The democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-07-22

lAtHeI RUOu Juhc luI bNcl yuuuyt tANVpef
It may be presumed, for poor Pigerre
himself.
But now was to come dramatic Incl
dent, Genton, the communist judge,
proved to have brought the order for exc
cutting tho hostages, had found the eyi.
dence gradually closing around him; and
after some explanation relative to his own
case, broke out, with much earnestness-
"As regards myself" he said, ait Is all
one. You can shoot me II you like, But
as to Pigerre, | tell you he Is innocent,
! would wish to save you from a judicial
blunder. He had nothing to do with It
1t was q man called Yerig, and another
iair.haired one who commanded The
prosecution argued with him calmly. If
this were so, how was It Pigerre was nc-
cusedl They on their side knew nothing
of him until he was denounced by his own
side. 81 tell you" answered Genton
"yoE should make every exertlon to find
ont man that resembles this Pigerre,
Set him before me once, and | will tell
you he Is the man, though know not his
name. | do you service In letting you
know this: find him speedily before | am
put out of the way" This earnestness
was met cOldly. lie was reminded that
there were seven witnesses against his
testimony; and that, after all, his testi.
mony, II accepted as true, only amounted
to this, that he had seen the firing party
return under the leadership of Verig, and
that Pigerre was not with them. How.
ever all the witnesses were made to stand
up again and look at the prisoner, and
then persisted.that he was the man. Al
ter this there was no more to be said the
trial went on, the prosecutor summed up
in fervent speech, requiring the cOnyic-
tlon of Plgerre among Others. The adyo-
Gates for the prisoners delivered short ap-
pcals for their clients, and the ease
was all but over when fresh dramatic
incident occurred.
All through the trial reference had been
made to man named Jarraud, who had
figured in this tradgedy and Of whom ev-
cry one spoke. To have brought him
forward 1t was felt would have cleared
a great deal up; but 1t was believed that
he had been shot by the soldiers. To the
surprise OF every one he turned up at this
moment. The trial was suspended. Gen.
ton must have turned pale as he saw him
appear, for this man was to seal his doom
lie told his story with an extraordinary
fnllness Of detail, and q natural manner
that recommended its truth to all. The
leader of the band, he said, was a man
called Sicard; there were two in COM
mand, the other was, of course, Verig.
Pigerro was ordered to stand forward.
"ThRt's not the man wAo commanded.
Oh! no, II Is not he at all !" This was
so far satisfactory; and on that evening n
diligent search being made 1t was discOv.
covered that there was adying man named
Sicard in the prisons of Paris. lie was
carried into court; he could hardly speak
and 1t was plain that lie had only few
days to live. AS ho was placed in chair,
every one remarked n strange likeness to
Pigerre. Ills evidence was not much to
the purpose, for he, of course, denied that
he himself was at the execution; but
still he declared that Pigerre was not the
man. Jarraud was then called In, and,
after looking at Sicard closely, declared
that he was the leader. And the truth Of
this assertion was more than confirmed
by little incident. All through the trial
Il had been stated that the leader OF the
party, whoever he was, had como without
a sword, and had borrowed one, so as to
give the word Of command with due CT.
feet. The dying witness, not knowing
this, answered, unconscious Of the effect,
that he had no sword that day. Finally,
the witnesses who had sworn to Plgerrc
were brought forward, one by one, and
confronted with the new witness. II was
most interesting to see how first one and
then another began to hesitate, tave the
three communist prisoners, who adhered
firmly to their first statement that Pigerre
l,ds there. After this "incident was
emptied, to use favorite phrase of the
Judges. the prosecutor in theatrical
speech, In which he made himself appear
as II he were doing some noble thing,
withdrew tile charge against Pigerre or,
in his own phrase, demanded "that the
accusation that he had formulated against
Pigerro should be annihilated," which
was done accordingly.
Never was there such q narrow escape.
Everything seemed to hang on a thread,
or on many threads. There was the 10y
atty of Genton, SO honorable to him, and
OF which none of the other Communists
had shown instances, they being rather
anxious to make others share their fate.
There was the case of the man supposed
to have been shot, turning up, and finally
the production of Sicard, who might have
died before he could have been produced,
and whose visible presence was absolute.