St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-15

plunged long, keen knife deep into
| his breast.
AS he fell the unfortunate man was
able 10 utter but one agoniZed cry Of
Pedro! Help"
AT hearing the cry the murderer rec
| ognized the blunder he had made, and
exclaimed, aghast:
"Satanas! l have killed the wrong
onem
Pedro happened to be near, for the
| place OF rendezvous was not ten steps
fIom where the deed of blood was done,
and, knowing the voices of the speakers,
sprang forward circulating:
Father! Rebolledow
| Instantly conscious that his own
safety demanded another victim, the
colonel. before Pedro could draw a
weapon, shot him down and, only paus-
ing long enough to satisfy himself that
| both father and son were dead, took TO
| his heels.
Scarcely had he got well out of the
wav, when Rodolfo came along, and,
| stumbling over the body of Senior Nc
lima, stopped and lighted match to see
who was lying OH the road.
With horror he recognized LuiSa'S
father, and mechanically piucked from
the old mans breast the knife left in it
by the assassin. The blood yelling
from the fatal wound poured over his
hand, but he din not observe it. He
stood as if petritied, with the
Cory Weapon fn His Hand.
and was in that position when he was
bounced upon, seized and disarmed by
some men who had approached without
his being even conscious OF their COM
ing until they clutched him.
His captorS were patrol of the gov
eminent forces, whose attention had
been attracted by Rebolledo's shot, aud
their action was singular illustration
of the peculiarly mixed conditions of
allegiance often observable in the pro-
gress of these South American revolu-
tons. Though enrolled in the regular
army, and still fghtlng>in 1t when oc-
casion demanded, they were at heart in
| sympathy with the revOlutioniStS, upon
| the verge of going over to them. and,
in fact. had been having a confidential
chat in the forest with four of Pedro's
men, who were personal friends, over
the advisabiiity of doing SO at once or of
waiting little.
When they captured Roiolfo, the cir
cumStantial evidence of whose guilt was
very plain, they took him away to
prison and carried the old mans corpse
to his house, but left Capt. Pedro's body
to his men, that they might bury it
Secretly,and so keep from public know l.
edge the loss of gallant and popular
revolutionst officer, whose death might
have an effect Injurious TO the cause.
ROdOlfo Figuerola, after long incar-
ceratiOn in prison. was brought to trial
for the murder of Senior Juan Molina.
1t was shown that the old man had OPP
posed him as sutton for Luisa's hand,
and the girl had felt herself compelled
to bear witness to that fatal expression
when he WAS leaving her, that he would
ayenge himself upon the Schenlng de-
stroyer of his happiness.
By this time the revolution was an
accomplished fact, and Col. ,Rebolledo
having been sufficiently astdte to turn
his coat in time, foreseeing the end,
was i'll high favor with the pt wars that
were. Indeed he was in the place he had
held under the former government, that
of military cOmmandant OF MaracaibO.
Submitting to the earnest inSistance
of his legal adviser, ROdolfO refrained
from making the statement that he
meant Rebolledo. and not Luisa'S
father. An explanation of why he
meant the colonel would probably not
have been believed. would certainly in
vite vindictive prosecution. and could
hardly have been expected to do any
good. So he kept silent and was
Condemned to Death.
Everybody believed him guilty, even
Tulsa, though she found palliaton in
the thought that he must have been
temporarily insane when he perpe-
trated the crime. Loudly the unfOr-
tunate young man proclaimed his inno-
cence. and called upon God to make it
apparent to others, but for some time
God did not seem to be at all interesting
himself in the proceedings.
The day ar rived upon which Rodolfo
was to be executed; a firing party had
been told off to shoot him to death, and
the hour was set when he was to go to
the chapel for final prayers. Col. Re-
bolledo was secretly eXerting all his in
young mans trial, to compass his de-
struction.
Not alone did it seem to him sound
precaution against all interested person
remaining alive to possibly direct suS-
picion against him at some future time,
but it would. he opined, be dlsagreeable,
if not actually perilous to his peace, to
have ROdolfo around after his marriage
to LuiSa.
That was one of the strangest devel-
opmentS in the affair, that Tulsa should
have taken it into her head that it was
incumbent upon her to obey what she
believed to have been her fathers dying
wish, that she should marry Reboiledo.
From asense of duty, though she had an
instructive loathing for the Wret ch, she
had consented to wed him, and he had
ACCOMPLISHED the fixing of the date for
their marriage on the day that was to
succeed the execution of her hapleSs
lover.
On the morning of the day upon
which ROdOlfo was to die, the felucca
La Fela de Coro arrived in port, bring
ing in the mail to Col. RebOledo the
decree of the president and council, car
rying into effect the statute enacted by
| congress, abolishihg the death penalty.
In his desperate and Internal deter
| minatlOn to accomplish his wicked pur-
pose of taking the young mans life, the
| commandment concealed his knowledge
of the new law, and went in person to
| having made up his mind to swear, if
necessary, that press of business had
prevented his reading his dispatches
| until after the execution.
RodolfO was on his knees in the
| chapel; the firing party and his coffin
were awaiting him in the prison yard,
and Col. Rebolledo was in the prison
Office gnawing his nails with impati-
ence, when a terrifying apparition
burst in upon him, none other than
Capt. Pedro Molina-now colonel and
| governmental commissioner to Coro and
| MaracaibO. Col. Molina had arrived by
| the same felucca that had brought that
important decree, and had been told in
the town OF what was going on i'll the
| prison.
you and l." he said, addressing the
| hCrrOw-Stricken commandment, twill
| have a personal account to settle in a
| few minutes, but first this
judicial Murder
| of an innocent man must be stopped.
Slaughter is no more legalized in Ven
eZuela. You know it, for the decree
reached you this morning. Why, then,
do you allow that young man to be
| tortured with the mummery of prepar-