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Show 4 f Legal Murders . J By ALEXANDER HERMAN. Innocent men have convicted themselves of murder' Having confessed con-fessed to crimes whleh they did not commit, they have been declared "gulliy" and sentenced to die. By it lucky turn, some of them have been savod from tho death penalty, but others who knows? The most famous of these cases "s thai pi the Boprn brothers In Vermont. Ver-mont. Stephen and Jesse lived In Manchester Man-chester together with a brother-in-law named Rosscl Colvln. who was a bit eccentric One day they had a quarrel and Colvln disappeared. Months and years passed and no explanation was made of tho ab-Mpoe ab-Mpoe The neighbors began to talk. Some of them recalled that the Booms had said thnt they had put Colvln "where tho potatoes would not freeze " RR EST BROTHERS. Children found u dilapidated hat which was recognized as tho one Colvln Col-vln wore on the day of his disappearance. disap-pearance. A dog dug up some bones An uncle of the boys had a dream in which the missing man came to hlm and told of being murdered A barn was mysteriously burned. Feeling against the brothers was aroused. Stephen wa9 out of tho state, but Jesse was arrested. In Jail ho confessed that his brother told hlm of killing Colvln with a blow on tho head. Stephen was brought home. He denied his brother's statement. But It was used against him. Both men wero aentonced to be hanged. The case scemod so hopeless that Stephen confessed tho crime In tho expectation of mercy from tho court. It was of no avail. But Jesso's sentence sen-tence was commuted to life Imprisonment. Imprison-ment. DENY om i ssions Tho brothers then told their attorney at-torney that their confessions wero falsa, Aa a last resort, they began advertising ad-vertising In tho newspapers. A farmer In New Jersey read the Item. Ho told a neighbor who recognized recog-nized tho published description as that of a man living with his brot hcr-ln-law In Dover. Ho communlented with the lawyers. They found the man. It was Colvln. Col-vln. Ho was brought hack Just In time to save Stephen from tho scaffold. |