Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-05-09
During the Journey to New York the do


tective became quite friendly and told me
how the matter came to b revived II
appeared that, unknown to his immediate
relative, Mr.. Smithson had insured his
life for q very large amount in favor Of his
brother before going to Europe; the policy
he had put In . box Of papers left with his
bankers. The papers on his death had
been looked over by the solicitors clerk,
and. no one knowing anything Of the pol
icy, II had escaped the careless observation
by being hidden between the parchments
Of lease. Some few months before my
arrest It became necessary to refer to the
papers; the policy was found and . claim
made by the brothers on the ONCE. The
reply was that there was no evidence Of
James Smithson's death not being the TO
suit OF his own act; he might have thrown
himself overheard, and in that case the
policy would be invalid
The row with you" said the onacer, @as
described in the papers 1t the time, was
remembered, and the advertisement in
serted You see 1t was not Of much con-
sequence to any one whether he was
murdered or Jumped overheard till It be-
came . question Of some sc, Zoo on .
disputed policy. The brother Il Of course
quite willing to spend half in securing
evidence Of his murder, and You can get .
good deal Of evidence for rs 900, 20 you
will have . rather hard time of it. It Il
worth, you zee, about t25,000 to him to
see you hanged, and he'll do it If he can. I"
was horror-struck The man talked
not Of any question Of innocence or guilt,
but Of questions of bought evidence and
money, It is an awful position to be in,
that some one should gain some Thousands
OF dollars by your being hanged.
Ineed not describe the preliminary ex-
aminations and commitment Twas two
months awaiting my trial, and all the evil
dence l could get in my favor amounted
to nothing On the other side there was
the evidence of the quarrel; and, last,
there was the evidence of two of the crew,
who on oath had testified that they saw
myself and the murdered man ON the
forecastle together, that l struck him with
. Delaying pin and then threw him over
board
What could hope for against such wit
nesses, Tho steward and the captain were
both dead, and these two shameless fends
had concocted this story under thr induce
ments Of q large reward It was clear
WAS 70 Dc Tue S1CIlu u D ull6cI6Ulc bpSCu-
lation to gain money.
The day Of the trial came at last. was
taken into the courtroom between two
turkeys. The counsel for the prosecu-
ton, in stating his case, dwelt long on
the animus shown in the quarrel at din
ner, and concluded by calling his wit
nesses
The cabin boy and the chief mate told
the story Of the quarrel; the man at the
wheel told of the last time he had seen the
deceased alone; and then came the two
witnesses.
Il have to request, your honor" said my
counsel, that one Of these witnesses be
ordered out Of court during the evidence
of the other"
The first one was put in the box and duly
examined. / remembered the face and
that was all.
He stated that he was on the lookout
that night, and that, just after eight
bells, he heard two men come on to the
forecastle. They were disputing, and he
knew by their voices they were the de-
ceased and the prisoner. The prisoner
suddenly drew out Of his pocket be-
laying pin and struck the deceased over
the head with it, and as he was falling
pushed him, SO that he fell overheard.
Witness made no alarm, it took him so by
surprise; and the other witness, Patrick
Murphy, then came up and told him to
hold his row, and they should get a pull
on the young fellow yet by keeping quiet
He wanted to tell the captain, but Muir.
ply said il he did he'd lose his time and
perhaps get locked up as witness and get
nothing for his trouble
My counsel then asked him how he
knew / was the person.
Because Of the voice, and because at the
time the moon was shining full on my
face, SO that he could not make any mis-
take.
The other witness was then called-a
pale, red-haircd, sallow-faced wretch, with
very small, pinkish eyes, white eyelashes,
large, wide, straight mouth, and one of
those unpleasant noses which look as II
some violet blow with sharp instrument
had cut it In two, horizontally, just above
the lip.
His evidence was substantially the same
as that Of the former witness.
"Why have you said nothing about this
before."
"Smithson was nothing to mo-"
~And no considerations of justice in
duced you to give this information"
SHAW! What do l care for justice! II
we'd opened our mouths we'd been looked
after all the rest of the voyage. and in
stead Of having our lark ashore we'd a.
been hanging about this ere court for q
a day or SO.
@what induced you to come forward
now,"
Il saw the advertisement, and, says l,
Now that's something like; 81 900 Is some
thing"
Are you remembering that you are on
your oath, prepared to state that the pris-
Oner was the man who struck the blow!
How do you know it,"
u saw him, tell you, in the bright
moonlight-it wa full moon, as light Is
day"
you can 90 down."
@The officers in charge Of the case will
see that the witnesses do not leave
the court until it Is concluded" said the
judge.
The counsel for the prosecution restated
their case, and it seemed very strong in
deed As he sat down I felt almost guilty;
l was almost convinced that in some hor-
rible moment Of frenzy had done this
deed without knowing it.
Ny counsel did what he could; but
could see, long before the judge rose
to charge the jury, that I was a doomed
man.
Temporarily and dispassionately the
Judge summed up the case and retired.
the jury Withdrawing Immediately aftsz,
ward
sat there looking at the scene in q sort
OF stupefaction, when suddenly felt that
/ was an object Of extreme Interest to
very beautiful young girl in the gallery.
She was looking ut me and yet not at me,
but rather looking through me at some
thing beyond. My eyes met hers. which
were full Of tears. and broke the spell: she
looked another way. Presently as looked
saw her start. turn pale and fall back in
her seat. It was only a moment. She sud
denly tore-literally tore-of her gloves
and taking her pencil and tablets. and
what looked like q prayer book from her
pocket, leaned upon the rail in front and
seemed to be making some calculations,
putting down figure after figure.
watched her in silence for a quarter Of an
hour and then saw her, as she put away
the pencil and book, look down at me. A
smile of triumph lighted her face as she
breaihed out to me with her lips the word
Hope
She struggled through the crowded gal
lery, came into the court. and, speaking to
an usher, was brought to the counsel's
seat She spoke to my counsel and showed
him her tablets and books
He seemed thunderstruck, and said
loudly enough for me 20 hear him as