The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-04-19
low, would it not 2-It would.

| forget whether you said the closet
was on the right or left hand side of the
window ?-The left.
Would the door of the closet make
any noise in opening ?-NOne.
Can you speak positively to that fact ?
Have you ever opened it yourself or
seen Mr.. Smith open it t?-Inever opened
it myself.
Did you never keep the keys ?-Never
Who did ?-Mr. Smith always.
| At this moment the witness CHANGED
to turn her eyes toward the spot where
the prisoner stood, and the effect was
almost electrical. A cold, damp sweat
stood upon his brow, and his face had
lost all its color; he appeared living
image of death. She no sooner saw
him than She shrieked and tainted.
| The consequences of her answers
flashed across her mind.
She had been SO thoroughly deceived
by the manner of the advocate and by
the little Importance he had seemed to
attach to her statements, that she had
been led on, by one question to another,
till she had told him all that he wanted
to know. During the interval (occa-
stoned by her illness) to the proceed
ings, the solicitor for the prosecution
left the court. It was between four
and five o'clock when the judge resumed
his seat upon the bench, the prisoner
his station at the bar, and the house
keeper hers in the witness box; the
court, in the interval, had remained
crowded with spectators, scarce one of
whom had left his place, lest, during
his absence, it should be seized by some
one else.
The crOss-examining counsel then ad-
| q 7 4xI1
more questions to ask of you; but be-
ware that you answer them truly, for
your own life depends upon thread
Do you know this stopper2 | do.
10 whom does it belong? To Mr.
Smith.
When did you see it last? On the
night of Mr.. ThOmpsOn's death.
At this moment the solicitor for the
prosecution entered the court, bringing
with him, upon a tray, a watch, two
money bags, a jewel case, q pocket
book, and bottle of the same manu-
facture as the stopper, and having q
cock III it; some other articles there
were in it, not material to my story
The tray was placed on the table il
sight OF the prisoner and the witnesses
and from that moment not a doubt
remained in the minds Of any man O1
the guilt of the prisoner.
A few words will bring my tale to it!
close. The house where the murder
had been committed was between nine
and ten miles distant. The solicitor, as
soon as the Cross examination of the
housekeeper had discovered the exis.
tence Of the closet, and it's situation
had set off on horseback, with two
sheriff7s officers, and, after pulling dowr
part Of the wall of the house, had de
tected this important place of conceal
ment.
Their search was we'll rewarded; the
whole of the property belonging to Mr.
Thompson was found there, amounting
in value to some thousand pounds and
to leave no room for doubt, bottle wa
discovered, which the medical men in
stantly pronounced to contain the very
Identical poison which had caused tn
J death Of the unfortunate Thompson
The result is too obvious to need expla
: nation.
The case presents the, perhaps, un
, paralleled instance of man accused O
murder, the evidence against whom wa
so slight, as to induce the judge ant
T jury to concur in verdict of acquital
but who, persisting in calling witnes
| to prove his innocense, was, upon tn
, testimony of that very witness, cOnvic
ted and executed.