The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-08-16


fiend was to have his deserts.
1T will suffice here to state that we
readily had Marvel arrested and tried,
for, however lax the Parisians may be
in morals, bigamy is crime there, as
elsewhere, aud with but little trouble
we secured his conviction. His appoint
ment to his foreign mission had has
tened his going abroad, but the news
paper had made IA mistake in saying
flat he would take a wife with him.
He had been engaged to marry this wo
man, but she and her parents had been
spending some months i'll Paris, and
their wedding had taken place there
only short time prior to our arrival.
Thus the crime had been committed on
French soil and was punishable there.
My sister maintained her strength and
appeared at the trial TO testify against
Marvel, circumstance which greatly
assisted in securing his conviction, but
immediately after she became quite i'll
and died before ! returned to America.
Thus ends the sad history Of my sister
and her wrongs Now about myself.
"At the trial, when Marvel was sem
fenced to the full penalty of the law, he
started up and uttered the most horrible
invectives against my sister Then,
turning to me, he said:
"'As for you, who have bounded me
down, warn you that when l get out
of this trouble, wherever you may hide
away, Will find you, and | will kill
you, so help me Godp 1t was terrible
to hear him, and as he spoke l knew
that if ever he should have the chance
he would execute his threat.
sit was the certainty of this which
instigated me in my subsequent course.
l concluded that when we should meet
one of us must die, and felt that COM
mon justice made it but right that he
should be the one. Not satisfied with
Fastening the death Of my father and
my sister, he must also threaten my
life. SO ! made my plans. If he should
come with murderous intent, would
be ready, and if be did not no harm
could accrue.
81 fCresaw that some shrewd detect
i've would discover that this man had
crossed the ocean TO commit n crime,
and l determined to let it appear that
he had succeeded. / would Kill him,
dress him in my clothing and let it
seem that / was the murdered man.
But as l must further be able to account
for my own presence plotted to reap
pear as my own son. To this end Wis
tied an academy on Washington Heights
and spoke of placing my son there,
though | afterward informed the school
master that | had sent him elsewhere.
However. interested myself in his insti.
tuition and offered to make some needed
repairs. Then spent some time at the
school, and while there l wrote to par
ties out of town, inclosing self address
ed envelopes for their replies. These
were in due time returned to Inc prop
erly postmarked, and it was an easy
matter for me to write fictitious letters,
as though to my son, aud place them in
these covers. These, when the time
should come, would be proof enough of
my identity, and as knew that years
would pass before l could use them l
conclude that no one would doubt that
they were genuine
Mex ! allowed my beard to grow
to its full length, that being the style
in whicl, Marvel always wore his. /
knew that his would be shaved as long
as he remained in prison, but thought
that he would allow his beard to grow
again as soon as he should regain his
liberty, as it hid scar from wound
that would otherwise greatly disfigure
him. Then dyed my whiskers, eye
brows and hair black, in imitation of
his, my own being quite red. had no
relatives, and absolutely no friends or
acquaintance in the north, and 1 deter
mined not to revisit Richmond. Conse-
quently l had all my southern property
converted into cash and forwarded to
me. l then looked about for a suitable
place to live and selected Lee
Il did nothing more in furtherance of
my plans except to speak to all of my
new friends of the son who had left me
and had run away. l was quite young
at this time, but 10 in fact, although l
was fully matured and looked much
older.
1.-THE years rolled by and nothing &C.
Cured to disturb the serenity of our
home in this little New England town
except that the Marvel family came here
to reside. This considered another ia
tally, and fer that reason did not move
away.
"At last came the birthday which
would make it necessary for me to ex-
plain more to virgie than had ever
yet done. After dinner l was listening
to Squire Olney, but at the same time l
was modify thinking over the past,
with its terrible memories, when young
Marvel asked to speak to me. was then
startled to hear him, another Walter
Marvel, declare that he had won the
heart of my little girl. Was it surpris-
ing that l should act rs did and deny
his suit, or that in my anger 1 should
blurt out part of the truth? The events
which followed are too well known to
need iteration here. So l will come at
once to the night of the murder
Il was sitting in the parlor, ponder
ing bitterly over INV noSi tion r bod bo