Jasper Weekly Courier, Volume 48, Number 24, Jasper, Dubois County, 23 February 1906 — Page 3
THE CRIMINAL ROMANCE
OF "LORD BARRINGTON
e appeared In the the following adver-
THE REMARKABLE CAREER OF GEORGE F. BARTON, BOGUS NOBLEMAN.
ABOUT TO HANG FOR MURDER OF A FRIEND
Life of Crime and Adventure Extending Over Two Continents to End on the Gallows His Quest for an American Heiress.
lit lxwls By affirming UM 'i'isio:i of the lower court the MlMourl su- ; i court has waled the fate of "Lord' Harrington, one of th' BtDet :. rioua criminals of the age, and he w:.l le hanged u March la for the brutal murder of his friend. John P, McCunB, nearly three years ago. Got ige J'p ierie k Marlon, or as he per ts in calling himself, .:! l'; brick Sey uio'ir Harrington," ha had most extraordinary criminal career, extending throughout Kn gland aod half way across the American continent. He Is only 40 years old. out th potlei records show that he has spent nearly thr e-fourths of taat time ta K'.-on. The record of his rrlmi COVt r one lirneeaftll and on' attempt -B I rnoriler. five distinct cases of blg-
f i wo cases of forgery, IntiuBMrahle had irpeal
prooff of burglary, cheating at cards, obt 'ining money by false pretenses, ü I even common pocket-picking Through H all Harrington" has stoatmain titled that he is an Bagl lento i i of high birth, with a brilliant trujr record and a father wlm.se aetata and title he would succeed. Not .n ot these statements is founded H
BejrrlBgtoa employed the English I ! 1 game successfully to win the 1 ir: of three American women, but Wh U his story of unlimited wealth, his ! ! raaMM word picture of his fictitious ril home, rivaling In grandeur and magnitude the rich an hltectttral
lk was at li berry long enough this Ute io BudMBla first aaatrunoato mature. Hi m.ii i i d an KiiKllsh girl, got DOSAttisloa t all ot her proierty and ' "' i her it seemed impossible tot liit.i i i keep out of prison, and on October :M h. was again sentenced at the M.ii': loao Mitten to ten reeure' penaJ servitude and seven years' police supervhioa for burglary. After enrrlni out 'lie full tea pearl he made his w iy row the Atlantic ocean to try his hand at crime In America. Weds American Oirl. He turned up In Brookiya as sir Frederick Bydeahani Bargojran He w;s Miave of manner and Bpoke EngI .1 Bpanlst, Oermaa, French and other foreign laagnsgea fluently iiwas of a stinlious turn of mind .m i
his years of prison life in
me mastery n foreign toufraet, So whea he dearrthed, la his ttaKleaa English, the beauties Of his imaginary villa in Burgen HUI, Kent, to (Matte Btizrbeta Miller, Brooklyn, she was rt uty to beUere him. That was in 1891. Miss Miller married him and re tarred with him to JSaghuid, after having disputed of all of in r property. Bh teat with hin to tiitdoai. where -h. fired with him far a Tew sad WOWfcl. lie reatad an apartment and fumuaed it luxuriously, buying th1 furniture on time payment and selling it off in l few days to get the nee-ess.-.-ni ! t f keep up appearances.
He finally succeeded in retting the last
I LUlJea of Combo Abbey. Blenheim, dollar hie wife poaaeawd, tad then de
t hiUlngham, Walmar and other castles ; led over by wealthy Ameri- an girls who marrleri titled Englishmen. 1' ;i.ed Miss Wilhelm Ina Grace Cochrane into becoming his wife, it was the begtfi ning of the end. In quick puocesvjon he was turned Ot a fashionable hot for failure t pay his board bill, kicked out of all br. her-in-law's home when his deception is discovered, sentenced tohreak r k for six months in the city workh o --r. released by pardon, and then ar-
1,1 'eaaatf he wrote hie name on the reKi,i r oi the Southern hotel.
