Mistaken Identity.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 169, 11 September 1886, Page 7

Mistaken Identity.

1 jfeft.,' ' &>fe mW wM 1 bs? arid stick* 'dtPthe' WacirSna^H^ftPparen^y ■ V turned in the same manned /He looked just as, before, e'xbep't stouter' atiil sunburtifcVand with* a heavy Warar^Xll'ttteTvillUW ftebg. nieW y Wm 11 and fio rt, coiVgd'^im' 'tenderly /atfcT twfithout re,proaches.; j T6 A .her/^as^^ them, ;he .showed/ a spontaneous i memory pf ever)' detail of /tnejjpasti/, an(£ /the', mbHaing after Eifa*' arrival, said, tb^er : ' bring* me' my^hite'^reechea',' trimmed with white silk. ;t; t . vqu ; will fihd them at th« bottom of the largo .beech chest,' under the linen." For , three years they lived aa naan ; and wife, arid'*a : child was born^ '^o'/'theiaiV ' No\^a»picion crossed' 'Be^tran'de's,'' mind '*' nor* "'{Vie riiinds of neighbours V^et* this ' Win" 1 nbl ' Her" hSeWrid/ *'' nAt Ma'rfcW 1 'Guer&j.' A soldier wab^d^nQwn'thfrettt'huW band' ih' u the wars the *tdih .one ,a8 a cheat .at .sight. Yet* when" in-; torrbpt'edr <1! in^ 1 r ImV%V whose name Arnauld vw Dv TlTn,i answered i/i^ detail' 'every question as to Martin's early" 'life,* f ' Carriage, s ( departure,' motiVee. '&c s eveW'^ddßcribed the women'r'aie'eeeS-fa^ tfh'e '"wedßing n^d fi*aye'jall the 'names,' iilbWaiftg 'tfib priest I whp had ompiateclV , 3p wVy detail of MUr t i« and 1 BVrtraridejS pa'et'hiltory was giVen in open equrtwitn'^ut'Kesitatiqripr, contividicion. ' In two long invyfitigatibbe/nibre tbajn forty witnesses swore that the accused Vas, Martin Guerre, and among them hie four sisters and two, bro^heri^inulaw. Witnesses swore to certain pecullaVitie© and marks on the real Guerre, which were all found on his duplicate, Eorty-tive other witno3?es swore that the prisoner was' not Guerre, but Arnauld fiu ' * Tilh, -whom' they krioWi well. 1 So < was the 1 balance that the judges, ■ ! nbt being abl?' to de^iHe either . way, were about to' give 'flicf lie accused the benefit of douDt,' f when whb should Svalk through' the villag6 to J his homeland, thence into tihe court- room but the real Martin" 1 Guerre ' himself. The r impostor, un'dahnted, swore that "the man he had personated was ap impostor. Stra'riger still, he was clearer in Wis memory of the past than the 'dazed newcomer teemed. But etrdng likenesses be Ween persons when ee'paVated become less sfc'rikirig whon they stand side by side. The four sisters retract ad at once, and fltngingth^madvefe intoMarfin'^ arms cried: '^Ttiia^s Qur dear brother:" The wife aleo 'confessed that ehe J «had be'etf imposed upon, .with sham\9 an'd tears. The only French report' of thS trial' says : "Two eggs d9*noc resemble each other more tjiati did tfiesetwomen." One by otic the witnesses retracted. The fraud was put to death, |l makitig a , confession that* souie friends'of Guerre had accosted him' tfy that'natne, which h Ad' suggested the decep-, tiori, 'aid that his' knowledge' had been acquired'frora Guerre hnmelf,' whom he had known as a comrade in tHe army,' This , ancient ' trial recalls one in the 'early days' 'of San Francisco, lin 1851, when, there' was a ' temporary committee of vigilance to aid the slow regular police in detecting the cfimes cbmmitt'ed by the •• Sydney Ducke," -a termofton r unfairly' used * of ' respectable settlers ' from Australia as well as'of the W convicts' from that colony. ' About 6* b'cloclc 1 one sprifig evening Charles Janseh', proprietor of- 'a wholesale dry goods establishment on .Montgomery -street, waav^eeated alone in his; counting-room, his clerks having gone to supper. Two' , grangers jen tiered, jove :f whom felled i him' Vwittn a bac'uof/ iron, while -the f othor » rifled'- the safe of many thousands of 'dollars' i^ ( co^' and ..Rold ' dust. '"The ..clerks', found, -> Mr Jansen PGnseless and bleeding on the floor. Next day" he was 1 "able tb f - desbriba' his assailants/ arid the ' 'supposed^ cri'txiSinalß were arrested as they stepped aboard "the Sacramento boat. "' • The 1 description of 'cfhe 1 ' t o'f them i agreed' exactly 1 with James Stuart, the ' leader- ftf a gang l< of thieves and murderers who hati killed! the Sheriff 1 of Yuba" ! c6un^y, s and weife the terror of the f State. • The-pMice were satisfied that they had now captured "Jim Scuartand Joe- .WildredZ/bis companion,' and' that' they were the perpetratdrs " of- the l double " crime.' It was feared that Jansen would die/ and the two 'men were taken to his; bediide, where h4 at ghee and unhesitatingly identified the smallermah supposed t» be Stuart) as thoman who' had struck ' him' with" the'irbn bar] AboUtth'e dtJh'er-heha'd little doubt, but J cbujd not swear' so positively.'' 'The men were tried at once, giving their' names as Thomas Burdue and Joseph 1 Wiliired. They pleaded in, vain* that ; they wera II Chum* ' f^dm>' tn'fnin^ camp,' just arrived' in 'San FrAh^cJsco.and Knew ndthiiig of the' deed 8 attributed' to them. It "was with great' difficulty, and, by the intervention of soldiers fiat they were/ saved^from; lynch ing. MariV witnesses swb're that Berduo was Stuart. They were setttenced' to be hanged qa the-folldwiog Friday. • 5 But meaftwhile/ a* ' vigilance tee party ecoutinfe'' the Sand hilla 'Between San • Franci,sco"and s the 1 Mission Dolores' came upon' a man half hidden, full length in the' sand: He was the real, Stuart,' cohfessed that^crinSe and others, andi was hanged on Friday in-, stea\i of i the innobent '• Berdue. The latter was' put beside s his '.bddy when' he Was ; cut down,' and a 'reptfrter^who was presents-Wrote : "l" l " Berdu'S^' fetood' in tho| presence of 'Bis dead tival, ' standibg ( by! , the' ' table f pn " whibh Stuart"' was lying, ' and cafced tfpon the fik«d" feature's; > Ifc ' was Hke'a'maK' looking at his own corpse.;"! ; fi'^ver'Dcfo^e'xjr since "feaw 'euch a' resemblance. Stuart was, perhaps, 1 a trifle stouter, but, having se'eto-either one, I think I should havo^nhesitatihgly, at any" time, thereafter been willing to swear to the other as that one. 'Tt >6ftrcely seems poeeiblethat the men could have so perfectly resembled each other." .*>•!•'.. -i 1i 1 j.^k *,!'». >< ■