The North Cumberland Reformer. — 1895-07-20 (Carlisle, Cumbria, England)

MUJIDERER,'S GOB MEN UE.  A NOTTINGHAM CRIME CLEARED UP  We take the following startling account of the confession of a Nottingham murderer, whose crime escaped detection and almost notice for thirteen years, from the "Australian Star," of Sydney, received by the last mail : A man named Samuel Evison, carpenter, at Hamilton, Waikato, surrendered himself recently to the police in New Zealand, confessed that he had caused the death of a girl in England in March, 1882, and asked the constable to lock him up. Evison appeared to be quiet, cool, and calm. Constable Forbes said hi A statement was a grave one, and asked him if he had fully comprehended its importance and the possible consequences. He said that he had. The prisoner was taken into custody, and brought before Mr. John Knox, J.P., at the Hamilton Police Court, when he made the following statement concerning his connection with the tragedy : "In March, of 1882, I was in Nottingham, in England. I was walking with a girl named 'Jenny,' whom I had picked up about three weeks previously. We had a few words about seeing her with another young man. She hit me in the face. I gave her a push,and she fell on her head on the stone coping on the edge of the footpath and then fell into the river. The coping was built right up from the river and formed a promenade. It was close to the Nottingham Trent Bridge. It was dark, about eight o'clock on that night. I saw her strike the water, and I saw her float down the river for about five or six yards. She was struggling in the water. I then came from the end of the bridge on to the mai. I scarcely knew what to do. I went over the bridge, and came back and went straight home. I have never heard more about it. I was in a passion at the time and did not try to save her. I did not know the girl by any other name but Jenny.' She was in the lace trade. I did not know where she lived. I stopped in Nottingham for three months, but never heard of her being found.—(Signed) &mum Evisox." Evison is 34 years of age, and is a very quiet, reserved man, about 5 feet, 6 inches, well built, fresh complexion, dark, with dark hair and moustache. Those who worked with Evison say they never worked with one they liked better or thought more of. Men whom he worked for speak very highly of him, and none would have judged from his conversation, manners, or character that he could have been guilty of the crime which he imputes to himself. One man with whom he had worked for some time in Hamilton states that he would never object to assist in making a coffin, but nothing on earth would induce him to attend a funeral; he has refused to do so even when the relatives of his beat friends have been buried. He had been in Hamilton for over two years, but did not make many friends, being reserved and taciturn unless spoken to. Evison was on various occasions noticed by Hamilton residents to be in deep mental distress. He was of a very uneven temperament— cheerful for days, and then cast down with melancholy, and would not speak unless spoken to, and then as briefly as possible. When questioned as to the motive which induced him to confess his crime, Evison said that he could never get rid of the recollection of the affair. He had been nearly driven mad, and on some occasions felt half inclined to commit suicide. As he had no peace or rest he thought the best way was to unburden his mind. Evison says he had made up his mind to do so in England, but he got frightened. The girl's disappearance does not seem to have attracted notice in Nottingham, and she was not apparently missed, for Evison stayed three months, and scanned the newspapers, but saw no reference to her being missed or her body being found.  "IS MARRIAGE A FAILURE?" Mr. Justice Grantham and a special jury on Wednesday heard the action of Lee V. Gibson, in which the petitioner,Herbert SpencerLee,formerly an army tutor, sought to recover damages for alleged breach of contract and loss occasioned by reason of the detention of certain manuscript. In the year 1889, when the question "Is marriage a failure ? " was being discussed in a London morning gaper, the plaintiff was assistant tutor in the employ of Mr. John Gibson, of Bromley. At the suggestion of the defendant, Mr. Lee devoted his time to the compiling of a series of essays upon the question, Mr. Gibson undertaking to have it published, to pay all the expenses of publication and take half the profits. The MS. was sent by the plaintiff to the defendant upon those terms, but it had neither been published nor returned, hence the claim. —The case for the defence was that in the first instance the manuscript was so obscene as to be unfit for publication, that afte.r many revisions it was offered to publishers but rejected, and that subsequently it got lost in a spring cleaning.--The plaintiff gave evidence, alleging that the manuscript was still in the possession of thsclefendant.—Mr.Gih. son, the defendant, denied this, and Mr. Alfred Henry Bennet, fermerly a partner in Messrs. Henry and Co's, gave evidence to the effect that the manuscript was improper. He also said that manuscript of such a character was absolutely worthless.—The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, wins farthing damages. As defendant had paid money into court in respect to the claim, a verdict was entered for the defendant With 008th.  -