Year: 1879




the conclusion on the evidence was ire
sistible. Mr.. Dubourg stood convicted Of
having been in the field at the time when
the murder was committed; Of having by |
his own admission, had quarrel with the
murdered man not long before, termina-
ting in an assault and threat on his side,
aud, lastly, of having attempted to set up
an alibi by false statement of the ques.
tion of time. There was no alternative
but to commit him to take his trial at the
assizes, charged with the murder Of the
builder In Pardou's Piece.


The trial occupied two days.


No new facts Of Importance were dis
covered in the interval. The evidence
followed the course which il had taken at
the preliminary examinations-with this
difference only, that it was more carefully
sifted. Mr.. Dubourg had the double ad-
vantage Of securing the services Of the
leading barrister Of the circuit, and of
moving the irrepressible sympathies Of the
jury, shocked at his position, and eager for
proof Of his innocence. By the end Of the
first day the evidence had told against
him with such irresistible force that his
own counsel despaired Of the result. When
the prisoner took his place in the dock
on the second day there was but one con-
yiction in the minds of the people in court
every body said "The clock will hang
him"


1t was nearly two in the afternoon, and
proceedings were on the point of being ad-
journed for half an hour, when the attor-
ney for the people was seen to hand a pa.
per to the counsel for the defence.


The counsel arose, showing signs of agi-
tation which reused the curiosity of the
audience. He demanded the immediate
hearing of the new witness, whose evidence
in the prisoners favor he declared to be
too important to be delayed for single
moment. After short coloquy between
the judge and burristers on either side,
they decided to continue the sitting


The witness appearing in the box, proved
10 be young woman in delicate health.
On the evening when the prisoner had
paid his visit to the lady she was in that
ladys service as housemaid The day
after she had been permitted (by previous
arrangement with her mistress) to take n
weeks holiday, and to 60 on visit to pa
rents in the west of Cornwall While
there she had fallen i'll, and had not been
strong enough since to return to her en-.
ployment. Having given this preliminary
account Of herself, the housemaid then
narrated the following extraordinary par.
ticulars in relation to her mistress clock


On the morning Of the day when Mr.
Dubourg had called at the house she had
been cleaning the mautlepiece. She had
rubbed the part Of it which was under The
clock with her duster, had accidentally
struck the pendulum, and had stopped it
Having once before done this, she had
been severely reproved Fearing that q
repetition Of the ofiense, only the day after
the clock had been regulated by the maker
might lead perhaps to the withdrawal o
her leave Of absence, she had determined
to put matters right again, if possible, BY
herself


After poking under the clock in tn,
dark, and failing to set the pendulum 90
ing again properly in that way, she mex
attempted to lift the clock aud give it
shake. 1t was set in marble case, Will
a bronze figure on the top, and it was S,
heavy that she was obliged to hunt 70
something which she could use as lever
The thing proved to be not easy to find OF
the spur Of the moment. Having at las
laid her hand on what she wanted, sh,
contriyed so to lift the clock few inche
and drop it again on the mantlepiece as t,
set it going once more.


The next necessity was, Of course, L
move the hands on. Here again she wa
met by an obstacle. There was difficult,
in opening the glass case which protected
the dial. After uselessly searching fo
some instrument to help her, she got from
the footman without telling him what sh,
wanted it for) a small chisel With thi
she opened the case-after accidental,
scratching the brass frame around it--anC
set the hands of the clock by guess. Sh,
was Hurried at the time, fearing that he
mistress would discover her. Later in th,
day she found that she had oyer-estimatot
the interval Of time that had passed Will,
she was attempting to put the clock right
She had, in fact, set it exactly quarter
OF an hour too fast


No safe opportunity of secretly putting
the clock right again, had occurred unit
the last thing at night. She had MOVED
the hands back to the right time. AT III,
hour of the evening when Mr.. Dubour,
had called on her mistress she positiyel, +,
sworc that the clock was a quarter of AZ
hour too fast 1t had pointed, as her mis-
tress had declared, to twenty five minute,
past nine-thc right time being, as Mr.
Dubourg had asserted, twenty minute,
past eight.


Questioned as to why she had refraiues
from giving this extraordinary evidence AZ
the inquiry before the magistrate, she dc
clared that in the distant Cornish yillap,
to which she had gone next day, and IA
which her illness had detained her from
that time, nobody had heard Of the in
quiry or the trial. She would not hav,
been present to state the vitality importan nj
circumstances to which she had Just swort
IT the prisoners twain brother had mol
found her out on the previous day, had mol
questioned her If she knew anything about
the clock, and had not (hearine what sh,
had to telD insisted on her taking thC
journey with him to the court the mex,
morning.


The evidence virtually decided the tri.l
There was great burst of relief in the
crowded assembly when the women 5 state
ment had come to an end.


She was closely cross-examined as q
matter of course Her character was 10
quired into; corroboratiye evidence (rela
tive TO the chisel aud the scratches on the
frame) was sought for, and was obtained
The end Of It was that, at late hour on
the second evening, the jury acquitted tho
prisoner without leaving their box. II
was too much to say that his life had been
saved by his brother. His brother alone
had persisted from first to last. in obsti
nately disbclieying the clock-for no bet
ter reason than that the clock was the wit
ness which asserted the prisoners guilt
He had worried everybody with his inccs
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