140. ALEXANDER M. BURRILL. A Treatise on Circumstantial Evidence. (1868. pp. 275, 539.) I. Traces, marks, or indications on the person or premises of the accused, derived or supposed to be derived from the scene or subject of the crime, embrace the following appearances and objects. 1. Wounds or marks of violence of a peculiar kind; that is, inflicted by the assaulted person in self-defense, or in the course of resistance, either with a particular instrument, or in a particular manner as where, in a case of robbery, the prosecutor, when attacked, struck the robber on the face with a key; and a mark of a key, with corresponding wards, was visible on the face of the prisoner: or where the person assaulted made several cuts at the robber with a clasp knife, and corresponding cuts were found in the clothing and on the person of the accused. 2. Stains of particular substances, visible on the clothing. These often serve to indicate the presence of the accused at the scene of crime, to trace his movements there, and to trace him from it, as effectually as footprints of a peculiar kind. Thus, in the case of Rex v. Richardson, the stockings of the accused, which had been hidden by him, were found to be soiled with mud, which, on examination, appeared to correspond precisely with the soil of a bog or puddle adjoining the cottage where the murder was committed, and which was of a very particular kind, none other of the same kind being found in that neighborhood. . . . 3. Objects found on the person or premises of the accused, and shown to have been taken from the scene or subject of the crime; such as a watch, keys, and similar small articles. 4. The fruits of the crime; such as money, or papers found in the prisoner's possession, and shown to have belonged to the person upon whom the crime has been committed. . . . Such possession may also sometimes be inferred from observed circumstances, as by a sudden and material change in life or circumstances, indicating, beyond question, the recent receipt of money or property from some quarter; where a person, previously known to be poor, is found, shortly after a robbery, larceny, or murder, in the possession of considerable wealth, it is always a circumstance of suspicion. 5. The subject of the crime itself, discovered on the premises of the accused; such as the body of the murdered person found buried under his house, or dismembered and concealed in a box or other private depository. In the two species of facts last mentioned, we arrive at the most convincing physical materials that can possibly be made use of in evidence, to connect a person accused with a crime committed. II. The exculpatory considerations applicable to these facts, are brought forward in the shape of possible causes or reasons assigned for their existence; and these also seem to be divisible into three kinds : accident, innocent conduct of the accused, and conduct of the real criminal or some third person. The following exhibit the principal instances of their application. 1. Criminative objects or articles found in possession. First. The fact of the possession of a stolen article, or an article alleged to have been stolen, admits of the following suppositions, as its possible causes : It may have been conveyed to the place where it was found, by some irresponsible agency, such as the act of a child, or even of an animal. It may have been honestly found by its possessor. It may have been purchased, borrowed, or received as a gift or deposit, from the thief himself, in ignorance of his character: or it may have been purchased, borrowed, or received from a person who purchased or received it from the thief. It may have been taken from the owner, while in a state of intoxication, with the view of keeping it for him, and returning it on his becoming sober. It may have been taken from a person suspected of having stolen it, and kept with the view of seeking out the true owner, or bringing the thief to justice. It may have been deposited with the possessor, without his knowledge or consciousness, by the thief himself, in order to avert suspicion from himself, or from a malicious design to injure the possessor. It may have been deposited with the possessor, by the owner himself (it not being a case of theft at all) from a similar malicious motive. Secondly. The fact of the possession of a criminative article, such as the instrument with which a crime has been committed, or an article known to have belonged to the subject of the crime, or the subject of the crime itself, may admit of similar suppositions, that is to say: It may have been thrown away or dropped by the real criminal, and innocently picked up by the possessor; there being nothing in its mere appearance indicative of its criminal use. It may have been purchased, or borrowed, or received as a gift or deposit, from the real criminal, in ignorance of the character both of the article and the person. It may have been deposited on the premises of the possessor, without his knowledge, by the criminal himself, in order to get rid of it or conceal it. It may have been deposited on such premises, or even attached to the person of the possessor, without his knowledge, by the criminal, from a malicious design to criminate the other. It may have been deposited on the premises of the possessor, by a third person, equally innocent as himself, with the mere view of getting rid of it, and escaping its supposed or known criminative effect.' 