The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-10-20


step and recoiled so that the floor of ths
booth ratified. 1t seemed to me as if sh,
was trying to break through the boards tc
escape from me. She looked pale, super
naturally pale 1t might have been al
effect of light, for the gas was directl,
above her head.
81 gazed alternately at her bloodless
face and at the white face of the manikin
they seemed TO grow confused in my mind
''The girls eyes shone, haggard and di
lated like those of a somnambulist. HeI
pallid lips moved:
"'You have come to kill meP
Kill you? Nonsensel What weapon
could l use3 l remember laughing as
said these words, and that is all.
Collect your mind. Force your memory
to obey you," said the doctor anxiously.
"That is all can remember. The next
thing | recall is that mans hands closed
around my throat and the man was shrek
ing with sorrow. His grasp must have
been furious, yet felt nothing.
'Over his shoulder l peered about tc
see the Golfer without trying at all to fret
myself. The Golfer was still in the corner
and the head was still on top of it. There
was blood on the floor. The heSd looked
like a pale young girl. Beside it lay {.
shining sword of curious shape, like ar
African weapon"
''The sword was in the BOOTH" explained
the physician; you took it to cut off tn,
girls head. Then you substituted hel
head for that of the manikin. All that
was accomplished with strength ano
rapidity only explicable by vertigo-tem
porary insanity-aberration, call it what
you please"
Decidedly, you insist upon it as firmly
as the examining magistrate" said Julian
"Yet can never admit myself guilty
an act l am unconscious of having done"
"You were out of your mind" said tn,
doctor. What happened nextf"
~ remember gendarmes with drawn
swords. A walk past the booths of the
showmen. And think they hooted ano
jeered. All the clamor mingled and con
founded and became one great sound o.
rushing waves, then that noise resolved L.
self into harmonious concert with domi
mating chords of deep, sweet sound. After
that l found myself here, and you know
the rest. You, doctor, felt my pulse, my
forehead, and questioned me searchingly
but without succeeding in establishing my
possibility. | have never been sub
ject to epilepsy, nor to somnambulisn
and my brain is not diseased. My own
opinion? Ihave given it and been laughed
at. Yet if / really did this hideous thing
am accused OF. the very thought of which
freezes the blood in my veins, then l have
been the instrument of another's crime,
victim of suggestion. l am excessively
nervous and susceptible to hypnotic intu
Nd krry1 h., II =.
until have become good subject
have no hope of this theory being accepted
l offer it merely as my own conviction"
"Have you arrived at any conclusionP
asked the lawyer three days after, as h,
entered the doctors office with curious
expression on his keen face, and certain
pallor and subdued excitement that at oncs
attracted the physicians attention.
why, no; l am just where l was" re
piled the latter. 81 can make nothing O,
it. And you? You have found some solu
tion?"
1.-THE solution-the motive-all," sale
the prisoners counsel, unfolding a pack
age of manuscript 'The girl had beer
insane, melancholy, suicidal mania, and
all that, but had been cured, as it was sup
posed, and was not considered dangerous
The idea fixed, however, still enthralled hel
brain, and, like all demented women, tn,
more fantastic the mise en- scene of tn,
crime the better it would please her warped
imagination. She conceived the idea Of
employing hypnotism, attended lecture,
and seances, and became an expert pupil
AT one of these pseudo scientific gather
ings, which were frequented by some medi
cal students of the Latin quarter, she mel
Julian and-incredible as it seems-hyp
Noticed him and suggested her own muir
der. This MS, found few hours age
among her effects, contains calm state
ment of the facts, and completely exoner
ates the prisoner. "-Translated for "Ro
nance" from LIE Petit Journal by Edytl
kirkwood.