Oxford Democrat., 1916-02-08

.He might keep away to prevent nv
t.,nr called ON to testify against you.
mo fear Of that; be had no love 'of
ma"
The lawyer pondered for awhile tnen =
said. '.The only defense can maze =
n nroye an alfbi, and that could %
done only by fraudulent means
aPut me on the stand ana III 'en
my story" - ~.
lawyer. '.that can be made ont OF Ws
matter, but 1t WIN have no eject "nA1
ever on a jury"
The trial Of Fergus MacGregor was
looked upon as mere formaiify' aao
there was no doubt whatever that ne
would be convicted. His lawyer mace
the most out of his story, and PROOF
was furnished that his client hao Deen
where he claimed to have been since
ha had left his home. The fact tnas
the face of the body found In tne
thicket could not be recognized was
dwelt upon by the prisoners counsei;
hut since the garment on the corpse
was one of Mrs. MacGregors dresses,
the hypothetical methods to show tna'
the body was not that Of Mrs. MAC
Grepor fell hat. Besides, there was
the strand Of red hair that several
witnesses who knew the lady swore
-. tho oxact shade of Mrs. MacGreg.
of's.
The Judge, the jury and the specta-
tors were bored by the counsers ae'
tense of MacGregor, the jury listening
to It perfunctorily and the others faik'
Ing together while 1t was being spok'
en-. When the lawyer sat down tne
public prosecutor arose and said:
'aThere seems. your honor, no occa.
s,on for me to sum up this case AT
length. and I will do 30 very briefly
Sounds Of quarrel were heard In the
MacGregor home. The prisoner dis-
appeared, doubtless tnking the family
yaluables with him, though they have
not been found. His wife's body Is
concealed in q thicket near the house.
identified by q dress belonging to MIS-.
MacGregor and by strands OF hair
found in the house which she lost dur
ing a struggle for her life. Counse'
for the defense has claimed that the
case Is one of circumstantial evidence.
II it should not convict the prisoner,
then no circumstantial evidence should
convict any criminal"
The words were no sooner spoken
than a woman came running into the
courtroom.
Fergus" she cried, they tell me
they're going to hang ye for KILL
ing mel!
The live body Of the murdered wom-
an pushed its way to the prisoner,
threw her arms around his neck and
patted him lovingly.
"Your honor" cried counsel for the
defense, 1T has been stated that II
the circumstantial evidence In this
case should not convict the prisoner
then no person should be convicted BY
such testimony. Therefore It follows
that no person should be convicted on
circumstantial evidence"
Every one present was dumfounded.
When the prisoner could Hnd his voice
he asked his wife to tell where she had
been.
with Walter. I've been tryin' to
get him out Of scrape he got into In
Lunnon."
The mystery Of the MscGfegor case
remained a mystery for ten years.
Then q man was convicted Of murder
In Australia who before be died on the
gallows made the following confes-
sion:
Ten years before he and two pals. q
man and a woman, in Edinburgh, all
the worse for liquor, left the town to
evade the police. Passing the Mac.
Gregor home and finding 1t unoccupied,
they broke a pane Of glass, opened q
window and went In. They appropn-
ated certain articles Of value, espe-
cially clothes, the men donntng Mac
Gregor's garments, the woman Q dress
Of Mrs. MacGregor. They were about
to depart when the men discovered
that the woman had found some jewel
~ Of Mrs. MacGregor. They demand
ed their share Of It. which she refused
to give up. They took 1t by force, un-
Intentionally killing her in the strug-
gle. After depositing the body in the
thicket they departed. The woman's
hair was red.