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EUGENE ARAM (17o4-17J9)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 317 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EUGENE See also:ARAM (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 See also:Eugene See also: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 .

End of Article: EUGENE ARAM (17o4-17J9)
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