i ! nt-xt day the local artrapaperi ttaeawat
MAin!Mo.r.-nonorat,ie a lajana aaa K'-MOU. of h,k.h K.ltt, r(Uk , """'"'"""I wilh rettn.t. MlucatMl. i nereeearr. staph) udy win, rtew la toe events aaerntK. uoaKnu. HuriiiKton llvel at the hotel a few lay ; and then removed to a fashiona ble lardlng huse conducted by Mrs. It it. Dllott whone leautiful younger slsir, Miss Wilhelmina (Jrace Co, h raae, of Kansas City, came to visit soon after her English guest tKk lodging i;. her bouse. u less than two
Waekj Harrington had completely won the heart Of the Kausae City girl, who. he i bought, was the daughter of a Wealthy pork packer. On January P., 190J the wedding ceremony was per formen by the pastor or one of the la hionable churches in tit. boats. Btrriagton told Miss Cochrane tmatiag stories of his wealth sad
title He said he had millions la Baflaad ;.nd owaed t magnificent castlo of e'd looms In Urighton. He told her the after the wedding in St. Louis they would go to Washington an.i ho n in.. trie 1 in the IJritish embassy, and then sail for Kncland, where they would bi entertained with great pomp and cereaaoay by his titled relatives. One wing of the splendid castle, he told her. had beta reserved for then- urla - qaarters, and only his mother and tatlBMie relatives would occupy the great pahare with them. Lord iad Lady Harrington, as tltj twi known, went back to the hotel t, Hi Their BOaepOlOOa was of just a WC.- duration. In that time, how
ever, Mi s Oochnuat had written home glowiag letters of her happiness, telling her pareata how proud they should be that their daughter had married meaaher of the nobility. Alas! for the poor girl! Ser.tenoed to Workhouse, lamel K. Cochrane, ber brother, eaate down from Kansas City to laves tlfate the record of his royal relative.) Who pretended to be In this country to
Py on the Hritish consuls, it did not take him long to discover that Lord I'r : rick Seymour Harrington was a rank Imjiostor. Cochrane niPt his new bro-.hcr-in-law in Mrs. Elliott s home sb i coatroated irim with the fact- als lav tsjatlOB had revealed. P-arrincton WM protsptly kicked out of the house sad arrested. A charire of disturbing the peatt was lodged asainst him. He was tried before an Irish pdi e jule
who Faw an opportunity to even up an
was most skillful as a plotter of crln.es. The surroundings were Mec.l for tht perpetration of a murder Hon111 1 a lonely place n tae Missouri rtvtr katteaOH Mighty tree grow there and the underbrush grows thick. A lar" quarry pond, abandoned years "go and filled With water, stund near
by
foielcn language. At his trial ne sap priaci1 everybody tn the Courtroom b) taking a verbatim reirt of the evi deti , in shorthand. He nas spent th span time of bis long year of confine n i In study. He ha written thou sand; of pages of manurlpt la th
Clayton Jail, but he steadfastly refuset
A m.M I. . . u.U. i . ' '
.. "'". .w.e ,,ia.e ai iiimuigtil, lO KlVe a h nt Of What he I .lolne !!
........i ue iviHKiue.1. ys Mnipy that he is writing a ImhjV
cvaiiu me nan en neu away, to at published after
to MI-N-e of
the murderer had
body. The clothing was stripped from It, and It was dragged through the underbrush to the brink of the 80 foot etuu.inkinent overlixking tJe quarry. One ehflve, and the body shot downwar!. The splash below told the murderer that his work had been well done Fatal Circumstantial Evidence A man trained in all the arts of
murder could not have done the lead I onment gained; uuder the
he Is releasee
the from prison it may be a history o
the M :ear that he has spent behlnc th bars as an atonement for his nianj
crime.
