CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 211, 28 October 1859, Page 3

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

A very remarkable trial, for murder has lately been held at Hereford. _ The following narrative .comprises all. the important facts of the case, to some of which, in noticing the perpetration of the outrage, we had formerly occasion to refer:—On the 17th of last May there lived at Ledbury a • solicitor, Mr. Masefield. Like other gentlemen in the profession, his offices were looked atter by a housekeeper; " a modest well behaved widow" in this instance, Mrs. Baker, of the mature age of 50, who lived on the premises. Her only companion was a little child called Paine. Amongst Mr. Masefield's clerks, besides his sons, was a certain John Isaac Jones. This young man is described as having "light hair, sharp-pointed features, compressed lips, and glancing eyes—showing a nervous but resolute temper," amongst his other afflictions, for he was poor and triendless, he had lost a leg, and had been an inmate of the workhouse. He seems to have been a person of some education or natural ability, for, from porter in that dreary institution, he had risen to tbe office of schoolmaster, and thence he transferred himself to Mr. Masefield's office as a copying clerk at 18s. a week. He lodged >■■ next door with an old man, fourscore years of

;ageV called'Bowcott, and slept in-a room upstairs. The lateness and irregularity of. mVhoUrs had, shortly .before' the lime m question, induced the old man to*give him a latch-key. On the. 17th of May Mr. Masefield had gone to London. One: of the clerks did not leave the office until 10 o'clock at. night, and as he went away He met. Jones coming towards the. house; but as that was the road to his lodging there was nothing to excite surprise. .In. fact, at that moment, everything-in Mr. Masefield's office was as usual. A .friend of Mrs. JEfaker —Mrs. Jackson, the housekeeper of Mr. Nott—was "just then taking leave. She had been sitting in the house, and seen the child Paine put to bed, and after that sat conversing with poor Mrs. Baker, whilst she mended a pair., of trousers^ for the prisoner. It was not yet supper time, and the only things on the table, which was covered with oilskin, were a cake, a knife, a candlestick. Before Mrs. Jackson left, the back-door had-been fastened and the bell put upon it. Mrs. Jackson, however, went out by the front door, but whether that door was fastened or not, or whether it could be opened from outside she did'not observe. H\om. the time when 'Mrs. Jackson bade her friend good-night till next mornino- about 8 o'clock, nothing was heard of Sirs. Baker. Old Bowcoit who slept in the ground-floor next door, put out his light at- 20 mintues past (en and slept soundly. Ho heard nothing, nor, although the clerk Jones made a peculiar noise with his" cork leg, did he hear the slightest sound. So passed the night of the 1-7 th of Islny. Next morning Jones rose earlier than usual, and breakfasted. After breakfast the old man Bowcott, who supplied milk to Mrs. Baker, knocked at the door of the office, but got no answer. He hammered at it; and while hammering, Jones came up. Having thrown some- peas at the ' window, the latter left to buy some meat and purchase some brand}^. Everybody then seems.to have left, but presently Jones returned to the back-yard, and said to some people about that he had found the key. Jones and a man (Powell) entered. As they went in..they .saw the child dressing herself. They questioned her; " Where's Mrs. Baker? Is she gone out?" The child said," "Yes." How long ?" rejoined Jones. "Not long," said the child. Powell left; but in a few minutes the same man returned, and he saw Jones with the child under his arm rushing to Bowcott's. " I asked Jones," said Powell, "if he had seen Mrs. Baker, whereupon he took hold of me by the arm, saying, " Powell, Powell, she's dead and burning.'" He then cried out for some water, and a young map, Davis, brought some, and he drank it, Passing-upstairs they entered Mrs. Baker's room. There they found the poor woman lying on the floor, with a bruise on her temple, -her clothes smouldering, a cord slightly burnt under.: the. clothes, with marks on the neck which showed that she had been strangled. It was-evident that the woman had been murdered. The doors and windows were looked at, bnt there was nothing to show that the house had been entered by.' violence. But on Mrs. Baker's table there was a tablecloth, two glasses, one of them filled with gin and water, su.^ar, and a jag of water, and which were not there the night before. Somebody, then, must have murdered Mrs. ■Baker, arid here were palpable indications that some acquaintance had been in the room after her friend, Mrs. Jacksou left. As Jones went round the rooms he drew out the drawers, and said, "there mast have been a robbery." No doubt there had been, for money had been taken from Masefield's drawer, amongst which was a marked sixpence. From the young Masefield's drawers cheques, bank notes, and cash were taken. This and other circumstances seems to show that the robbery must have been perpetrated by some one who knew the premises well. But singularly enough, the cricket money in a desk in the same room was not taken, though it was notoriously in the office that young Masefield was treasurer, nor was another desk rifled though it was equally notorious that Woodward, one of the clerks, kept money there also. Who could have done the deed? It was conclusively proved that Jones had been in the habit of borrowing money, and when he was first apprehended more than £10 was found upon him,, together with some stamps and a pocket-book. But on the other hand, there was evidence that he had told some one in conversation he had in his possession a considerable sum of money which he did, not wish. " to break into, it." Moreover, a search ..was made in his fire-place lor the'•ashes "of such cheques as he might'h\iVci burnt. At first nothing was discovered, "but a month afterwards some were found which were alleged to be the remains of cheques on the National Provincial Bank, some of _ which had been stolen; but upon inspection the eye of the judge could not detect the letters alleged to be discernable ; by the astute witness. In short, there was nothing found in the possession of Jones whicli could be identified as part of the property which had been stolen. It is true a packet ofsmall silver coin, one of which, was Mr. Masefield's, marked 6d., was found in a lane near the scene of the catastrophe which was most freqented by. working men. No packet lay there early in the morning but about 8 o'clock, just about the time Jones had been there, the packet in ques^ tion was picked up. No doubt if Jones was the robber he might have got rid. of that. Again, a bludgeon was found in that man's box; and this might have rendered the old woman insensible. But bludgeons are common things. Again,-a diary was found, on the prisoner • which, singularly enough, had been kept with;.'"..accuracy only during the three days between the 16th and 19th of May, when he was sus-

pected. Was this anxiety to be able to recall accurately the events which, had passed, for he began to be suspected? Lastly, the state of things within the house seemed to show that the deed must have been done in the dark, and by some one who was not a professional housebreaker. If a candle had been lighted it must have been seen in Mr. Masefield's, and this seems to show that the criminal must have known the premises; and, in this case, he could not have been a professional burglar. On the other hand, it is clear that the clerk Jones certainly slept in his bed on the night of the murder—his behaviour exhibited no conclusive marks of guilt; and indeed if his coolness after the commission of the deed was so extraordinary, it strangely deserted him on his trial. There is no reason to suppose that this clerk would have been ignorant of Mr, Masefield's movements, nor is is probable that he would have resolved to commit a murder for the purpose of perpetrating a robbery without diligent inquiry as to whether Mr. Masefield had any money in the office on the 17th of May, of which there is not a trace. In short the case againt Jones was purely circumstantial. Circumstances, as Mr Justice Byles well observed, are sometimes like dumb witnesses standing round and pointing to the criminal. But in this case they pointed both ways, and therefore thejury adopted the safest conclusion by pronouncing the verdict of " Not guilty."