Students of criminology will find this collection of murder trials exceptionally interesting. The other day the cables referred to the case of David Lamson, whose trial, for the third time, for the alleged murder of his wife is now being begu This case is among the nine wi which Mr, Lambert deals. The other ight cases all occurred between 1852 and 1872. David Lamson's case is of Interest because of the peculiar circumstances that he is actually under sentence of death. In his Arst trial, Lamson, who was a graduate of Stanford "University, was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to death. His conviction was reversed by the Supreme Court, The District Attorney, however, obtained a retrial, and on the second hearing of the ease the jury disagreed, Mrs. Lam~ son's body was found in a bath-tub in her house on Memorial Day, 1933. Her husband contended that she had accidentally fallen in or had been tacked by an unknown person. The prosecution alleged that Lamson had killed her himself in order to clear the way for another marriage. the Lemison ease in these otherwise 19th-century murder trials is because it alleged to form a curious parallel fo the amazing prosecution of Wil-'Burke Kirwan in 1852 for the murder of his wite. Briefly, Kirwan was an artist who was spending his summer holidays with his wife ino Ashing village near Dublin. The pair went out for an excursion to a rocky Islet named Ireland's Eye, and Mrs, Kirwan, being a powerful swimmer ud fond of bathing, went for 2 Tong swim while her husband sketch-fed in another part of the island. When Kirwan was ready to go back hho missed his wife and a search had to be made for her. She was found by the boatmen and Kirwan lying in her bathing attire on a rock from which the tide had but recently receded. An inquest was held and there was no suggestion that the otherwise than accidental body were ascribed to the of the waves and rocks sumed that Mrs, Kirwan had mis-would have sumeed ts out of our Immediate aimeuity the "whole course of Mites that were innbied) by the ins! we"imsosea om te operations inanityt Te we have een lite to tetlon clit wre eaten reduc honores puts arid of mr ener INN nave ed anvwere it Rot"eneeked "them a the hundred ound mit th other words, hope for the best Remembering! "Past. Tnearnations (chapters 4 and 8) is a talent that can be developed more or Tess while dozing:
Scluwmess to nother with the ity from, una atate of cone tle te In sing eae Judged her strength and had been drowned. But before the coroner's Inquest had taken place an incident occurred which eventually obtained sinister significance. A small crowd to Kirwan, The village priest voiced this general feeling by shouting to the police officer, "Sergeant, keep your eye on that man." In spite of the inquest, gossip developed, and it was supposed to have been stimulated by Kirwan's meanness in. paying the boatmen, who felt that they ought to have had more than the £2 which hho gave them, Gossip having started, the village folk managed to stir up all sorts of suspicion, with the result rte the at of telaneint on "ye" nay neem perfect ne past, foatve
Secon conan and "wang, the nine ese lo Sepnees and steel, but Ie wil have {hat of a. generalized, beauty and spegal"sentfesnce for us beyond
But when a fragment of one Iuthentle memories. crops
erdant emotional aisoelation, even al ite It"be no more than glimpse of Wall of a house where our physical Tenement once dwelt.
At this point, Mr. Fortune says, it is food plan to turn on the light and make notes or a rough sketch. admits that in doing so the enquirer Will probably sacrifice a night's sleep, but "he seems to think it will be worth it, 'The only thing that jars in this otherwise quite enlivening book is a tendency to quote from the New Testa~ ment words that' seem out of place in. conjunction with crystal-gazing, Horoscopes and divination by cards. Mr. Fortune seems to have a respect for St. Paul, and yet what would St Paul have thought of this:
Obtain a new pack of Tarot cards for a used one wil be too full of other ten years he had been maintaining another wife In Dublin, both she and Mrs, Kirwan being ignorant of each other's existence. This, of course, at once produced a motive, which redoubled suspicion.
Into the story came Mar Byrne. a widow and a personal friend of the deceased Mrs, Kirwan. She revealed the fact that' Mrs. Kirwan had discovered her husband's establishment at Dublin. six months before her th, and the police were further informed by Maria Byrne that there were two, if not three, undiscovered murders in Kirwan's family. To add to her story, Mrs. Byrne alleged that Kirwan had actually murdered her own husband in January, 1852. Thus chain of evidence was woven around Kirwan and he was charged with murder accordingly and tried on December 8, 1852. The judge, Mr. Tustice Crompton, seemed to be against the prisoner and he was con dened to death. The sentence, how-fever, was never carried into effect A ecader who knew nothing of Kirwan and had never been in Dublin wrote to "The Times" what is deseribed as.one of the most incisive ap-.peals ever penned on behalf of 2
Kirwan's conviction, but the suspldon which persisted in hanging over his head was too powerful entirely to dissipate. After the most extra ordinary investigations and emergence of evidence both for the defence and prosecution, Kirwan's friends had to give up hope of a complete pardon. He was reprieved and finally transported to Australis.
The author has handled these cases with great discrimination and. has adorned his recital with a literary talent of a high order—est,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.