"Lord" Harrington under manv con
dltions -in the police courts answerinj
a mbdemeanor charge; In a four count holdover dungeon; la Irons on th workhouse rock pile, as the managei
o n barroom trafficking upon the no tori -ty that his marriage and inipris
galllnf
sorted, her. kevfBg her with a small!"1'' M,r,r with the oppressors of his
child to provide for Ha was amstO ! soo.i after while paying: cm:r to a d r-M man's ilaiiKhter, and Renten ed to another Ions term in prison. The disillusionized girl Binrft her way back to Brooklyn and tnk la washing to earn a UvetftWOd for herseir and child. The next o(B( ial entry in H. tringt on's record shows that be Wl I :leased from the Iartmor prison OB December 13, 1900. There i-t no record ! his movements during the mt
country, and be SOateated The pretended Knglish lord to six months in the city workhouse. Harrington went to tat IOCS, pile In shackles, where he was eoniiicllod to associate with hundre Is
of Ity c riminals
VACILLATING PRESIDENT.
It Has Become Quite Plain That the Senate Is to Havs Its Own Wey lagenfous friends of the pred lent will need to employ all their most subtle theories to account for his vacillations
and final surrender In the matter of rate-fixing legislation. For Waahlngton dispatches make it plain that the senate Is to have its way. says the New York Post The interstate commerce commission will not be given power to make railroad rates independently; review and control by the courts will be rettined as now. That is the point for which the best lawyers and clearestheaded men in the senate have all along contended, and that Is the point which the president is now ready to concede. All his loud protests to the contrary wore simply playful, it now appears, 01 fre sh illustrations of his "open mind." The clear practical upshot, however, la his tacit abandonment of the campaign he has been waging since his message of 1904. There will be a railway bill. It will contain excellent nnd needed provisions against rebates and the abuses ' f private ar lines, etc; but what Congressman MeCall aptly termed "the presidential non-sequitux" will not be in it. The commission, that is. will not 1 1 e mpowered to make a rate, to go Into rffect " at once," without a prior appeal t" the courts to determine whether the rat be reasonable and Just In all thai matter, we shall stay much as We are. Of course. Mr. Roosevelt will claim a great victory for his ideas, just as he did In the oase of the Elkins bill of 1903, v. hi' b he then declared to be all the railway legislation required; but the facti ire not in doubt. The president has retreated. Though assure 1 that he could have the bill he wanted by a combination of Republican and Democratic votes, he shrank before Senator Crane's bogey
of a split in his own party which would
outlast his term of office. He assents to I rate-making el. .use which amounis to
nothing, and for it has paid the price ol
giving up tariff revision. A birthright
htJi thus again been sold for a mess ol
pottage.
THE SPOLIATION
Miss Wilhelmlna Grace Cochrane.
' more skilfully. No eye had seen him fire the fatal shot. Only a faithful rail-
"sweating" of Chief Desmond; in thi Claptoa Jail within the shadow of th
All
PARTY.
To-
That Holds Republicans gether Is Graft and Plunder.
road watchman a mile away had heard gallows, has alvvavs been the same ac
Th. re was a pubnc feeling that he! ,he tw" rf'IK,rt-s (f thfl Ii8to1 ani the compllshed liar-admitting one lit
tried and conv ted of the mur- two yens, but we again
BM trace of
of a man who had taken I given him a home.
Life Story a Criminal Romance I rrtagtoa'l life history reads like a rrhtttaal romance, with one (Umax folI -Cng closely upon another. Wt firt aea of him as a seven-year-oni bf In Tunbrldge Wells, Kngland. Mttllg 1 " to the commons'. He was thou I, "ung to merit punishment for th o. He first broke into prison at tie ..ge or ten years, when, on July 7. I-"1 he wis sentenced to five years tad ion days in the reformatory for rnib lenient. In the summer of lv::., h. i he was IS years old, he was reI from the juvenile prison, but M September 7 of the same year
ue wa seateficed to 12 m all
prisonment for stealing his master s t b Ily good behavior ho got out ' tl.ree fciurths time, ,ut befbrt the ftar was out he was in trouble again. On July io, 1176, at the Mnldstnat as- . lie was sentenced to ten years' petal servitude for burglary. After ttrvlsjgj four years of his term he proWtrtej his release upon forged pardon Beptnh
Lord Frederick Seymour Barrington.
