the
hardest things for a trial justice,
especially in a murder case, was the
maintaining of q clear distinction
between morally good belief in the
guilt of the accused and the legal
nroof of it." continued Judge DAVIS.
! II said. Furthermore, that | thought
that no man had been convicted IN
any case in which I ever sat as
trial fudge without there having oeen
ABUNDANT legal proof OF his gulit,
| cases where the accused was &C
Quilted, and properly, although there
| was moral certainty that he was
| guilty of the crime
| 'sMr. Weed then said to me that he
had no faith in the accuracy OF the
saving that murder will out He
! knew of two or three cases of
| homicide which will always be, SO
far as the courts or the pubic are
concerned, mysterious murders. he
then told me something that had
como within his experience asso-
ciated with the permanent mystery
/
| lor Lansing.
"That took place before my time,
but Mr.. Weed was already con-
siderable power in New York politics
when Chancellor Lansing disap-
peared. He was on friendly terms
| with Chancellor Lansing and had a
special regard for him because it was
! due chiefly to the agitation begun
and carried on by Lansing when he
was a young man that the amend
ments to the Federal Constitution,
ten in all, were adopted, few years
after the Constitution was accepted
by a sufficient number of States 70
make possible the organization of our
! national government.
"Chancellorr Lansing was last-s seer
I by anyone who was willing or able II
| make a report of having seen hin
while on his way to the Albany
steamboat pier in New York city. L
was In 1899. When the boat arrived
| in Albany the next morning he wal
! not to be found, nor was there am
| trace of him. AT first 1t was though'
| that he had fallen overheard and beer
| drowned, but had that been the case
| his body would sooner or later hav'
I washed ashore. There were many
| hints that his disappearance was not
to be explained by his death, blu
| that he had fed for some reason OF
which there were only suspicious. Mr.
| Weed told me that that was the cas-
! which proved that murder was no
always discovered, or the perpetratori
of it. He said that in the course of 8
certain political organization In which
he was engaged he stumbled upon al
| explanation of the disappearance o
| Chancellor Lansing. 1t was a cas-
of murder, and the chancellor was go
out of the way because 1t was vital L
an important litigation that he b
killed.
''All the parties TO this transaction
Mr.. Weed told me, died within a fey
years after the chancellor's disap
pearance. For that reason. those VIII
knew the secret Of the mystery be
lieyed that it was the better part t
permit the disappearance always t
remain a mystery.
~ am certain that Mr.. Weed coul