The Eighth Day
“He was found guilty and sentenced to death. Five days later, at one in the morning of Tuesday, July 22, he escaped from his guards on the train that was carrying him to his execution.
That was the “Ashley Case” that aroused considerable interest, indignation, and derision throughout the Middle West. No one doubted that Ashley shot Lansing, willfully or accidentally; but the trial was felt to have been bungled by a senile judge, an inept defense, and a prejudiced jury—the “Coalhole Case,” the “C...oalbin Case.” When, to top it all, the convicted murderer escaped from a guard of five men and vanished into thin air—handcuffed, in prison garb, and with shaved head—the very State of Illinois was held up to ridicule. About five years later, the State’s Attorney’s office in Springfield announced that fresh evidence had been uncovered fully establishing Ashley’s innocence.
So: there had been a miscarriage of justice in an unimportant case in a small Middlewestern town.
Ashley shot Lansing in the back of the head while the two men were engaged in their customary Sunday afternoon rifle practice on the lawn behind the Lansing house.MoreLess
That was the “Ashley Case” that aroused considerable interest, indignation, and derision throughout the Middle West. No one doubted that Ashley shot Lansing, willfully or accidentally; but the trial was felt to have been bungled by a senile judge, an inept defense, and a prejudiced jury—the “Coalhole Case,” the “C...oalbin Case.” When, to top it all, the convicted murderer escaped from a guard of five men and vanished into thin air—handcuffed, in prison garb, and with shaved head—the very State of Illinois was held up to ridicule. About five years later, the State’s Attorney’s office in Springfield announced that fresh evidence had been uncovered fully establishing Ashley’s innocence.
So: there had been a miscarriage of justice in an unimportant case in a small Middlewestern town.
Ashley shot Lansing in the back of the head while the two men were engaged in their customary Sunday afternoon rifle practice on the lawn behind the Lansing house.MoreLess
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