him In
him in Brooklyn, where he n jpptartd an I tiled to get his deesrted wife to take bun in. Hut one experience was eno.ivh for her. and she turned a deaf car to his entreaties. Ha was em ployed for a brief period as a ooaahaaai In Maw York, but to a drlf'-c to Jersey City, and from there to Philadelphia, where, in Decem! r IM, he married g syttlthp rotan wo man. Her name haa ne ver been given to Uta public m eoeoBBI of th'1 promi-
' tea aa of her family Elaborate prep- ; trattoat were made for iho wedding, and -Ii wore a 'oi trou-.eau b n
the rareajoap was perferttad. Me lured kef on to Cincinnati where he Aaa ' ed and pot away with her trunks,
Ira- tain uy, most of In r costly wedding
outfii. Some of her clothing was found in fett trtaha, which were held by the Southern h:e1. In St. Louis, when be falle 1 to pay his Ixiard bill. Appears in St. Louis From Cincinnati he w-nt t St. Iitiitc Thetc he n ppttfad under the hlgn aounding; title ot Irl Krederlck
Mjiiiotgf Barrl nf ton, capt iin in n i
had been unjustly dealt with. While: BO wag severely condemned for passing I as an English lord for the purpose of Influencing Miss Cochrane to marry
bint there was still enough sympathy for him to obtain his pardon at the hands of Mayor Rolla Wells. Altai
Ba.ririgton was released from the : workhouse he was employed for a few week as manager of a Broadway saloon. The proprietor of the saloon
soon totind that he had male a mislak in trusting Rarrington and discharged him. Lord"' Meets His Victim. Just before his discharge, however. Harrington came In contact with McCaan, whom he aavdared. MoOaaa was .i follower of the race track, nnd at times had considerable money. He waked into the saloon one day nnd handed Harrington a ISO note After Harrington lost his position McCann took him into his own home and provided him with overythinc ho needed. Her - la the home of another Irishman the sham English lord had found a refug-e so soon after escaping from the punnhment a Celtic Jurist had Inflktad upon him. Nof more than a month had elaps?d '
after Rnrrincton became a member of the McCann household until he began telli'.. a ItOff of a pension that was
due ;o him from the British
ment. He placed the amount at fl.üou
He told IfcCaM that he hid some Ens'lsh friends In St. Ixmis county srtj i would advonce him tl.Md on the
pens on papers. McCann rebuked Tiirn for wanting to clisp'ise d the pension certificate! at such I ttted vantage Oieu he could get all the money by wuit.ng a few months MoCtUHl offered
to provide for him until such n time
as he could pet his monev. but Bar
rincton Insisted upon beinx independent. Ho wanted some one to go with him into the county to witnew the transfer of the papers. Day after day for two weeks he becged McCann to go with him to the county Mc-Cann slept bit" every morning, and was busy at the rant track In the afiern on. He found it Impossible to go In the day time hiC finally upon the , e ,. !. - hnttottunim: cd Barrington he consented to ,o at night. His folly cost him his life. The pension story was c nly a lie devieed to get IfcOani to the spot car-fully und painstaking'j relecte 1 for his murder. Cruel Murder of H s Tifcnd. barrlaftoB and MeCeai left the latter , icsidener ,t;ut seven o'clock on the eroalng rf June 1f. MM. They
dyinit apieal of McCann for mercy
But here his hand lost its cunning. Cleverness of plotting gave way to bung'ing. Barrington proceeded, with appalling siupidity, to wind cnmich circumstantial evidence about himself to hang M men. Covered with stains, wearing the murdered man" hat and coaf, carrying his cane, with McCann's wat'h money and papers in his pockets, he turned at that midnight hour to
ratrare his steps to St. Louis. The last
