The Redwood gazette., 1893-10-19
Z Oh E r z M "A G AIR 3
from nrst page

w ue4 sue 6WOk0s dIkoE lOuS ol0ep,
the sergeant's wife gave her comfort
able meal. and in many little ways such
as kind Women know helped to ease her
distress.
Ia the morning she was taken before
the magistrate and charged with the
theft Of the money. OF course the SER
geant had to ten the story Of the escape Of
the other prisoner. Those in the court
room were much interested in the recital,
and when his description was given one Of
the gendarmes who had newly come to
the station said:
THAT must be the very man who es-
capped from the galleys at Marseilles
after killing two Of the guards.
He was Immediately interrogated as
to the aEtecede,lts Of the murderer. and
Marie kad to listen while thcwhole cat
alogue Of her husbands iniauity was un-
folded. Wisa growing horror she learned
that he had 5seaInany times in prison,
from which he Lad by some t rick or sub
terfuge escaped on each occasion; that
he was a. criminal of. the deepest dye
-remorseless, pitiless, cruel; that his
want of gratitude to those who had
helped him in his times of trouble had
alienated even those who had clung to
him the longest; that he had been ac-
cused of several murders and suspected
of many more, but that his cunning had
been sucS that he had been able to prove
on nearly every occasion that the guilt
had rested with some of his dupes; that
he had never hesitated to betray his fel-
lows and accomplices when it had
served his purpose. In the opinion of
the speaker there was not so black a
criminal in the whole roll of crime.
Finally he had been convicted on a
charge Of murder and condemned to
the galleys for life. He had been in the
gang at Marseilles for only a short time
when he had escaped by an effort of des-
perate courage, having in the doing so
murdered two Of the guards under cir
cumstances Of peculiar Tatrocity.
When the recital had come to an end,
the magistrate said that so far as the
charge of the theft was concerned he
would have been content to let it lieove-
until later time had there not been di
rect evidence Of the woman having taken
the money and it's being discovered in
her possession. As from the fact Of her
husband being such desperate charac-
ter it would have been presumably as q
tool in his hands that she had committed
the theft. As, however, he had escaped
with her assistance, it would be neces-
sary that she should be held in custody
for both charges-that of the crime with
which she was charged and the addi-
tional one of conniving with and aiding
in the escape Of an arrested forcat. "At
the same time," said the magistrate, ION
account of the prisoners extreme youth
and owing to the urgency Of her condi-
ton, and further relying on the fact that
she may have on her trial some explana-
ton to give which may mitigate in the
eyes of the court her moral delinquency
in the matter, am willing that every
kind Of personal consideration should be
shown to her consistent with her safe GUS
tody."
The hint of the magistrate was not
lost on the sergeant or his kind hearted
wife, and when she returned with them
to the gendarmerie they shared with her
whatever comforts they themselves pos
sessed. But though she had some measure
of comfort her state of mind was pitiable
in the extreme. At one fell blow she had
lost all that earth had to give her-hus-
band-for was not the discovery of his
true character worse than death?- father
mother, home, friends, honest name, all
that makes the happiness of life. Nay,
was she not even at the moment pris-
oner on a criminal charge? A prisoner,
so that her child must be born in prison
and be stained for all its life with the
prison taint!
The idea appalled, her, and in the great
anguish of her soul wild idea came to
her. She would run away if she could
from the prison. She had every oppor-
tunity, for the room she occupied was
not even locked, since no one thought it
possible that she could even make an at
tempt to escape. She would seek shell
ter somewhere anywhere her trou-
BILE. She might die, starve or perish
lTOIu tII0 COlU, UuI OC6Uu udu uO UCIIOIS
for her. All she hoped was that her
child would not be born in the prison.
She felt that if she could once get out
into the free air, no matter where, her
little one might escape the prison faint
that it might not be cursed with the sins
of its father or with her own ak1appi-
ness.
While the thought was upon her she
rose up and stole to the door. It was
night. Not a sound was to be heard
save the gentle rustling of the trees. She
was mountain bred girl and the sound
this voice of nature to which she was
accustomed coming through the still
ness-brought an unutterable relief to
her soul. A sense of freedom came to
her through all the pains that racked her.
She passed into the night and fed on
her way with one blind hope ever before
her-that her child should not bear the
prison taint.
AS the morning was breaking she found