The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-12-25
"None."
ANSWER my first question"

lyon mean on the eighth of September,
| When you had a short interview with him !
Yes Before that date you had never seen
him, had not known of his existence!r
Before that date | had never seen him,
and had not known of his existence:''
wv hat motive, then, had you in murder
! ouSly attempting his life!n
Tie President repeated this question
! three times without receiving any answer.
The prisoner merely shook his head.
Come" continued the judge, persuasive
ly, tell us your motive. If, as we are in
| cllned to believe, it was merely mad i'm
pulse, one OF these unexplained psychology
| lcal problems that veX the scientists of the
| day, we shall be able, as we earnestly de-
| sire, to be merciful. Reflect that, by per-
Slstlng in this perverse muteness, you will
force us to put worse construction on an
| act for which doubtless every excuse can
| be made. 1t is for you to decide whether
we are to send you for a short time to be
placed under the care of an alierst ply
stefan, or whether you will be led from this
nall to the galleys, if not to the scaffoid."
deep silence followed on these words,
and all eyes were turned upon the prisoner.
He, however, instead of answering merely
shrugged his shoulders, took pinch of
snuff and sat down. l fancy that the ma
Jorlty of the audience, even as myself, were
glad of this. 1t prolonged the pleasure of
our curiosity.
"The jury will appreciate your conduct"
said the president severely, when it became
evident that the prisoner would not speak.
ut remains for the court to hear the wit
nesses.n
| pass over the dispositions of the cutler
who had sold the knife; of the prisoners
housekeeper an idiotic old woman who had
heard the sCuffle and cries of the victim ;
and of one or two unimportant Witnesses
and come at once to that of NJ. de la Lie
terie, the man whose life had been at
tempted. His appearance, as he walked up
to the bar, attracted the sympathy of all
present He was a man Of about thirty
years, handsome, well dressed, and evil
IDENTIFY belodging to the highest class of
society. | looked at Lebrun when this
witness entered. His peaceful face became
transtigured and his expression betokened
that the blttereSt passions We're working
within him. At sign from the president
the two Wardens laid their hands on his
wrists 1t was wise precautiOn, for
believe that otherwise he would have made
an attempt to get at the young man.
Its some love AFFAIR."" muttered to one
of his colleagues the reporter of Partisan
journal, who was sitting behind me, at is
a revenge on Don Juan, that is clear"
II don't think so," answered the other.
1.-THE men had never met. Besides, look at
the difference between their eyes. But
hush the witness has taken the oath and is
beginning to speak,
"My name is Guillaume de la Licterie.n
deposed the witness. II am twenty-eight
years of age, | have no profession and live
on the revenue of my estates in Potion. l
do not know the prisoner, and had neither
seen him nor known of his existence until
on the eighth of last September. | reside
in Paris. One day toward the end of August
my attention was called by my valet to an
advertisement that had appeared in the
Figaro and, | believe, in all the other Paris
ian papers, m which the son of Blanche
Maillart was requested to put himself into
communication with Notary Lebrun, of the
Cours Boieldieu, at ROuen Complementary
details satisfied me that l was the person
referred to. There was some legacy due to
me, it was stated. | took no notice of the
advertisement. Why! 0, the reason is
clear enough. | have already more money
than | know how to spend. An increase
would have been burden. Then was too
lazy to write, and | dreaded all the bother
of a legal business. However, the adver-
tisement was so persistently repeated that,
anxious to put a stop to the unpleasant
notoriety that was thereby being given to
the name of my adored mother, who is dead,
l caused NJ. Lebrun to be written to-
Wanted the son of Blanche Maillart,' had
become the gag of the day in Paris. You
can judge how great was my anxiety to
stop this matter. My letter was answered
by return of post. 1t forms one of
the pieces de con0iction, l think. Lebrun
wrote me that several hundred thou
sand francs and many valuable antique
Jewels awaited the lawful heir of the late
Blanche de la Licterie, nee Maillart The
money left me Indifferent, the jewels-I am
collector in my lost mOments-tCmpted me-
After some further correspondence ] came
to ROuen and called on the notary. He re-
ceived me with much courtesy, and asked
me to produce my papers. 1t appeared that
tho legacy came to me through "a remote an
ceStor, by the extinction Of collateral
branch of our family, and that the papers
OF my ancestors, as far back as my great
grandfather, who died in 1860, were neces-
sary to establish my claim. These papers |
had left in my apartment in Paris and [
doubt if | should have taken any further
trouble over the matter if the prisoner had
not shown p'e an exceedingly rare cameo
ring, which, ne said, was the least valuable
Of the collection Of precious stones to which
| was entitled. In consequence | sent my
valet to Paris for the missing documents,
and fixed second rendezvous with NJ
Lebrun for the eleventh of the month. On
that day, at three o'clock in the afternoon,
called at his house. | was received and
shown upstairs by an old woman. The
house appeared to be entirely deserted.
None of the clerks | had seen there on the
previous occasion were in their places. |
was ushered into the notary's private room,
and was received by him with much afa-
bility. l handed him my papers and sat
down opposite to him, on the other side of
ms Wflulng table, Wnlle ne examined them.
This he did with the greatest care, com
pairing them with some notes he had in
big black book. After about half an hour
had elapsed he laid the papers down and
said in a tone which struck me as peculiar:
eyes, M. Guillaume de la Licterie, Baron de
Granbourg, COmte de la Haute futGa, you are
the man. You are the man. he repeated
cropping with one hand in drawer of the
table in front of him. At that moment
noise in the street attracted my attention.
| turned round and looked out Of the win
dow 1t was nothing, and so | Immediately
turned back. | found Lebrun standing in
front of me. He held one hand behind his
back; in the other was that old print which
| see on the table there. will you kindly
look at this engravingf he said repeating
all my names, and putting the picture into
my hands. 1t was a rough print from
wood block, evidently of last century, and
not embarrassing. II represented man
he was bound down by complicated sys-
tenn of straps attached to iron rings in the
floor on which his bed was laid, and passing
in various directions over his body. The
man was dressed in the costume of peas
ant of the middle Of last century, and had
most repulsive appearance | was still
bending over this curious print when | re.
ceived violent blow on my head. | sprang
to my feet and at the same moment Lebrun
leapcd onto me, brandishing huge knife in
his hand. | warded off the blow-he struck
it in the direction of my heart--and re-
ceived severe wound in my arm. then
closed with him and soon mastered him.