street car bad gone, and he started to walK Daylight overtook him before th. journey was finished. Cpon reaching the suburbs of the city he ptoeteded on a car to the McCann home. He removed the clothing and gave It to a porter to hang on a fence in plain view
of the first detective who came along Tie Invented a remarkable story to explain McC.cin's disappearance. He told Mrs. McCann that her husband got into a fight with two men at the summer garden and drove awuy with some women in a carriage He :.iniself
had been knocked down defending McCann and lay in I gutter all night. So i plausibly did he tell the story that ; Mrs. McCann was deceived for several ' day, aad even so shrewd a detec tive
, as Chief William Desmond be.ieved it
when Barrington was arrested on mis
, plolon of belnt? responsible for the dlsi appearanc e id McCann. On thestretmth
pove;n- 0f hj3 tale Barrington was releeeed,
but was rearrested June 21, when the body of McCann was discovered floating on the surface of the quarry pond
In his bunglesome attempt to hide ; the crime Harrington wrote letters pur- j porting to come from McCann and had
them delivered to Mrs. McCitin by messenger hoys. When arreste 1 he stottly denied the crime. He viewed the body after It was taken from the
quarry pond ami UUnetea that It was not that of McCann He hoped that the prtaieatloa would not be able to prove a corpus delect I. He dec dared McCann had gone away and would return some day. H was tried In the Clayton clrctdt court and sentenced to death. A stranger from Arkansas sent him the money to appeal his case to the sa r me court A mysterious murder of an army offi
cer in India somewhat similar to that of the McCann mu"der has been sttrlbnted to Barr'.agton who is said to have Ifrred a short time in the English ermy as a bodyguard to the captain who was murdered. That murder
- " II I ' ii.. '.'., .VI I . I . , . -1111,1 time before Harrington ma : I p aeaiaaet in America. The St. I .oiils
while Inventing another, and alway:
nying that lie was (;eor:re FredericV Barton, though the Bert il ion picture identify him positively. He seemed tc car? more for the appearance of hb dre.s.- than for his liberty. For an houi he would refuse to be photographed and then willingly consent to pose foi picture for the price of a shave. In planning his Brtahta at has always; showa fbiy.h of cleverness, but he wa.' such a bungler at concealing them that the services of a Sherlock Holmes were not needed to fasten thera upon him He seeks always to becloud himse'l with an air of mystery. He cannot bt Induced to talk about his past, but unltOfOtly advances the pleu that he il suffering for other men's crimes.
I
Streetcar Incident. She was 3u and shabbily clad, that pathetic sort of habbiness that strives so obviously fl screen itself behind the virtue that is next to gc dl.ness and the redeeming "stitch in time." She handed the conductor a quarter, and
the passenger next hr noticed idly that its absence left the worn purse epiite empty. Two iMttl an 1 a nickel wi re given her in change, and she was
about to slip them into their place
when, with a start, she dr-w back her hand. Then she pave a furtive glance i about the car and another in th" dlrectlon of the conductor. No one senie I aware of her existence or of the morai i problem that confronted her. Into the
purse went the three- coin, to be withdrawn, however, two minutes later, and held on n slightly tremulous palm toward the mystified conductor. "I think you tins' h'rve efven me
too much change, " eh said, timidly The conductor rawtOtOd, then looke 1 her over with a softening eye. Thank you," he sale', simply But he continued to look in her direction after he went back to his post on th platform, with an expression of hav
ing .seem a vision. N Y. Tribune.
