Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-08

was HO1c Uculuu Lue lelb ear Oh buC ASon3
as described by DR.. Dean, and signs OF an
old fracture in the small bone of the ankle.
The victim had borne children.
Inquiry-agent Doggett had made search
at Rose Cottage, and had found the revolver
now produced in drawer in the bedroom
occupied by the prisoner Latour. The
bullet fitted the weapon exactly.
Inspector Sullivan stated that he had Wis
tied the prisoners in Newgate and charged
them v ith the murder Of Meta Latour on
the 29th Of July last. The prisoner Latour
made no reply. Gillett said that he kew
nothing about it.
This closed the evidence,
"Have you any witnesses to call ?" asked
the Coroner, blandly, from Mr.. Finch.
1--WE reserve our Defense. the solicitor
replied.
IT shall speak now," cried Gillett. in an
agitated voice.
chad been exhibiting increasing signs
of discomposure as the evidence was un-
folded and he caught its drift. The Coroner
cautioned the prisoner, who, however, reit-
Grated his desire to be sworn. He was
accordingly brought to the table and sworn,
when he gave the following remarkable
evidence.
my name is Joseph 'Coppock. Some
years ago l got into trouble. / Ideclineto say
what it was about, but 1T placed me in his
power" said Gillett, with jerk of his
thumb in the direction where Latour was
sitting. II remember Mrs. Latour coming
to Great Chester street last July. There
was an awful scene between my master and
his wife. I did not pay much attention to
what it was about, as was working at the
other end of the building. heard two shots
fired in quick succession, and looked in the
direction of the door where had last seen
them standing. went to see what was the
matter. Mrs. Latour was lying on the floor
near the door with her face downward.
Blood was oozing from a wound at the back
of her head. This was about 10 o'clock.
We buried her that night and then went to
the Cat and Bells where we had two glasses
of brandy each. What the witnesses have
said is quite correct I consented to help
my master to get rid of the body on condi-
tion that he would give up the proofs he had
against me and e500 to start afresh with in
the colonies. I had nothing to do with the
fire. My meeting Mr.. Latour and walking
over London Bridge was a pure accident,
as 1 shall be able TO prove now that I am
free to speak. have nothing more to say"
Mr.. Finch made gallant attempt to
shake Gillett's confession, but gave up in
despair. "Gillett has pulled the rope tight
round his masters neck which the other
witnesses had fastened round it before" the
solicitor muttered to himself below his
breath.
1t was even SO. The jury after brief
summing up from the Coroner returned
verdict of Wilful Murder against both
prisoners, who were shortly afterward tried
for their lives at the Central Criminal
Court.
The more serious charge was not pressed
against Gillett, who was, however, con-
victed as an accessory after the fact and
sentenced 10 seven years penal serYitude.
Latour was sentenced to death.
70 all outward appearances Gerald La
tour prepared to meet his doom with un-
fiinching courage. He never alluded to the
crime for which his life wps forfeited to the
law, nor would he suffer any allusion to be
made to it in his hearing. He tolerated the
kind offices of the Jail chaplain with cyni-
cal resignation.
He slept soundly the night before his exc
cution, rose early and remained for some
time wrapped in his own reflections. What
they were who shall say?
Did he think of those bright summer days
at Cote Farm, when he sauntered along the
Somersetshire lanes fanked with blossoming
hedgerows, beguiling the childlike unso-
phisticated heart of Meta Dean? Did he
think of that afternoon in the orchard at
tached TO the old farmhouse, as he lay
swinging In hammock suspended from the
spreading branches Of an enormous apple
tree, while he craftily won Meta Deans
consent to a private marriage7 Did he re-
call the fearful terms in which time after
time Meta urged that he should make their
marriage known, and the mad wicked act by
which he had closed that beautiful life?
Did he recall the infamous burial, and how
Meta, lying in her dishonored grave, had
been dlsovered-Revealed by Fire, as it
were-to the discontinue of all plans? Had
he thought to spare for his wasted youth
and the hours which he had wantonly spent
in disgraceful orgies? Did he think of his
two innocent children, whose mothers life
he had destroyed and to whom he was leav-
ing the shameful heritage of the brand of
Cain?
Again we ask-who knows? He sat there
on the bed in the little confined cell in New
gate where so many of his predecessors in
crime have spent their last hours on earth
and indulged In their last reflections
before their sin-stained spirits stood in
the white light of the Eternal. He sat there
long, never moving, with his head bowed on
his breast and his hands tightly locked n
each other.
At last the heavy boom OF st. Sepulchre's
stole through the frightened air. The hour
Of doom had comel There was the sound of
footsteps traversing the corridor. Another
boom from st. Sepulchre's and the sherifs
stood at the door! They spoke to him, but
he appeared not to hear. They touched him,
but he appeared not to notice. Was he
dazed or asleep? A warder felt his hands
and drew back startled. He had died as he
sat there. The higher Justice had called
the soul of Gerald Latour before the judg-
ment seat where the scales are held evenly.
Months passed away when the following
announcement appeared in the Times:
DEAN-MARcHANT-O the 9TH inst,
Maurice Dean, NJ. D., formerly of Cote,
Somersetshire, to Helen, only child of
Joshua Marchant, of Russell square.
1t was long before Maurice Dean recov-
cred from the shock occasioned by his sister
Metals terrible DEATH When he sought
the children Of his dead sister, he found
that other hands had borne them away.
Helen Marchant had made them her care
motherless as they were and soon to be faith
erless. 1t was the only way she could think
of in which she could answer the letter
which Meta had written 10 her in her
despair, and she felt that this reparation
was due to the Deans, who had suffered so
keenly from the sin of her kinsman. The
intercourse thus begun between Maurice
and Helen ripened into fast, true affection,
crowned with an honorable marriage.
So Maurice Dean found that it is often
rriu var, tn frf1o And
of the graves of buried loves and hopes bit
terly and sorely dashed the fair flowers of
new loves and bright hopes lest they that
weep should be embittered by the unre-
1ieved darkness of black despairl
Meta sleeps in the churchyard near her
Somersetshire home. Over her grave each
peaceful Sabbath day there rolls the solemn