2. Criminative appearances on the person. First. Appearances of blood on the person or clothing admit of the following suppositions, in the way of explanation: It may not be blood at all, but a stain produced by a liquid or substance of similar color. But supposing it ascertained to be blood, It may have been occasioned by an accidental bleeding from the nose, etc., or a wound on the person. It may have been occasioned by unconscious contact with another person having a bleeding wound. It may have been occasioned by having come in contact with a bleeding body in the dark. It may have been produced by a surgical operation, as by the party's having been recently bled, or having recently bled himself. It may not be human blood, but that of an animal, transferred to the person on the occasion of his having slaughtered it, in the way of his calling, or otherwise; or in consequence of his having handled it in any way, or come in contact with it or within reach of blood issuing from it. Secondly. Marks, as of cuts, scratches, wounds, or bruises on the face or person, may have been produced by a fall, or the kick or scratch of an animal, or contact with sharp substances of various kinds. 141. THE BAKER'S CASE. Remarkable Trials of All Countries. A Maltese judge of the 1700 s, named Cambro, who was an early riser, having left his bed one morning before sunrise, hearing the footsteps of people running violently in the street, was led by curiosity to see what occasioned it at that unusual hour. Most of the houses in Valletta are furnished with balconies, covered and glazed, which when provided with curtains, permit the inhabitants, if inclined, to observe what is going on in the street, without being themselves discovered. The judge, from one of these, though it was not yet daylight, perceived a man running in great terror from another, who followed close behind. Directly under the judge's window the pursuer overtook the flyer, and stabbed him; the wounded man reeled and fell; in the act of striking, it is to be remarked, the assassin's cap came off, so that the judge had an opportunity of viewing his features in the increasing daylight; hastily recovering it he instantly took to flight. A few paces further on, he threw away the sheath of his stiletto and turned into another street; the judge consequently lost sight of him. a Scarcely had he witnessed this extraordinary spectacle, than baker, with his basket of bread for the daily consumption of his customers, made his appearance. As he walked leisurely along, the sheath of the stiletto, which lay in his path, caught his eye; he stooped, took it up, and, after examining it a little, put it in his pocket and continued his course. Just then a patrol of police, either by accident or drawn by the noise which had attracted the attention of the judge, entered the same street. In the meantime, the baker, a little lower, came to the body just assassinated; the police took the same direction, and the poor man at this instant (T. DUNPHY and T. J. CUMMINS. 1873. p. 453.) ... perceived them behind him; terrified at the sight of the corpse, and fearful of being suspected and arrested, he lost all presence of mind, and hid himself in the entrance of a gentleman's house near the spot. . . . It was not long before they detected the unfortunate baker in his hiding place; his incoherent and confused replies created suspicion; on searching him they found the sheath on his person; the stiletto had fallen from the wound, and lay near the body; on applying it to the sheath, they found it corresponded exactly, and less than all these circumstances would have warranted the arrest of the poor baker. He was accordingly carried to prison, and public report gave out that he was undoubtedly the murderer. Nor was this prepossession any way contradicted or removed by the judge, who, though he had witnessed the whole occurrence, kept it a profound secret in his own breast. Official report was made to him within an hour after the event still he communicated the fact to no one. The only way of accounting for his extraordinary conduct is, that he presided in the criminal court, and that there was a doubt in the existing jurisprudence, how far a judge ought to act from his own private knowledge of a case, and whether he ought not altogether to limit himself to the disposition of witnesses and other evidence brought forward on the trial, without any reference to information he might have casually received from other sources. The dull and heavy intellect of Cambro, unable to distinguish between the rule and the exception, embraced this opinion. The unhappy baker was, in due time, brought to trial. Circumstances were certainly against him; the stupid judge, who knew his innocence, particularly listened to, and punctually noted, all the apparent proofs of his guilt. . . . The hapless wretch was condemned to death, and horrible to relate, soon after underwent the sentence of the law. It was not long before the dreadful truth was brought to light: the real murderer, arrested, brought to trial, and condemned to death. . . . The grand master not only degraded and dismissed Cambro from all his employments, but obliged him to provide handsomely, from his private fortune, for the family of this victim of judicial murder. a night's 142. THE CASE OF THE (S. M. PHILLIPPS. Famous Cases of In the year 1723, a young man who was serving his apprenticeship in London to a master sailmaker, got leave to visit his mother, to spend the Christmas holidays. She lived a few miles beyond Deal, in Kent. He walked the journey, and on his arrival at Deal, in the evening, being much fatigued, and also troubled with a bowel complaint, he applied to the landlady of a public house, who was acquainted with his mother, for a night's lodging. Her house was full, and every bed occupied; but she told him, that if he would sleep with her uncle, who had lately come ashore, and was boatswain of an Indiaman, he should be welcome. He was glad to accept the