Year: 1874

Appearances Against Him.


The history of English law contains
few more startling judicial tragedies than
that to which the statute against murder
owed so much humane amendment as to
make the finding and positive denti6ca-
ton of the slain person essential to the
conviction of the murderer and as the
same remarkable case had a peculiar
moral and social significance for the
young lovers Of all times, who in their
passionate devotion to each other, are
altogether too apt to disregard the for
tunes Of everybody else in the world, it
may be recalled appropriately for modern
reading.


Upon the death of Mr.. George Per-
kins, a widower of considerable property
in London, it was found that his will
appointed a brother of his, living near
Epping Forest, the sole guardian of his
only daughter, and directed that said
guardian should inherit the whole fortune
devised in case his young ward should die
either unmarried or without children -
Implicit confidence in his brother who was
a middle aged bachelor of limited means,
had, of course, inspired the dying man
to make such will; but number of
family relatives pronounced the doclment
an extraordinary piece of servle faulty,
and darkly limited that harm would eusue
frem it. This feeling caused an aliena-
ton between the occupants of the Epping
Forest residence and the aforesaid proph-
cts, and made the latter the bitterest
PR s eutors of the dead mans brother in
the strange and tragic succeeding events,
which have been described as follows;


Uncle and niece were seen one day
walking together in the forest, but the
young lady suddenly disappeared and the
uncle declared that he had sought her as
soon as he missed her, and knew not
whittier she had gone or what had be-
come of her. This account was consider
ed improbable, and appearances being
clearly suspicious, he was arrested and
taken before magistrate. Other cir
cumstances, hourly coming to light, rem
dered his position serious. A young gen
tleman in the neighborhood had been pay
ing his addresses to Miss Perkins. 1t
was stated, and generally believed that
he had gone, few days before she was
missing, on journey to the North and
that she had declared that she would
marry him ON his return. The uncle had
repeatedly expressed his disapprobation of
the match, and Miss Perkins had loudly
reproached him with his unkindness and
abuse of his authority over her as his
ward. A woman named Margaret Oaks
was produced, who swore that about II
o'clock on the day on which Miss Per-
kins was missed she was passing through
the forest and heard the voice of young
lady earnestly exposulating with gen
tleman. On drawing nearer the spot
whence the sound came, Margaret Oaks
testified that she heard the lady exclaim:
4" Don't kill me, uncle, don't kill me ! "
The woman was greatly terrified, and ran
away from the spot. As she was doing
so she heard the report of firearms On
this combination of circumstantial and
positive evidence, coupled with the suspi-
cion Of interest, the uncle was tried, con-
victed of murder, and almost Immediate
ly notwithstanding to the customs of
those days-was hanged.


About ten days after the execution of
the sentence upon the uncle, the niece re-
appeared, and, stranger still, showed by
the history she related, that all the testi-
mony given on the trial was strictly true
Miss Perkins said that, having resolved
to elope with her lover they had given
out that he had gone on a journey to the
North, whereas he had merely waited near
the skirts Of the forest until the time ap-
pointed for the elopement, which was the
very day on which she had disappeared
Her lover had horses ready saddled for
them both, and two servants in attendance
on horseback. While walking with her
uncle, he reproached her with her resolu-
tion to marry a man of whom he disap-
proved, and after some remonstrances, she
passionately exclaimed


i" have set my heart upon him. If |
don't marry him it will be death to me
and don't kill me uncle, don't kill me-"
just as she proclaimed those words she
heard gun fired, at which she started,
and she afterwards saw man come from
among the trees with wood pigeon in
his hand, which he had shot. On ap-
proaching the spot appointed for meet
ing with her lover, she formed pretence
to induce her uncle to go on before her
She then fled to the arms of her lover,
who had been waiting for her, and they
both mounted their horses and Immediate
ly rode off. Instead, however, of going
to the North, they retired to Windsor,
and about a week afterwards went on
tour of pleasure to France There they
passed some months so happily that in
those days, when newspapers were scarce,
when there was no regular postal COM
munication and no telegraphs, they never
heard of their uncle's sad fate until their
return to England.