Nothing now holds the Republicaa party together but graft and spoils. As each new scandal cut off the oportunity for one or the other, party Met weaken and it is becoming the fashion for ea h Republican congressman to be looking after his own scalt and not caring much what happens to his brother in distress. The chance for collecting campaign funds hai been cut off in some measure by the exposures in the life Insurance investigation, and without money and plenty of it, the average Republican congressman Is a political derelict at tht mercy of an outraged and suffering constituency. The trend Is strongly towards Democracy, which Is of the people and for the people. The very fact that It has been defeated because It opposed the domination of the corporations and trusts and had no part r lot In the distribution of campalgi fumls from Insurance corporations anc other tainted sources has endeared ! to the people. All real imocrats win therefore lay aside minor differences of opinion and rally for good government
POLITICAL PLOT IN OHIO. Republican Representative Resorts to an Extraordinary Method to Gain Support.
Alar t s Horse Uu. rd.
out -kirts of the city, nnd about ton o'cloc k boarded a suburban car for BOBfila station. 2e miles fmm St ljouls. Thef left the street car together, about qun'ter past 11 o'clock, nnd walked off Into the woods. Five minutes later tw tbofs were hoard, and the voice of McCann could be hesrd pleaeHnii for mercy. But his appeals were In vain, for after he had been rhot down, the murderer cut his throat to make sure d lit work. This murder nmved that Barrington
wen first to a summer garden on the! police authorities have nev r been able
; to gather the details of that crime. A Remarkable Man. Tt bit now been nearly throe fi ts sin Barrlncton first appeared In St. Loahv With the exception cd les than , three months of that time ho has beat j In prison. In spite of the long years
that hr has spent in the jails and pen! tentlarles of two continents he Is In man respects a remarkable man. lbspeaks Ms native language with a fin Brltlrh accent He has mssterol fJer man. French tnd one or twi other
Why Hay Got No War News. In the summer ol the rommonre-nie-nf of the Russo-Jap war the late Secretary of State John Haf taget t his simuner home at Lake Sunn pee for a few days' rest. Naturallv. it was
important for him to have close and constant communication with the outside world, and arrangements had accordingly been made for telegrams to be cent up to him from the telegraph office. As the situation of the eastern affairl" me more tense nud exciting Secretary Hay was expecting very important communii ..tions, but none tagte. A day went by, and no wor I. The next morning a mesenRer w. s dispatched early to see if there was any message. So." said the c perator, ' there la none." "But has none come" be was as'ed. "W all, one came ysterday. but there was no sense to It, so 1 did mt send It up." The message had come la cipher. Boston Ihrald.
Cncle Grosvenor, the Republlcao representative from Ohio, m"st be hard pressed by his party enemies, for
he has resorted to the extraordinary proceeding of urging his brother congressmen to sign a petition to the ueptiblican voters, reciting the great services that Gen. Grosvenor has per'ormed In behalf of the Republican party and that to defeat him would impose great loes upon the party. But still the free and independent Republicans of that Ohio district may think they know best who should represent theat, and they are evidently disgusted with Grosvenor. In fact there is pretty good evidence that the whole country is tired of politicians of the Grosvenor stripe aad are determined
M a chanNf. In Ohio the people bad n opportunity last fall nf getting; rid if some of their Republican servants Who had outlasted their usefulness and -dee ted Democrats in their places, and the revolution has omy Just started. A Democratic congreoa is the pleaeing prospect ahead.
A beef trust attorney nt Chicago Is accused of bribing a reporter "to disseminate false anil misleamng statements." Attorney Generai Moody will have io look out or the beef trust may Influence the Judge and jury, or even the attorneys of the government itself, (f our Republican congress would revise the tariff that protects the beef trust, the necessity for prosecuting the '.tu; t w hi i ! um dlsappc r and ' m petition would recline their profits to more leaaonable basis. Evidently the beef tratters are io eager for vindication that they do aot care how mu h the- expenses of it ire or what the) are f..i Imii.in.ipolis News (nd.) If tue senate eoaMnittOt on Interdate commerce does urn move faster than It has since congress assembled bout agreeing on a railroad rate bill, t will be impossible to pass a measure m less congress stta ell summer and well Into tne fell. But perhaps that is ha. Senator Elkins end the ppvralload senators desire; to consume time, tad let lailroad legislation fu by da tuL