The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1886-06-03
PRELLER'S SLAYER.


Demolition of the Structure of His De-
fense-Hls Nemesis Close at His Heels.
ST. LOUIS, May 28.-The manner Of the
defendant in the Preller case has under.
gone change since the cross-examina-
tion by Circuit Attorney Glover. His
clipper 6ippancy has given place to seri-
BUSINESS. His easy assurance is fast van
ishing under the load of self-copfessed
weakness and disgrace, and even his In
ordinate vanity has been reached by the
merciless probe.
The ordeal must have been terrible
one which could touch the prisoners
vanity, and 1t was.
The weak points in his record and In
his story of the killing were dragged out
to light and were fiirted in his face, until
in sheer desperation he collapsed and fell
on the handiest refuge=-a treacherous
memory.
A weak memory was the alternate from
vigorous Imagination.
His own attorneys had led him over a
waste of quicksand, where he plunged
and fioundcred helplessly and pitiably.
The last support was knocked from under
his feet, and he was overwhelmed by the
corruption of his own wretched past,
There never was q finer Illustration Of
what a record Is worth.
The fures OF fraud and falsehood faced
the man in the crisis of his life, and have
lashed and bounded him to the verge of
the scaffold. When the dramatic close of
the cross-eXaminer was reached, there
was not soul in the courtroom who
did not look upon the prisoner as a
doomed man-and Justly doomed. The
faces of the jury seemed to wear the ex:
preston of men who have practically
made up their minds and who have an
unpleasant duty to perform.
1t was his vanity that led him to change
his name; his vanity that betrayed him
into the affcctation of learning; vanity
that led him to add titles to his false
name; vanity that led him to make 9TH
ers believe him disappointed in great
expectations; vanity and villany that
made him murderer; vanity that forced
him in displaying his blood-staincd
money; vanity that put up guidepoSts
from the Mississippi to the Pacific coast
Weak vanity led to petty thievery, petty
thievery to deception, deception to lying,
lying to fraud; lust and fraud and lying
and vanity led to murder, and murder
will lead to the gallows.
The Nemesis of the accused man was
created by himself
Yesterday the chief witness for the de-
Tense was the defendants sure condemn
alton. To-day the expert witness for the
defense failed to strengthen his case
Granting the truth of this accident theory,
1t proved him fool, whose folly was
IN, NJ Hot,
Again the hypodermic syringe was
brought into court indirectly. Strive as
the defense may, they can not get away
from the syringe. By their own wit
hesscs 1t was proved that the effect Of
chloroform and morphine on the lungs
and heart are practically the same.
Every little adjunct of a murder rises
to meet the murderer on his trial.
The trial thus far has come to this :
Every thing points to murder and rob-
berry. Granting the truth of the theory
of the defense, the cruelty, lack of feel
ing and utter want of decency and
moral principle displayed by the prisoner
under the circumstances brands him as
an object of contempt and disgust-the
nearest thing to a murderer.
The body of Preller has been exhumed
since the beginning of this trial and an
examination made of the parts claimed
by the defense to have been diseased and
to have been under treatment by the
prisoner when his administration of
chloroform killed his patient.
The eXhumatiOn was made last Satura
day, and the suggestion for tiff not the
absolute necessity for such move-was
first given in the confession Of Maxwell,
which has already appeared in these dis
patches.
The body when taken up was found to
be in remarkable state of preservation.
There were present at the time, besides
Circuit Attorney Glover, John +. Ryan,
superintendent of the morgue, and few
casual visitors to the cemetery, Doctors
BrOkaw, Jr., Prewitt, dean and
professor of surgery OF the
Missouri Medical College, and
Coroner Nidelet. These last three
professional gentlemen made an amputa-
ton of the parts alleged to have been af-
fected and brought them to the city with
them. On the same day in the morgue
they made an investigation of the parts,
which were cut open and thoroughly ex.
amined.
They were in good state of preser-
vation and gave very little evidence of
decomposition. Upon dissection the in.
ner portions were In good color and alb
solutely perfect No signs or indica-
tions of structure, which Maxwell has
testified existed, were found. These
three gentlemen will take the stand In re-
buttal and give the above facts. The
parts will also be shown to the jury.
For the defense DIR. Bauer testified to
the difficulty of determining the presence
of structure by post-mortem examina-
tion after decomposition has been at work
for five or six days. A restoration by
arsenic, carbolic acid or embalming fluid
would mummify the parts and destroy
the evidences sought for.