Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-03-15

der, which he placed against tho door. lie
peored over tho transom and then gave n
piercing shrek. Rushing headlong down
stairs, he hailed the first agent of police
that he met and mt onco returned with the
officer TO tho house.
THE door Of the apartment was quickly
broken in, and the officer saw at glance
that "A crime had hecn committed.
ION the floor close to the bed lay tho
body # the young lawyer. The bed usual
ly occupied by tho artist showed no signs
Of having been used that night. The muir
der had been done with silver handled
penknifc, the property OF tho murdered
mans friend, the artist. ="
Here the old man stopped In his recital
long enough TO drain two moro glasses Of
the wine.
Let mo see, continued tho narrator,
"whore did leave Off IIa, Ia, il almost
makes me laugh to SEQ how tho fox was
caught! But, no. l do not mean that. He
was scoundrel, but brave one.
"Wcll, to resume, the officer had, of
course at once summoned tho surgeon
and advised the prefecture of the CHASTITY
discovery. The murdered lawyer lay In a
pool Of blood. The projects secretary
noted down all the available evidence
and the finding Of tho pcnknfe identified
as the artists property. a general alarm
was Immediately sent out for young II. IS
apprehension, and ho was arrested that
samo morning as he was calmly entering
his apartments.
''R. was placed in Jail, pending an ex-
animation. All tho evidence was against
him. He it was who had last been seen In
the lawyers presence. The murder had
Il r., Ill,
Robbery had not been tho motive for tho
deed, as nothing was taken except the
documents in the case which / have men
toned. II. was tho only man who knew
where Leo kept them.
Il had been away from tho city since
the day before tho assassination on ju-
dicial matter of Importance, and l returned
the third day after. That 1 was shocked
to hear of tho grave charge against my
young friend need not DO hero suggested.
That firmly believed that some horrible
mistake had been made and that the
young man was entirely innocent was
just rs certain. The examination dragged,
and 1t was week before the case camo up.
1t panied mo beyond measure that
should have been appointed tho presiding
judge. Every device that could think OF
brought before another magistrate. But
my protestations had no effect, and on tho
tenth day after the deed had been commit
ted the man charged with tho crime was
placed on trial before mo- Without 1t be-
Ing known TO tho outside world / had
personally arranged for his defense. y IA
nous criminal lawyer, NJ Bortln. took
charge Of the caso and resigned myself
~ Ia t1fx ind tn toll
manner The plea was, rs had expected
one of not guilty, but the prisoner abso-
lutely refused to tell wherc he had been on
the night Of the assassination. NJ. Berth
could not SKATER tho prosecutors argu-
ments, for he had nothing except his great
eloqucnce to depend upon.
"In making his last plea for his young
client, who had sat unmoyed throughout
the procurours severe talk, VI. Berth up.
pealcd to X. to tell his secret In voice
choked with emotion and without looking
me in the face the prisoner replied, IL
should tell whore | was that night, l
would be sacrificing the fair namo OF
woman This sentence brought dcrisivo
smile to the lips pf the procureur, and
myself had begun to waver in my belief in
the innocence Of r.
Finally tho inevitable verdict Of guilty
came. 1t was the hardest thing In tho
world for me to aflix my signature to the
death warrant that was presented TO mo
few days later. did 1t, however. had
no alternative.
Tho execution took place In due time,
with public opinion still divided rs to the
guilt or innocence Of the condemned man
My wife was taken violently i'll on the
day of the guilotning
Here my old friend broke down. He re-
gained his composure after "a brief pause
and continued:
Two months after the execution an old
criminal was captured by the Paris police,
MORALLY wounded. At tho hospital he
made statement, In which he said that
he was the man guilty Of killing tho
young lawyer in tho rue lEspagnol, three
months before. He gave tho officers di-
rections which enabled them to find tho
documents, and on the following day tho
world knew that an innocent man had
fallen under the knife of tho gullotine
For a time the sole topic In Paris was
tho frightful judicial error In the case Of
young Il. Papers upon papers were drawn
up, protesting against the death penalty
which made such errors possible, and re-
signed my iudgcship.
six months elapsed. My wife, who bad
never fully recovered from the shock, again
began t. fail physically. Her illness last
cd only three weeks. One April morning
was summoned In haste to her bedside. |
saw at once that the last moments had !
come Sho seemed to desire TO say some
thing, and bent over TO catch the words. |
With last feeble effort my wife, the
woman Of all women on earth that had |
worshipcd, said; He was not murderer. |
l knew whore She was dead I"
For long timo neither OF us spoke. !
Then the old judge arose, took my hand |
and said
Let us go. The crowd Expresses me-"
New York Recorder
oldest Scheme OF All.
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