2 
MENDENHALL. 
The murderer had left no means of identification except a 
small piece of muslin, evidently torn from the sleeve of his 
shirt, and which was stained with the blood of his victim. 
On the arrest of the prisoner one or two blood stains were 
found upon his clothing, and, what was more convincing 
than all else, the bit of sleeve found in the car fitted exactly 
into the place in his own garment, from which it must have 
been torn in the struggle which preceded the crime. 
While all of this evidence might be classified as “ circum¬ 
stantial,” it was so complete and satisfactory that no jury 
could be expected to entertain serious doubt as to the guilt 
of the prisoner, and, in spite of his protestations of innocence, 
a sentence to life imprisonment was in accord with the judg¬ 
ment of the general public. 
Only a few weeks since this man was set free and declared 
to be innocent of the crime for which he had already served 
seven years at hard labor, the misleading character of the 
evidence on which he was convicted having been exposed 
through the voluntary confession of the real criminal. The 
facts thus brought out were, briefly, as follows: 
There were three men in the case. The first, who was 
afterward murdered, slept upon the floor of the car when 
the second, the real murderer, entered it. In the dark he 
stumbled over the sleeping man, who awoke and immediately 
attacked him. The quarrel did not last long, the original 
occupant being left dead upon the floor of the car while the 
murderer quickly made his escape, leaving the village and 
neighborhood behind him as far and as fast as possible. An 
hour or two later the third man, seeking shelter and sleep, 
finds his way into the car, and dropping on the floor, is soon 
in a deep slumber. He awakes at break of day to find that 
a dead man has been his companion, and to see that his own 
sleeve is smeared with the blood of the victim. Alarmed 
by this discovery, and realizing in some degree the perilous 
position in which he is thus placed, he tears off the stained 
portion of his garment, and, hastily leaving the car, he flees 
from the scene as rapidly as possible. 
