Litchfield enquirer., 1874-09-24
AR OLD LAWYERS STORY.


 A great many years ago, while I wa comparatively young man, and still un married, 1 resided in a certain city O Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the reputation of being the cleverest lawyer ever knowl there. It is not for me to say the prais. was merited, but I certainly found mysel able t" discover loop-holes of escape fol those whom defended, which surprised even my fellow-lawYers possessed b, nature those qualities which would have made an excellent detective, and I was { thorough student of the law. There wa. no mystery about it, but among the more ignorant classes gained reputation fol more than human knowledge. Perhap. 1t was not polite for them to say that tht devil helped, but they did.
 However. l began to tell you about Madame Matteau. She was an old lady who owned little house in the suburb, of the city. She herself was of American birth, but her husband had been { Frenchman, and so the title madame haG been bestowed upon her. She was now $ widow. and her daughter Gabriella and son Henri were her only living relatives Her income was but slender, and she eked 1t out by taking few boarders, general, steady old people who had known her fol many years. These respected and liked her; but the city generally had preiu. dice against her. There had been two sudden deaths in the house. Each time the victim was q stranger who came al night, and was found dead i'll his bed il the morning. Each time the jury was di wholesome believing that strangulatior was the cause of death, some that the man had died in a fit.
 1t was a terrible thing that two such deaths should have occurred beneath he, roof. Madame's friends pitied her. The rest of the little world limited that these were strangers, and thelr trunks, with nc one knew what amount of money and oth. CT valuable property, remained in mad. ame's possession No one said she was T murderess, but every one said it was s.yery strange" in an odd tone, and no one since that second death had visited Madame Matteau.
 mySelf-perhaps because I admired her a great deal, and her daughter much more-had always insisted that it was merely coincidence, and that in q world Tn which apoplexy and heart disease were so common 1t was no such marvel that two men should have met sudden deaths in the same house. But my faith in this theory was shaken when, ono morning 1t was published over the city that anotI- CT transient boarder had been found dead Ill Madame Matteau's house. and that she was arrested on suspicion of having mur- dered him, his watch and chain having been found i'll her possession.
 RafOra [ hod raoox,o.o1 e,.o,>. .I of this terrible piece of news a message came to me from Madame Matteau. She deslred to See me. Of course I went to her at once.
 She had been taken to prison, and I fcs1ad her m a little room with barred window, and an insufficient fire upon the hearth. The logs had burnt in two upon the andlrons, and the white ashes were scattered over the hearth. Almost in them sat Madame Matteau, Ill her widows dress of somber black.
 She was chilly with grief and excite ment, and had drawn her chair close to the fire.
 She shook violently from head to foot. and her face was deadly pale as she turn cd It toward me and held out her hand.
 "Oh, thank heaven, you have come!'' she said; Il know you can save me. Is 1t not horrible? How could I kill man? Why should I? Why do people come to my house to die' To die horribly, with black faces and starting eyes, as if some one had choked them? Ugh? and he was a pretty young man, the night before. Oh, good heavens! how horrible!"
 l sat down beside her. took her hand. Madame Matteau,"T said. ssbe calm. collect yourself. As your lawyer must know all. Tell me, from first to last what happened-what was said. what was done. If you" '''
 1 paused; her black eyes had flashed upon me. l could not ask her whether she had any confession to make. Isaw that she had not, unless she was the hest actress who ever lived. Madame Mattaau was innocent of any crime,
 s4 you have any suspicious" I added. ''tell them all to me-"
 '"There IS no one to suspect" sobbed the poor woman. ''In the house were Gabriella, my daughter, whom you have seen; old Hannah. the cook; Mir. and Mrs. Beauchamp, friends of my poor. dear in his boyhood-the best kind est people: MT. Gray, a very old man. too feeble to leave the house: poor. deformed Miss Norman, and the librarian. Mr- Rass- ford. None of these would murder a See how kind they are: thev re- main in my house; they send me word that they have no doubt of me. Ob- how can anybody?"
 "And this man who" I began
 "Yes," said Madame Mattean CT v;u tell you: he was fair, young. handsomeIv he asked Mir. Rassfor5 of ftSad adc pot II Re knew of any 'ope who could ac- e2ammodate Mm. Mir. Bassford brought hlm home; My only empty room was the one ln which those other two strangers dleq: could not bear to put him there: put Mr. Basstord laughed at me. We had supper afterward. He talked a long time to Gabrielle. It was late when Re for 8 quiet household. Ham nah had made his fire. She came and told us that she had done so. He said goodnight. ''.''' After he had gone We found he had left his watch on the table. He wore 1t only with bunch of seals, and he had been setting it by the clock, and showing 1t to us as something very handsome. l knocked at his doors to restore 1t to him. lie had not left US but fifteen minutes be- fore; but he must have been asleep al- ready, for he made no answer. So kept it for the night, and wore it down to breakfast, next morning. As came down met gentleman in the hall. He in quired for Mir. Glen. This was the new comer's name. I sent Hannah to wake him. She could not do so, and grew alarm ed. She had key that would cnen the door, and used 1t. The next thing | knew We were all in the room and the windows were wide open, and the doctor had been sent for; and the young man who had called was screaming that his brother had been ehoked to death; and then there was an inquest, and they arrested me. The brother said the first thing he mo- ticed was that wore Mir. Glen's watch and seals. had forgotten it in myterror.
 '.So Hannah had key to the room?" I said.
 ''Yes; at least it was key that would open 1t. It was the key to Mir, Rassford's s door. She knocked the other one out with stick and put that in.'
 '"Fhe people who were there on that night were your boarders when the other men were found dead?" I asked.
 .. "Oh, cyes." @ "And Hannah was there also?'