Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-04-16

me money; I eerne here TO AK &c back
Q. How did ycu rain access TO tho roomi
"A. Iente-od by tho window OF ito cabinet,
having cli=:bcd up from the court beloy- with
the cd Of the trellis-work.
Q. Whydid you adopt this raccns Of enter
ing your unclo's roomi
A. Because be had previously refused me
admission, and had ordered tho peop,e CT t,6
house to expel me IL ! ever shovsl I..ysei.
again.
Q. Well, and what after entering the oao-
ineti
A. Iopened the door, and, looking into this
room, saw
Q. WHAT
A. (After a moncnt's hesitation on the pars
Of Girard, who betrayed considerable hesiia-
tion) I saw the corpse of my l,acle lying in q
pool Of blood in front Of his writing table.
Q. What did you do thenl
A. was horror stricken, and for some sec
snds could not move limb; felt ns il DC, 4.
fzed I Iadvanced into the room, which W.;
Lit by one candle, then almost expiring. NJ
uncle's body lay all In q heap, as il be had
fallen from his chair on being struck from
behind. Blood still oozed from his mouth,
but he was quite dead; of that assured m
self. A dagger lay beside the corpse, w :;
blood still wet upon it.
Q. Would you recognize the dagger which
you say you found lying beside your uncle,
corpse, If it were shown you again?
A. Yes, could identify it with ease.
Q. Is that tho dagger! Here the accused
was shown the poniard found beside tho body
f Maissner, and lately exhibited at th,
.Iorgue.)
il. Yes, that is the weapon saw,
Q. Had You ever seen this weapon befo:c.
4. l had seen, If not this weapon, at all
e c;its one so closely resembling it that it
,1cid be difficult to distinguish between
lem. by uncle on one occasion gave rae q
japanese dagger which was an exact coun-
terpart of the one found beside his corpse.
Q. When did he give you this daggeri
A. About two years ago, as nearly as can
remember.
Q. What has become of it now.
A sold it shortly after it came into ny
possession
Q. The dagger which you say was given
~ou by your uncle had a sheath; can you dc
scribe itg'
IL The sheath was made of green silk and
lark lacquered wood, and in shape resembled
\ .oscd fan
Q. It was, then, like thisa Here the ac-
cused was shown a sheath Of dagger taken
from the private collection of M. do st.
Florent, an exact counterpart of the weapon
used in the murder of Meissner).
A. Like that, exactly.
Q. After finding, as you say, the corpse of
Melssner lying before the writing table, did
you disturb any of the articles in the rooms-
did you open any Of the drawers, or remove
anything from the lock-fast places2
A. Assuredly not; after seeing my uncle's
body, had but one impulse-to escape from
the room as quickly as possible; that is, as
soon as had recovered from the shock Of the
leadful spectacle.
Q. How long do you suppose you were in
tho room2
A. should imagine, for several minutes
11ly.
Q. And you left it, how?
A. By the same way that had entered it
y the window Of the cabinet; clambered
own the trellis-work and then hastened from
,!c court.
Q. You see this ivory wrist-stud which has
zen handed to me by the detective officer Py.
10 you recognize it as your propertya
A. Yes, 1 believe it to be my property.
Here the accused Raoul Girard requested
permission to make statement, and did SO in
he following terms
Monsieur the Judge, I shall recount to
you in a few words my connection with this
dreadful affair. I have to explain that my
lete uncle, Joseph Meissner, never treated me
with kindness. I was brought up at Provins
in the house of the brother Of Joseph, Simeon
Meissner, now dead. He was by trade a
clocknaker, and was very poor. I came to
Paris five years ago, and very soon had spent
all the money left me by my father; both my
parents had died while I was yet child
After my money was gone had to earn
precarious living by my pen. Meanwhile,
my uncle Simeon Meissner fell i'll, and was
unable to work; sent him the
little money l could scrape together;
then he bade me go to his brother
Joseph, and ask help from him. Once or
twice received small sums of money from
hin1-very small sums, given grudgingly;
more often he would give me some article to
sell; it was one Of his peculiarities that he
could not bring himself to part with money
One morning I found him in a Remarkably
good humor; q rich foreigner, in temporary
difficulties, had gone only few minutes be-
fore l arrived; and foreigners, rich and in
temporary difficulties, were, he said, the sort
of clients he preferred. That day he gave
me dagger of Eastern manufacture, saying
that might dispose of it, as no did not want
to keep such thing about him. I had the
dagger in my possession for several weeks
before succeeded in selling it, which did
at last to dealer in cur.iosities in the Palais
Royal, for hundred and twenty francs
Next time visited my uncle he asked me
how much had got for the dagger. told
him, and he was very angry at the thought
of having parted with thing of that value.
After this I found it impossible to extract
from him either money or moneys worth.
ALI that / ever received from him went to
my uncle Sirneon-I kept not centime to
myself; rather than have done SO l would
have starved. When Simeon Meissner died
was at the very bottom of my purse. I
wished to go to Provias to bury him. /
asked my uncle Joseph for assistance. He
refused to give me anything at the moment,
but bade me go 70 ProvinS to see to the
funeral, promising to refund me whatever
might expend. borrowed money wherever
l could, and went; on my return Joseph
Meia5ler refused to give @ single sou, and
when reminded him Of his promise denied
that he had ever made it. He insulted me
most cruelty, declaring that had been
living in idleness on his hard-earned gains,
and draining him of his money under false
pretences. NATURALLY retorted; he few into
q passion, or feigned to do So and bade me
never cross his threshold again. AS went
down stairs he screamed insults after me,
calling me 'beggar,' good nothing and
other names Of that kind; finally he shouted
for the janitor, and told the man on no ac-