The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1895-02-04

MN. tie 10 was VINO nau iasu pgen seen IN
tho lawyers presence. The murder had
been done with a knife belonging to him
Robbery had not been tho motive for the
deed, as nothing was taken except the
documents In tho case which have mon.
toned. r, was the only man who knew
where Loo kept thom.
Il had been away from tho city since
the day before the assassination on q ju.
dicial mater Of Importance, and returned
the third day after. That was shocked
to hear of the grave charge against my
young friend need not be here suggested
Thas firmly believed that some horrible
mistake had been made and that the
young MAN was entirely innocent was
just as certuin. The examination dragged,
and it was week before the case came up.
1t palncyi me beyond measure that
should have been appointed tho presiding
judge, Every deylcs that could think OF
l used In my attempts TO have the Casa
brought before another magistrate. But
my rrotestations had no effect, and on the
tenth day after the decd had been commit
ted the man charged with the crime was
placed on trial before me- Without II be-
ing known to tho outside world, had
personally arranged for his defense. A IA
charge of the case, and resigned myself
to do my duty as judge in an impartial
manner The plea was, as had expected
one of not guilty, but the prisoner abso
lutely refused to toll where he had been on
the night of the assassination. NJ Berlin
could not shatter the prosecutors argu-
ments, for he had nothing except his great
eloquence to depend upon.
"In making his last plea for his young
client, who had sat unmoved throughout
the procureur's severe talk, NJ Berlin ap-
pealed to X, to tell his secret. In a voice
choked with emotion and without looking
me In the face the prisoner replied, II |
should tell where l WAS that night, l
would be sacrificing the fair name of a
woman This sentence brought derisiye
smile to the lips of the procureur, and
myself had begun to waver in my belief in
the Innocence Of Il.
FINALLY the inevitable verdict of guilty
came. 1t was tho hardest thing in the
world for me to aiilx my signature to the
dearh warrant that was presented to me
few days later, did 1t, however had
no alternative.
1.-THE execution took place In due time,
with public opinion still divided as to the
guilt or Innocence of the condemned man
day of the guillotining"
Here my old friend broke down. He re
gained his composure after brief pause
and continued;
Two months after the execution mn old
criminal was captured by tho Paris police,
mortnlly wounded At tho hospital ho
made o statement, in which he said thut
he WAS the man guilty Of killing tho
young lawyer in the rue l'Espngnol, three
months before. lie gave the 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 tho knife Of tho guillotine.
For a time the solo topic in Paris was
the frightful judicial error in tho case of
young Il, Papers upon papers We're drawn
up, protesting against the death penalty
which made such errors possible, and l re
signed my iudgoship,
Six months elapsed. My wife, who had
never fully recovered from the shock, again
began TO fail physically Her illness last
ed only three weeks. One April morning
was summoned in haste to her bedside
saw at once that the last moments had
come. She seemed to desire to saw some
thing and bent over to catch tn, words
With last feeble effort my wife, tho
woman Of all womun on earth that had
worahipcl, said; lie was not murderer
knew where She was dead /"
For long timo neither of Us spoke
Then the old judge arose, took my hand
and said
Let us go. The crowd Expresses me. I"
New York Recorder