Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-09-12

point, and / felt that on the whole IL WouIu
be better to give him time for reflection
before completing the willp'
s'In fact, you are prepared to swear that
when you left him, two weeks before his
death. he was so much excited that his
mind was not in its normal condition." II
think So"
Fosdyke was the last witness of any i'm
n~ortance. It was now five o'clock, and
everybody in court was exhausted, Noone,
therefore, was surprised when the judge
announced that this point the trial would
be adjourned till the next day. Daisy
was instantaneously spirited out Of the
dock; but before she left the waiting room
below I was allowed to have a mOmentary
interview her. She was wan and worn;
but her sweet composure enabled me to
keep ND my courage in her presence, and to
assure her that, so far IS | knew, all was
doing well.
Alas! any decisions 1 might have enter
tanned on that point were only too quickly
dispelled. l had hardly finished my
dinner at the Station hotel when Harding
appeared ut the door of my room to tell me
that Mr.. Belmore desired to have an i'm
mediate interview with me.
followed my friend to the room of the
great advocate, who was also staying at the
hotel | found Mr.. Belmore and our solicit
tor, Mr.. Bruce, in serious consultation.
II sent for you, Mr.. FentOn," said the
famous lawyer, that l might have a little
frank talk with you. / understand that
you are really the principal friend OF Miss
Stanclife, and / have heard of the relation
ship in which you stand to each other.
Now | want to tell you at once that she Is
in an almost desperate position. We shall
do our best for her tomorrow, of course;
but | must say candidly that see no hope
of avoiding a conviction. l have only two
pOints to make-One is the possibility OF a
blunder on the part of the doctor in pre-
pairing MI. Mauleverer's medicine, II the
other the chance that Mauleverer may have
committed suicide. But | do not think
ever had a stronger case to meet, nor nave
| ever been compelled to trust to more
worthless straws than these"
heard him with a dread that seemed to
render me voiceless.
YES" he continued, I'VE must not de-
ceive ourselves. Everything is against us.
But | an anxious to save this poor child II
| can, | do not believe her to be guilty,
and | hope that something may yet turn up
to prove her innocence. | heard all that
YOU have told my learned friend here, md
[ wish to give you some advice. lou
must move heaven and earth to hnd out,
first, what has become of the strychnla
| which Miss Stancliffe bOught--fOr do not
| believe that it has been destIOyed-and
next where the man Gregson. of whom you
have told Mr.. Harding, is to be found. In
nv opinion he possesses the key of this
mystery. But the first step you should
take is to obtain a power OF attorney from
Miss Stanclrffe, enabling you to act IN re-
IatiOn TO all her affairs rs she herself could
do. This must he obtained, if possible,
before her conviction, and Mr.. Bryce, vino
has an order for IN interview with her, will
get it from her tonight"
Then the great man shook me by the
hand, and, expressing his desire to help
me in every possible way, politely bowed
me from his room.
| have no heart.tO write the events OF
the next day. There was again the eager
crowd of sightSeCrS i'll court, and again all
the actors in the dismal tragedy appeared
in their old places. The jury looked jaded
after their night of confinement ut Il neigh
boring hotel; and | was conscious that not
merely upon myself, but upon my darling,
the awful ordeal of the previous day, and
of the sleepless night which followed, had
told heavily. But she preserved the same
air of sweet serenity which had distingu-
guiShed her from the first.
Mr.. Hawks speech for the prosecution
was the coolest, cleareSt and most mcrcileSS
exposition of the facts that could by any
possibility have been laid before the jury.
He was no novice at his work, and | shud-
deringly felt when he sat down that he
had not left IL loOphole by which Daisy
could escape. That Mr.. Maulevcrer was
undoubtedly poisoned by s%trychnia on the
night of October 2ith. that the prisoner
waS;the person who must have committed
the crime, and that she had u strong mo-
tive for committing it-theSe twere the
three points which he laborcd to establish
beyond the power of ]retutatiOn, and it was
only too clear that he did establish them
in the minds of nearly everybody in court.
Mr.. Belmorc took Il very different line.
His desire evidently was to get away as far
rs possible from the evidence, and in u
speech which was full of imprisoned and
eloquent pleading he dwelt upon the diff
Guilty of imagining that 4 young girl like
Daisy could ever have conceived, much
less could have carried ont, so deadly Il
plot against the life Of her relative and
bcnefactOr. Nothing but absolutely on
vincing evidence could Justify the jury in
finding a verdict against her. But in this
case where was there any absolute demon
s~tration of her guilt? Who could say that
Mr.. Maulevcrer had not, under the influ-
ence Of the excitement from which he was
undoubtedly suffering, committed suicide?
and in that case everybody knew the prov
erbial cunning with which q mailman
sought to hide the traces of his acts; but
even if this hypothesis were to be rejected,
was it not possible, and even probable, that
weak, muddle-headed DR.. Carrick might
have made another mistake, and by inad-
vertance given strychnia instead Of bromide
of potassium to his patient? Atall events,
with these two possibilities staring them
in the face, the jury would incur a terrible
responsibility if they returned a verdict of
guilty against the prisoner.
| think that if the jury had given their
verdict then it would have been in Daisy's
favor. But the summing up of the Judge,
clear, careful and impartial, destroyed the
effect OF Belmorc's eloquent special plead
ing.
l sat Us in n dream, while the tedious
tOrmalitieS connected with the retirement
of the jury were carried out. And then
came half IN hour of awful suspense, dur
ing which everybody remained in court
save my darling and the judge. still re-
call with 4 Sickening sense of horror that
sudden lull in the hum of general CONVEX
~Sation, which told us that the jury were
returning TO deliver their verdict. | see
the Judge hurTying back to the bench; l
see the twelve men, with their grave, set
faces slowly filing into the box; | hear, as
though from q vast distance, the calling
over of the names, and the demand of the
clerk, "How say you, gentlemen; do You
find the prisoner guilty or not guilty?''
And then l am on my feet, with arms
stretched out to where my love stands,
deadly white, but more beautiful thar
ever, with hands claSped and eyes turned
toward heaven, which has Just heard the
mOmentOuS verdict that is TO brand her