The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-01-04

nad nesltated about exposing him, either
from reluctance to bring him to the scaffold,
or from consideration of what their conni-
vance might bring to themselves. In other
words, they convicted themselves of false tes-
timony.
The most singular point of the case was
that, upon summing up the opinion of all the
witnesses, there seemed to be no actual per-
sonal resemblance between Martin Guerre
and Arnsuld de Tilh. Martin was described
as somewhat tall and dark, with thin body
and limbs, a sunken head between vaulted
shoulders, torked chin, pointed upward, a
hanging neither lip, large turned-up nose,
with an ulcer on his face and a scar on his
eyebrow, while Arnauld was not tall, but
thick-set, with a protuberant body, good
stout leg, no stoop in the shoulders, with
features in no way answering Martins de-
scription, and, although he had scars about
ms face, no two witnesses could agree
as to the paruliar spots on which they were.
A shoemaker who had fitted Martin with
shoes for years, averred that his shoes were
longer and larger by one-fourth than any
SHOES which would suit the prisoners feet
Other witnesses testified that Martin had
been killed in fencing and wrestling. while
the prisoner was totally unacguainted
with those accomplishments; that Martin
was a native of Biscay, while the prisoner
was evidently unfamiliar with the Basque
anu ulOhG uONn Ill HIS dJtemDJ 10
speak a few words of it. Finally, it was es-
tablished that Arnauld de Tilh was a notori-
Gus scamp, and infdel and blasphemer,
guilty of deeds of fraud and violence, a man
of low cunning and consummate impudence;
In fact just such man as might be deemed
capable of conceiving bold scheme of decep-
tion, and going through with it with the most
brazen assurance. There, indeed, appeared
one witness, by name Jean Espagnol, an in
l..a H. Al al n
had been his guest, that he had told him how
in his travels he had fallen in with his old
comrade, Martin Guerre, how they had lived
and roved together for long time, laying
aside all reserve and obtaining the fullest
knowledge of each others secrets, intoxica-
ton even frequently letting out what ought
TO have been most sacred; and that the said
Martin having been taken i'll, and being about
to die, had given him, Arnaud de Tilh,
whatever he had about his person. All these
particulars, Jean Espagnol said, had been re-
vealed to him by Anauld, but In the strict
est secrecy, and upon his pledgng himself to
reveal them to no man. All this evidence,
however, had no sufficient weight with the
Parliament of Toulouse, who set against It
the spontaneous and undisputed recognition
of the prisoner rs Martin Guerre for three
years by all who had interest in ascertaining
the truth, and even by some who might have
had interest in disproving IL, as was the case
with the uncle, Pierre Guerre, who was at
the head of the prosecution, but who had vet
so long lived on friendly terms with the
prisoner, never dreaming of disputing his
identity with his nephew till he came to
contest with him, attempted his life, and, be-
being batlled in his assault, swore he would
have his revenge at any cost. With respect
to the conflict of evidence as TO personal
identity, the Court had TO consider that Mar
tin Guerre had left the county in his twen-
teth year, when growth, even in height, was
by no means impossible, while thinness and
weakness of appearance, and even stoop in
the shoulders, might have been modified by
more active life, change of climate and of
the habits of life. As to features and the ex-
preston Of the countenance, little reliance
could be put on the powers of observation
and recollection of mere ignorant Doors. On
most of these points the resemblance between
Martin and the prisoner was grounded on the
assertion OF the majority of the witnesses; all
of whom, besides, concurred in establishing
the woI derful likeness of the prisoner to the
four sisters of Martin, at the same time that
they could trace no connection between the
prisoner and Martins son, Sanxi-all which
circumstances led to the conclusion that the
family type, which could not be recognized in
a mere child's undeveloped features, was evil
dent when referred to the settled countenance
ofgrown-up persons. The facts, also, that
Martin Guerre was remembered as having
double eye-teeth in the upper jaw, a scar on
the forehead, the nail of the foreinger of his
left hand sunk in the flesh, three warts on the
right hand and one on the little finger, and
that the prisoner exhibited all these
marks on his face and hands, car
risd not a little weight in his favor. The OBJ
lection that the alleged Martin Guerre, a born
Basque, was almost totally unacquainted with
the Basque language, was overruled by the
circumstance that the real Martin had left
Biscay when only two years old, and settled
in Languedoc. There was no evidence to his
having retained the knowledge of his native
tongue, or being able to speak it at the time
of his disappearance. Finally, the very char
acter that all witnesses gave to Arnauld de
Tilh tended to disprove the identity between
him and the prisoner, as the prisoners con-
duct during the three years of his residence
at Antiques had been exemplary.
Everything combined thus to incline the
Judges of the Toulouse Parliament to give
their sentence in favor of the prisoner, when
man calling himself Martin Guerre, and
with wooden leg, answering the description
given by the soldier to Bertrande, appeared
in court. He was Immediately arrested and
confined to sell, depriving him of all COM
munication with the outer world, and, being
secretly examined, he entered into all the
particulars respecting his family, his village,
and his acquaintance with considerable accu-
racy, but yet not with the mnuteness, with
the promptness and certainty which had been
displayed by the first prisoner throughout the
transaction. The two Martins were then con-
fronted, and both stood the test of cross
examination with firmness; but it was OBJ
served that the newcomer, although consist
ent and positive, was in frequent instances,
and especially in matters of domestic and
conjugal concerns, less glib and explicit than
his adversary. They were piled separately
with questions on topics which had hitherto
been alluded to in the trial, but the answers
were equally ready and fully satisfactory on
either side. Witnesses were then called
first, the brothers of Arnauld de Tilh, who all
absconded, and were vainly subpaned, as
they did not wish to run any risk of crimi-
mating so near a relative in what had now be-
come matter of life and death; next, the
sisters of Martin Guerre, who, as they en-
tered one by one and cast a glance on the
newcomer, threw their arms around his neck,
bursting into tears, calling him their real
brother, and asking his pardon thousand
times forthaving allowed themselves to be the
dupes OF gross deception, which had been
equally imposed upon all their neighbors.
Bertrande came next, and in her case also the
first sight of the man with the wooden leg
seemed to cause the cause the scales at once
to fall from her eyes, She sank on her knees
before the husband she had so grievonsly and
yet so unwittingy wronged, and she urged in
her exculpation the astonishing resemblance
between him and the villain who had deceiv-
ed her, and the readiness with which his own
sisters and all the village of Antiques had
fallen into her own deusion. The same re-
vulsion of feeling manifested itself in all the
witnesses who were brought in in succession,
especially in those who had been foremost in
acknowledging the first pretender and to give
evidence in his favor. The passionate accent
and the flowing tears of the loving wife car
ried conviction to the hearts of the judges.
The man with the wooden leg was reinstated
in all his rights as Martin Guerre, and the
imposter, Arnauld de Tilh, was condemned
to be hanged and burnt. Before he was led
out for execution he avowed that he had
served as soldier with Martin Guerre; that
he had lived with him on such terms of
friendship as enabled him to gain possession
of all his secrets, and that upon his return
from the wars, having accidentally fallen in
with some persons who had mistaken him
for his friend, he had conceived the scheme
of taking that friends name and place-a
scheme which had at first succeeded to the
full extent of his expectation.