The danger of circumstantial evidence is illustrated by the
French trial of a maidservant for robbery of some forks from
a citizen of Paris. At the trial the circumstances were so
strong against her that she was found guilty, and was executed.
Six months afterward the forks were found under an old roof,
behind a heap of tiles, where a magpie used to go. When it was
discovered that the innocent girl had been unjustly condemned,
an annual mass was founded at St. John-en-Grese for the repose
of her soul.--CROAKE JAMES, “Curiosities of Law and
Lawyers.”
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