The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-11-17
TRANSPORTED.

ualS, regular as clock in their habits
who lead q reserved kind of, existence and
whose ambition is limited to maintaining
themselves in the position which brings
thcm in their daily bread
He occupied n modest apartment i'm thr
Rue Nollet, Batignolles, which was kept
i'll order by Marianne, n worthy girl who
from long service had become us method
lcal in her ways rs her master. Sko know
exactly mt what hour tho latter would re-
turn from tho thCatcr, and his Supnc: was
always ready to the minute
One night, however, his customary chop
was missing. So was Marianne. Tho next
day passed, and the next, and still Mari
ammo failed to put i'll an appearance. What
had become of her? He could not even
conjecture His vcxation gave place to I'M
easincss, and his uncasincss to alarm
On the second day he resolved to uues.
gruffly replied that nc was not her keeper,
that he had not seen tho girl, and, for that
matter, did not want to-
Jean Rhodic was by degrees getting ac-
customed to the disagrccablo necessity of
having to take his meals in IL restaurant
when an incident occurred that furnished
fresh subject of discussion to the gossips
of the street, who were beginning to forget
all about Mariannos mysterious disap-
pearancc.
One morning the concierge read the fol-
lowing paragraph in one of the daily pa
pcrs:
The body of fair haired and some
what stout young woman, evidently "a
servant, was taken out of tho Seine mt
Courbcvoic yesterday. 1t was attircd in "A
servants white frillcd cap, black bodice.
pink fichu, green skirt and thick laced
shoes. In the pocket purse containing
francs 40 confines WAS found There being
nothing by which the body could be idcn-
tilted, 1t was sent to the morguc.'
Seized with n dark prcscntiment tho
concierge olambcrcd on to an omnibus ana
went to tho morguo. There upon one OF
tho slabs he recognized, or thought no
recognized, the servant of joan Rhodic.
Although the features wore decomposcd
by tho long sojourn of tho body in tho
water, tho concierge, with tho porspicacitv
habituai in those who exercise his profcs
sion, had no doubt about tho matter A
suspicion which no had long entertained
was thus suddenly Observation-Disclosures had
murdered his servant The thing was Law
to get the murderer to confess.
Before setting tho formidable machinery
OF justice in motion the concierge brusquc-
ly stopped his ledger rs tho latter entered
tho house and thrust the paragraph under
his nose. The effect expected was OBJ
taincd-the violinist incontincn;iy col.
lapscd with a smothcrcd groan.
The next day Rhodio was taken before
the examining magistrate, when an Incl
dent frequent enough in criminal proco-
durc occurred. The accused was so trou.
blcd that ho did nothing but contradict
himself and was utterly unable to account
FOR his timo on tho day of the girls disap-
pcarance.
Two months later he was brought III,
for trial before the assizo court There
was no material proof, but the ciroum-
stantial evidence against him was over
Tholming.
Tho attorney general insinuatcd tina,
the callous Notwithstanding the accused
could have but ono reason for wishing
to get rid of the young servant who had
lived with him FOR {. certain number OF
years. He was no doubt intimate with tho
GIRL said the man of law, and went on TO
expatiatc ut length to the jury upon the
probable consequences of the said intimacy
amply sufficient in itself, for that matter.
to account for the crime
This argument produced profound i'm
preston upon the minds of tho IL good
men and true of the jury, who had been
previously greatly moved at tho sight OF
the clothing of tho victim spread ont on
the table of the court as pieces convic
ton.
The president of tho court, who wab
somewhat of novice, floundcred through
the interrogation, mystifying with himself
the prisoner to such IN extent that the
latter began to ask himself at last whether
he was not really guilty of tho crime with
which he was charged. A littlo more and
he would hayG confessed IN IL
Tho counsel for tho defense was little
better than the president of tho court. He
uld moro harm than good to his client
The consequence was that, although long
string of witnesses testified al nauscam to
tho qualities of heart and mind Of the
prisoner, the jury, presided over by q pOrf
butcher, brought in verdict of guilty up-
on the chief count of the indictment. AS
regards tho questions of circumstances, Mt
tcnunting or otherwise, otc. thoy were so
muddlcd that they ondcd by finding the
prisoner ut once guilty and not guilty.
inc president naturally requested the
jury 10 retire and agree upon IL verdict
more compatible with common sense, and
Wien me Jury, vcxcd and terrified ut tho
sn'''e unlc, returned into court they re-
p"u III Inc affirmative to all the quest ions
PIT tnthem and remained mute us regard.
eu alternating circumstances
The president of the court, rather s,r
prised at this unlocked for succcss--for, rs
everybody knows, the carrying of II death
sentence against II prisoner docs moro for
q judge than all the recommendations in
the worid-condomncd jean Rhodio to
death.
The prisoner sank back in the arms OF
Vhe gendarnes und was carried out of
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