Flynn’s Weekly Detective Fiction. Vol. 25, No. 2, August 13, 1927

He was certain of the time, for when the clock struck ten the prisoner took out a small silver watch and said it was one minute past ten. And the witness then took out his and compared it with the prisoner’s.

Then the porter went out and brought in some barrels from the sidewalk. The witness and Robinson chatted until a quarter past ten and then Robinson left.

It was fully a mile from this store to the house in Thomas Street, added the grocer, who said also that Robinson that night wore a dark frock coat and a cap.

The defense on the following day now brought forth one of the watchmen — policemen were then called watchmen — who had been the fifth man to reach the house on Thomas Street the morning of the murder.

He testified that Mrs. Townsend had told him that Frank Rivers — the name Frank Robinson had used on these occasions — had been in Helen’s room and that she wouldn’t know him by daylight. He had been there only a few times, and she had not seen the man when she took the wine upstairs.

The witness had asked the girls if any of them knew the man and they had said no. Two other men had been present when this conversation took place.

A Confession of Shame

The one later called to substantiate this witness’s testimony testified that Mrs. Townsend had told him she believed Frank Rivers to be the murderer and that she said she knew him only by his voice.

Unfortunately Maria Stevens, who had occupied the room next to Helen Jewett, had died the week before the trial. Some thought her death rather mysterious and much to the advantage of the defense. But there was apparently no reason to suspect Frank Robinson or his friends of having been a party to it.

Mrs. Townsend was now recalled by the defense. She said she was certain that she had not told any of the watchmen or any other person, for that matter, that she had not seen the face of Frank Rivers when she let him in.

Now the defense had a surprise for the court. It brought forth Frank Robinson’s roommate, a young man by the name of Tew, who, it was claimed by the defense, also used the name of “Frank Rivers” when he called at. Mrs. Townsend’s.

He had had tea with Robinson the night of the murder, and had gone out for a walk with him and others. Had also gone with him to Mrs. Townsend’s, but lost sight of him there.

He went home and to bed about a quarter past eleven, but didn’t know at what time Robinson returned, although they occupied the same bed.

At first, it looked as if the defense was trying to confuse the identity of the two Frank Riverses, but there was nothing to connect Tew with Helen Jewett.

Very little was added to the story of the murder and the fourth day was over.

On the fifth day of the trial the defense and the prosecution made their final pleas to the jury. The defense offered a strange interpretation of the murder and one which, odd to say, it had made no effort to substantiate during the trial.

It argued that Helen Jewett had been murdered by Mrs. Townsend, aided by some of her miserable boarders who were jealous of the beauty of Helen Jewett! Also that Mrs. Townsend, afraid of the evidence proving this theory that might or would have been given by the Stevens girl, had poisoned her!

The cloak and hatchet, continued the defense, had been procured and placed in the next yard by these female fiends. Their client was not guilty, in fact, was not in any way responsible for the death of the miserable Helen Jewett.

He, as well as the dead girl, had been the victim of those foul and miserable harpies who corrupt the life, health, morals and character of all with whom they come in contact.

The summing up by the defense, however, emphasized the legal points of the case. “Circumstantial evidence may be sufficient to convict,” argued an able member of the defense, “but to warrant a conviction the circumstances proved ought fully to exclude the belief that any other person could have committed the crime.

“The proof in this case consists of coincident circumstances, but taken severally or united they do not necessarily exclude the hypothesis that some other person might be guilty of the murder, and if they do not, the prisoner ought not to be convicted.”

The prosecution ran quickly over the details of its case. It was to the advantage of Robinson alone that this girl should die. His cloak and hatchet were found near the scene of the murder.

To contemporary critics, the judge seemed to favor the defense. And the jury, in less than half an hour — says one account, in not more than ten minutes — brought in a verdict of “Not Guilty.”

The newspapers were thoroughly out of sympathy with this decision. They continued to try the case, implying that the prosecution had been bribed to overlook certain witnesses whose testimony would have impelled the jury to convict Frank Robinson.