The Portland daily press., 1893-01-09
SOME ODD STORIES.


Sing Sing Prison for Life for Crime of
which He Was Innocent.
copyright. 1883. by American Press Associa-.
toni
Louis Legrand to the barP'
This was the command of one of the
Judges of sessions uttered in a New York
city court few years ago Hundreds-nay,
thousands--of men and women are ordered
In the same way to stand up before the
presiding Judge after their trial is over in
order to receive a sentence commensurate
with their guilt.
The judges, lawyers and court officials
are SO familiar with the crimes and PEN
alties of these outcasts that they pay little
or no heed to the culprits, whom they re-
gard us the wretched fotsam and jetsapl
of our civilization. But there was that in
the offense, the appearance and the strange
manner of Louis Legrand that attracted
widespread attention at the time.
Louis Legrand obeying the gesture OF the
mere fiedgling of a lawyer who had been
assigned by the court to defend him, rose
to his feet and stood before the judge
The stern features of the latter relaxed as
he looked down at the slender, graceful
figure OF young man under thirty. The
prisoner was strikingly handsome. The
black eyes, wavy dark hair, silky mustache
and olive complexion told of south Euro
pean birth, and although the name was
French the court interpreter said that the
prisoner spoke with strong Italian accent
That Louis Legrand was not a profess
sional criminal even the novice could tell
at glance. He was charged with causing
the death of beautiful woman who came
to New York with him and passed as his
wife. When they first landed they were
accompanied by a man servant and put up
at luxuriously furnished quarters, taking
their meals at the St. James hotel near BY
This servant had disappeared, and whether
before or after the poisoning of the woman
could not be learned, and the prisoner,
who seemed dazed from the first, refused
to say.
There were not wanting those who be-
lieved Louis Legrand innocent of the crime.
Some were certain that his mind was
wrecked when he saw the beautiful form Of
the dead woman, and that if it had not
been for this he would have been able to
make defense that would have proved his
own innocence. The judge must have en-
tertained a doubt of the mans guilt, for his
voice was softer than usual as he asked the
man at the bar what he had to say against
the sentence about to be passed upon him.
The interpreter translated this into
French, and the young man shook his hand
some head, looked helplessly about at the
crowd of eager and even sympathetic faces
and said-nothinR.
"And now, Louis Legrand, it is the SEN
tence of this court that you be taken to the
penitentiary at Sing Sing and there pass
the remaining days of your natural life"
Ii the prisoner understood this he gave no
sign to indicate it. There were not want
ing those who believed that the mans mind
was gone, and that he would have been
equally Indifferent had he been told that he
was innocent and free to go back to his ma
tive Italy again.
He left the court handcuffed to a police
man, though he would not have attempted
escape had he been as free as the wind, and
those who saw him pass out gave sigh OF
pity, while some whispered:
Hes a victim" He's insane" or ''That
man is not guilty"
Louis Legrand was taken to the Tombs
prison on Center street, New York, and the
next morning, in company with dozen
other criminals about whose guilt there
was no question, and whose characters were
stamped on their faces, he was taken up
the Hudson to the Sing Sing penitentiary.
The world rolls on, and the good and the
bad are alike forgotten as other good or
bad men come on the theater of action.
Louis Legrand, if indeed that was his
name, was now known by number. The
curly hair was cropped short, and the silky
black mustache was gone In prison garb
he worked with his fellow convicts, all OF
whom had visitors or letters from the out
side world. He alone was unknown and
Giendless.
The work he was set to do he did well,
nor complained when his strength was
taxed, as did the low browed mob about
him. As silent as if he were dumb, the
nights followed the days and the days rolled
into months and the months into years till
seven were gone. Other criminals came
and went, but there was no hope for this
quiet man. Good behavior brought no COM
mutation in his sentence. What mattered
the length of the seasons or the heat of
summer or the cold of winter to him! If
he ever gave a thought to the end of that
Imprisonment it must have been to look on
the grave as the storm tossed mariner re-
CARDS the haven that is to bring peace and
rest.
Seven years passed The handsome face
was still patient, but w1inkled and worn,
and there were white streaks in the blue
black hair. The keepers, always kind to
this prisoner, had come to speak of him as
"the prince" If asked why they had given
him the name they could not have told,
but no doubt it was because the mans
bearing was more distinguished than that
of mis- wretched companions, yet they had
hit upon the mans exact rank in his own
land.
The subsequent story of this unfortunate
man was learned from the italian minister
at W Washington few years ago. This gen
tleman came to police headquarters in New
York city and told the chief that he wanted
to find some trace of the Prince of Arno,
who had come to this country seven years
and six months before with his wife, the
daughter of an army captain, whom he had
married against the wish of his parents.
After much searching the chief of police
succeeded in finding the Prince of ATno
serving life sentence under the name OF
Louis Legrand at Sing Sing.
When the Italian minister learned of the
orir,a For. which the vOupp man WAS i'm