The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-06-09

from his cell In the Conciergerie, he
trembled with terror. As his journey
began he felt for the first time the hor-
TOR OF the man who has killed. Before
that his mind had been full of the
fright of the man who is afraid of pun
ishrnent. The drive to the morgue was
full of tremblings and palings- As he
was led, manacled, into the low, gray
building on the Quai d'Archeyache, his
limbs almost failed him. After mo-
ment in the little reception-roon, dur
ing which every detail of its green up
holstered furniture was impressed upon
his mind, and as Intellectually as with a
red-hot branding iron. he was led
through four or five doors, and finally
into the presence of the dead. Every
one of the seats which rose in tiers on
one side of the little aInphuheater was
filed. In one corner sat the Judge.
The red uniforms of the guards gave
the grewsome place its only bit of color
the color of blood. Pierre noted all
these things because he would not look
at the one thing which he had been
brought there to see.
Judge reading the charge, but Pierre
only heard the drowning of a voice
without words or meaning. Then,
though. two guards approached, and,
one on each side, whirled him about so
that he faced the iron table. He
clapped his manacled hands to his eyes.
They were quickly jerlsed down, and
then he saw.
yes" he said, quietly, when adj
jured to speak, that is the man that
tried to kill me. l am sorry that he is
dead"
This calmness was what saved him
from the guillotine.
The CONFORMATION was over Pierre
was taken back to the Conciergerie A
week later he was placed on trial. The
room was in an upper story of the
Palais de Justice, and was draped in
red. 1t was an ordeal, but Pierre was
not sentenced to death. His decreed
punishment was exile in Frances penal
colony, New Caledonia.
Prisoners destined for this punish
ment are taken out in patches of
twenty. Ten men besidss Pierre We're
needed to make up a cargo for the ship,
and Pierre was taken to the prison OF
La Saule to await until this complement
of wickedness should be complete.
Pierre was assigned to a stone closet
in the death row"-a tier of cells re-
served exclusively for the aristocracy
of crime He had none but murderers
for neighborS. The floor of his cell
was wood. scrubbed clean, and with
that dull wilderness which betokens the
use of sand. Once within, his man
acles were removed, and instantly the
jailer handed him a great green glass
bottle.
You will have nothing to do in the
shops, and prisoners in exile are not
permitted to cut dish papers. But you
must polish the floor with your bottle.
If at the end of three days it is not as
bright as the shining wood of a piano,
so much the worse for you"
Pierre started to speak.
''Silencel''
And the door changed.
He set to work with his bottle.
One event only broke the monotony
of the twenty-five days in La Saule.
Once the girl whose fickleness had
aroused his fathers blood in him visit
cd him, and for ten minutes he was
permitted TO talk to her They were
by the nettings. Between
them ran a three-foot corridor, up and
down which the guards paced cease
lessly. lie yearned to reach her-to
touch her. She was not deeply inter-
ested. He could see that she did not
love the man that killed the student,
that she was grateful for the MEETINGS.
Before the ten minutes had passed a
new thirst for bloc. was growing mad
" in him-a thirst for her blood. As
she went away he watched her with
red, hungry eyes.
Two DAYS later he was taken to the
SD In