Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-03-26

she started as hOugh she nlu re-
ceived a blow, and instinctively threw
aside her veil.
and the beautiful, pale, agonized
young face was revealed TO the whole
assembly.
A murmur Of compassion moved,
~breeze-like, through the hitherto pitt
less crowd, and n single half-sup-
pressed cry was heard from the An
chorage party.
That cry came from Amelia Wilder,
who then for the first time discovered
the Identity between her friend Miss
Miller and the accused Eudora LeatOn.
ATTEND to the reading OF the in
dictment," continued the clerk, ad-
dressing the prisoner.
Eudora Immediately obeyed by lift
ing her frightened eyes TO the
cold. business-like face of the speak
er. who commenced reading the form
liable document he held in his hand,
setting forth, in consecutive counts,
how the prisoner, Eudora Leaton, be-
ing impelled by satanic agency, with
malice prepenSe, at certain times and
istration of certain poisons and deadly
istration of certain poisons and daddy
drugs, did feloniously procure and eff
feet the death of the Honorable Aga
that Leaton, ETC.. etc, etc.
Prisoner at the bar, arise and hold
up your right hand" ordered the
clerk, when the reading was finished.
Eudora, pale, faint and trembling,
obeyed.
prisoner, you have heard the
charges against you. Are You guilty
or not guilty OF the felonies with
which you are accused?"
Not guilty, as l shall answer ut the
last day before the awful bar of God"
said Eudora, in a low, sweet, solemn
voice, that thrilled the hearts of the
whole assembly, as she sank back
into her seat.
The attorney general who had come
down from London to prosecute this
most important case, now arose In his
place, took the bill of Indictment from
the clerk Of arTaigns, and proceeded
to open the case on the part of the
Crown.
He commenced by saying that his
duty in the present CASE was extreme
ly distressing in its nature, but. for
tunately, simple in its course: that
the case he stood there to prosecute,
dark as it was with the deepest guilt.
was yet so clearly illumined by the
light of evidence, that happily it need
not occupy the court long: that wheth-
or they considered the tender youth
Of the criminal, the cold-blooded atroc-
ity of the crime, or the high worth Of
the victims, this agoniZing case had
no parallel in the long experience of
the Oldest barrister living, or the
whole history of criminal j%urispru-
dence: that he need not recall TO mem
DRY the celebrated cases of Borgia,
Essex, BrinvillierS or Lafarge to
prove that youth, beauty, womanhoOd
and high rank combined were not in
compatible with deep guilt and dark
crimes in their pOsscSSOrs: that he did
not mean to draw any comparison be-
tween the female tiends he had men
toned and the prisoner at the bar,
for he should soon prove Eudora Lea
ton had succeeded in reaching a
much higher point upon the bad EN-
inence" of criminal fame than had
yer been attained by Lafarge, Brin-
villiers, Essex or Borgia.
THE prisoner" he said, 'of Indian
nareDtage, was the only child Of the
late Honorable Charles Leaton and
HIS WIZ oOldil hulttu. vi lAdllUlt,
and. doubtless. she must have derived
from her mother all those subtle. Sc
cretive and treacherous elements of
character for which the East Indian is
noted, while she gained from her faith
er all that rare, dangerous botanical
knowledge of the deadly plants of the
country, the study of which had once
been his favorite pastime and the ac-
quaintance with which had been re-
Gently her most fatal medium of de-
StfIctiOn.
by the death of her parents" he
continued. 'she was left an orphan
at the early age Of sixteen years. Her
uncle, the late Lord Leaton, as soon
as he received intelligence Of her con
dition, dispatched a special messenger
to India to bring her home to his own
house. Upon her arrival he, as well
his whole family. received the or
phan with the utmost tenderness,
placing her at once upon an equal
footing with his only daughter and
sole heiress."
But how" inquired the prosecutor.
has the b~enevolence. confidence and
affection of this honored family been
repaid by their cherished protege?
They have been repaid by the black |
est ingratitude, the foulest t%reachery,
the deepest guilt; they have been re-
paid with death-the insidious, prot
tracted, dreadful death of slow poison
poison administered by her whom
they received into the bosom Of their
and what" he asked. tempted
this young. beautiful and high-born
girl to plunge herself into this deep
Gehenna of guilt, misery and infa-
my?
The basest motive that could infiu-
ence human nature-the love of lucre,
She knew that in the event of the
death Of Lord and Lady Leaton and
daughter. she must be the sole
inhcritOr of the whole Leaton estate:
and for this inheritance she has per-
petrated crimes unequalled i'm atroci-
~ by her most notorious predecessors
of criminal celebrity.
"She has sacrificed her nearest kind
rcd In this world. and her dearest in
in the next. She has DESTROYED
those who sheltered her. Yes, she
whom they received into their homes
and hearts. warmed at their house
hold fire, cherished within their hos
om's love. she drugged their daily
food and drink with the deadliest poi
sons, until they wasted. withercd and