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ARAM, EUGENE (17o4-17J9)
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See also:ARAM, See also:EUGENE (17o4-17J9) , See also:English See also:scholar, but more famous as the murderer celebrated by See also:Hood in his ballad, the See also:Dream of Eugene Aram, and by Bulwer See also:Lytton in his See also:romance of Eugene Aram, was See also:born of humble parents at Ramsgill, See also:Yorkshire, in 1704. He received little See also:education at school, but manifested an intense See also:desire. for learning. While still See also:young, he married and settled as a schoolmaster at Netherdale, and during the years he spent there, he taught himself both Latin and See also:Greek. In 1734 he removed to See also:Knaresborough, where he remained as schoolmaster till 1745. In that See also:year a See also:man named See also:Daniel See also:Clark, an intimate friend of Aram, after obtaining a considerable quantity of goods from some of the tradesmen in the See also:town, suddenly disappeared. Suspicions of being concerned in this swindling transaction See also:fell upon Aram. His See also:garden was searched, and some of the goods found there. As, however, there was not See also:evidence sufficient to convict him of any See also:crime, he was discharged, and soon after set out for See also:London, leaving his wife behind. For several years he travelled through parts of See also:England, acting as See also:usher in a number of See also:schools, and settled finally at See also:Lynn, in See also:Norfolk. During his travels he had amassed considerable materials for a See also:work he had projected on See also:etymology, to be entitled a See also:Comparative See also:Lexicon of the English, Latin, Greek, See also:Hebrew and See also:Celtic See also:Languages. He was undoubtedly an See also:original philologist, who realized, what was then not yet admitted by scholars, the See also:affinity of the Celtic See also:language to the other languages of See also:Europe, and could dispute the then accepted belief that Latin was derived from Greek. Aram's writings show that he had grasped the right See also:idea on the subject of the Indo-See also:European See also:character of the Celtic language, which was not established till J. C. See also:Prichard published his See also:book, Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, in 1831. But he was not destined to live in See also:history as the See also:pioneer of a new See also:philology. In See also:February 1758 a See also:skeleton was dug up at Knaresborough, and some suspicion arose that it might be Clark's. Aram's wife had more than once hinted that her See also:husband and a man named Houseman knew the See also:secret of Clark's disappearance. Houseman was at once arrested and confronted with the bones that had been found. He affirmed his innocence, and, taking up one of the bones, said, " This is no more See also:Dan Clark's See also:bone than it is mine." His manner in saying this roused suspicion that he knew more of Clark's disappearance See also:ARANDA 317 than he was willing to admit. He was again examined, and confessed that he had been See also:present at the See also:murder of Clark by Aram and another man, See also:Terry, of whom nothing further is heard. He also gave See also:information as to the See also:place where the See also:body had been buried in St See also:Robert's See also:Cave, a well-known spot near Knaresborough. A skeleton was dug up here, and Aram was immediately arrested, and sent to See also:York for trial. Houseman was admitted as evidence against him. Aram conducted his own See also:defence, and did not See also:attempt to overthrow Houseman's evidence, although there were some discrepancies in that; but made a skilful attack on the fallibility of circumstantial evidence in See also:general, and particularly of evidence See also:drawn from the See also:discovery of bones. He brought forward several instances where bones had been found in caves, and tried to show that the bones found in St Robert's Cave were probably those of some See also:hermit who had taken up his See also:abode there. He was found guilty, and condemned to be executed on the 6th of See also:August 1759, three days after his trial. While in his See also:cell he confessed his See also:guilt, and threw some See also:light on the motives for his crime, by asserting that he had discovered a criminal intimacy between Clark and his own wife. On the See also:night before his See also:execution he made an unsuccessful attempt at See also:suicide by opening the See also:veins in his See also:arm. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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