offer, and after spending the evening with his new comrade, they retired to rest. In the middle of the night he was attacked with his complaint, and wakening his bedfellow, he asked him the way to the garden. The boatswain told him to go through the kitchen; but, as he would find it difficult to open the door into the yard, the latch being out of order, he desired him to take a knife out of his pocket, with which he could. raise the latch. The young man did as he was directed, and after remaining near half an hour in the yard, he returned to his bed, but was much surprised to find his companion had risen and gone. Being impatient to visit his mother and friends, he also arose before day, and pursued his journey, and arrived home at noon. APPRENTICE. SAILMAKER'S Circumstantial Evidence. No. XL.) The landlady, who had been told of his intention to depart early, was not surprised; but not seeing her uncle in the morning, she went to call him. She was dreadfully shocked to find the bed stained with blood, and every inquiry after her uncle was in vain. The alarm now became general, and on further examination, marks of blood were traced from the bedroom into the street, and at intervals, down to the edge of the pierhead. Rumor was immediately busy, and suspicion fell, of course, on the young man who slept with him, that he had committed the murder, and thrown the body over the pier into the sea. A warrant was issued against him, and he was taken that evening at his mother's house. On his being examined and searched, marks of blood were discovered on his shirt and trousers, and in his pocket were a knife and a remarkable silver coin, both of which the landlady swore positively were her uncle's property, and that she saw them in his possession on the evening he retired to rest with the young man. On these strong circumstances the unfortunate youth was found guilty. He related all the above circumstances in his defense; but as he could not account for the marks of blood on his person, unless that he got them when he returned to the bed, nor for the silver coin being in his possession, his story was not credited. The certainty of the boatswain's disappearance, and the blood at the pier, traced from his bedroom, were two evident signs of his being murdered; and even the judge was so convinced of his guilt, that he ordered the execution to take place in three days. At the fatal tree the youth declared his innocence, and persisted in it with such affecting asseverations, that many pitied him, though none doubted the justness of his sentence. The executioners of those days were not so expert at their trade as modern ones, nor were drops and platforms invented. The young man was very tall; his feet sometimes touched the ground, and some of his friends who surrounded the gallows contrived to give the body some support as it was suspended. After being cut down, those friends bore it speedily away in a coffin, and in the course of a few hours animation was restored, and the innocent saved. When he was able to move, his friends insisted on his quitting the country and never returning. He accordingly traveled by night to Portsmouth, where he entered on board a man-of-war, on the point of sailing for a distant part of the world; and as he changed his name, and disguised his person, his melancholy story never was discovered. After a few years of service, during which his exemplary conduct was the cause of his promotion through the lower grades, he was at last made a master's mate, and his ship being paid off in the West Indies, he, with a few more of the crew, were transferred to another man-of-war, which had just arrived short of hands from a different station. What were his feelings of astonishment, and then of delight and ecstasy, when almost the first person he saw on board his new ship was the identical boatswain for whose murder he had been tried, condemned, and executed, five years before! Nor was the surprise of the old boatswain much less when he heard the story. An explanation of all the mysterious circumstances then took place. It appeared the boatswain had been bled for a pain in his side by the barber, unknown to his niece, on the day of the young man's arrival at Deal; that when the young man wakened him, and retired to the yard, he found the bandage had come off his arm during the night, and that the blood was flowing afresh. Being alarmed, he rose to go to the barber, who lived across the street, but a press gang laid hold of him just as he left the public house. They hurried him to the pier, where their boat was waiting; a few minutes brought them on board a frigate, then underway for the East Indies, and he omitted ever writing home to account for his sudden disappearance. Thus were the chief circumstances explained by the two friends, thus strangely met. The silver coin being found in the possession of the young man, could only be explained by the conjecture, that when the boatswain gave him the knife in the dark, it is probable that as the coin was in the same pocket, it stuck between the blades of the knife, and in this manner became the strongest proof against him. 143. JOHN JENNINGS' CASE. jects of Inquiry by a Jury. 3d Amer. A gentleman, traveling to Hull, in the year 1742, was stopped late in the evening, about seven miles short of it, by a single highwayman, with a mask on, who robbed him of a purse containing twenty guineas. The highwayman rode off a different On Facts as Sub (JAMES RAM. ed. 1873. p. 439.) road, full speed, and the gentleman pursued his journey. It, however, growing late, and he being already much affrighted at what had passed, he rode only two miles farther, and stopped at the Bell Inn, kept by James Brunell. He went into the |