Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1901-09-13
The Eyes of the Woman
Il, EDGAR wELTON COOLEY.
1901, by Authors syndicstcJ

courtroom. She nau llSUeHeu w every |
word of the evidence and had mar
veled that men could so light-heart-
edly give utterance to words that were
40 end brothers life.
She was not handsome; hardly |
pretty, but her eyes were like twin
daggers, for they seemed to pierce
one through and through. She was
a slender woman, small and young
and delicate, and her trim figure was
gowned in somber black from head to
foot.
Day after day she sat in the same
rear seat, emotionless, calm, dispas-
sionate, and rested her eyes upon the
face of man who sat opposite to
her. Not once did she remove her
gaze from his face; not once did she
cease her cold, constant stare at his
features.
He was big. broad -shouldered fell
low, with bronzed face and mass
of hair. He kept his eyes rveted upon
the court and the jury and the pris-
oner. He hung upon every word that
was uttered, leaning anxiously for
ward. rigid and motionless.
But at intervals he turned his face
towards the woman in black. only to
be transfixed by the CLEAN of her
ewes. Then he would start, turn
shade paler and grasp the arms of his
chair.
The prisoner was young man with
fine. clear cut features and blue eyes.
as beardless as a boy and as stoical
as a craven image. Although he knew
his life was in the hands of the 12 men
at his right hand, not once did the ex-
preston of Indifference leave his face,
though against him was given the
most damaging testimony.
Twice only. each day, did he show
any interest in his surroundings. At
the opening of each session, when he
entered the courtroom handcuffed to
the sheriff. he cast one quick, search
ing glance towards the rear of the
room His glance met that of the
woman in black, and for brief in
stant softer CLEAN shone in the
eyes of each
Tightly and relentlessly was he
bound with an unbroken chain of cir
cumstantial evidence. Not link was
missing. Every movement, every ut
terance of his on the night of the muir
der were described in detail. From
the moment that he had quarreled
with the man who was afterwards
murdered, TO the hour when he was
arrested, every step he had taken was
traced.
1t was shown that he had followed
mis- victim with murder gnawing at his
heart; that, in the presence of nu-
merous witnesses, he had sworn to
take the mans life; that after the
quarrel the man who was slain had
turned his steps towards his home,
taking a roundabout route: that the
prisoner had made use of a short cut
and had lain in wait behind thicket;
that he had suddenly leaped upon him
and had stabbed him to the heart with
knife that was afterwards found in
fhe prisoners possession. the blade
still scarlet with blood, and that ht
was later seen running away from the
scene of the murder.
Against this awful array of evi
dence the defense made no resist
ance, introduced no testimony. Tht
arguments were made. The attorne,
of guilt; the counsel for the defense
weakly attacked the reliability of evi
dence purely circumstantial, anC
begged that the jury be slow to hans
man when all direct evidence of hi
guilt was lacking. Then the jury re
tired.
The sheriff unlocked the door an,
entered the CELL The prisoner wa
sitting on the edge of his cot. ii
had not been asleep. He had bee
pacing back and forth between tn
window and the door and had take,
seat only when he heard the off
GERS footsteps in the corridor.
"Well?" he said.
"The jury has agreed" replied tn
sheriff. "Come."
The prisoner held out his righ
arm. The officer snapped a handcu,
on his wrist Then they walked sid
by side out of the dark cell and alpn
the half-illumined hall. When the
reached the outer door, the sheri
pulled bunch of keys from his Goa
pocket, inserted one in the lock an
AuIHeu buCh iHe poit' iheI lhe
stepped out into the night, and til
officer locked the door behind them.
The courthouse was across til
=t"eet from the Jail. A new moo
threw an unnatural light upon I'll
earth, and here and there lam
fickered in a window. The hands c
the illuminated dial of the clock
the courthouse tower pointed to
minutes to midnight. The prison'
glanced upward at the star-spanglt
sky. The air was soft and pleasan
and drowsy quiet hung everywher
"What beautiful night" said
in a voice steady, strong and EN-
tionless.
l.Xn., ,.nnlind tho chnIif 80 GI