Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-08
EXHUMEO SKULL
AGITATES BESOLD
Admitted Being a Gambler
Continued from Page OneD
never call a man names when he has
the shackles on.

Admitted Being Gambler
I'VE had one more conversation, in
which he told me that he had played
some kind of a gambling game regu-
larly on the liners between this coun-
try and Europe and had made several
thousand dollars at the game. / in
quired into the game in case he might
give me few pointers, having made q
pile like that, but he aid it was some
German game which, when he ex-
planned It, I failed to understand"
You thought It was poker?" sug-
gested an attorney.
Yes" said the sheriff: that's why
wanted to get a few pointers"
The attorneys for Besold then de-
manded that his property, including
two feather boas, be brought into court,
and Sheriff White was excused from
the stand and with Deputy Gilbert
went to the county Jail to secure the
evidence.
Autopsy Surgeon Testifies
During his absence the prosecution
called DR.. George Campbell, the autopsy
surgeon. AS DR.. Campbell walked to
the stand he carried satchel with him
which he placed on small table to the
right of the witness stand and directly
III front of the judges bench. The
little table was so situated that any
object placed on 1t would face directly
across the attorneys table and straight
az Besold, who occupied a seat within
six feet of it.
November "a 1 was called upon to
attend the exhuming of body at the
Roselawn potters' field cemetery at
Santa Monica" testified the surgeon.
AT that time a crave there was re-
opened and the remains of an UNDER
sized human being taken from 1t. The
body had evidently been exposed long
time before burial and there was prac-
tioally no flesh on it, most of what was
there being mummified. At the direc-
ton of the officers took off the head,
or skull, the feet, the right elbow joint
and some of the teeth.
'In the skull 1 found bullet wound
showing that a bullet had entered in
the left temporal region, making a trim
little hole and had come out on the
right, of course making a somewhat
larger hole as the bullet splintered
through the bone"
BesoId Becomes Panic-Stricken
Twice during the explanation DR..
Campbell had made motion as though
to open his satchel and both times as
he did so Besold watched him closely.
The accused man became nervous and
his gaze wandered about the room any,
where but to that small satchel which
remained so quietly on the table on a
line with his eyes. At the corner of
his mouth the lines hardened and his
eyes became almost colorless, while the
pupils began to dilate with the look of
a man who is panic stricken and wants
to run.
Have you that skull with you?"
asked Attorney McComas, and DR..
Campbell reached over and snapped
back the clasps of the satchel. So still
were the dozen or more spectators in
the room that the snap of the clasps
sounded unnaturally loud in that dingy
little court room.
AS for Besold, he sat as one in a
trance. His eyes were ceptered on the
satchel as though he would consume
1t with look, yet there was the dull
expression of an idiot on his face
Slowly and carefully the surgeon
rummaged his hand in the satchel and
then withdrew it. 1t held something.
A something that caused cold chill
of terror to trickle up and down the
spines of those who saw it, A musky
smell, that horrible smell of an old
grave permeated the atmosphere. chok-
ing and sitting and filling the nostrils
and lungs of the attorneys. 1t was not
the odor of decomposition; there was
nothing human about that odor. 1t was
the smell of a mummy, the terrible
smell of long dead body preserved
from absolute rot by nature and it
spoke of old. vaults and devasted
graves.
Even Lawyers Are Affected
Even the attorneys shuddered as
they looked at the thing in the doc
tors hand. 1t was a human skull
small and dull colored The forehead
was bare, the temples bare of skin and
the skull bone Shone through. To the
left and right of the temples were cav
tiles, one small round and neat like an
auger hole, the other big and round,
with ragged edges.
The eye sockets still retained a thin
gray covering of parchment-like skin,
which broke just over the deepest and
centermost spot of each cavity, show
ing the dark interior of the skull and
looking for all the world like spectral
eyes,
Where the nose had been there was
cavity, but from the base of that
cavity extended a strip of mummified
flesh which fiuttered gently in the air
currents of the room. The back of the
head still bore a thin covering of skin
and two or three lone and solitary
golden hairs protruded from that COW
ering.
Skull Stares BesoId in the Face
With care for details DIR. Campbell
turned the skull first one way then
another and explained the course of the
bullet And then he did a strange
thing. Whether from accident or not
he leaned forward and placed that hu-
man thing on the little table to his
right. The stump of the neck rested
on the table like support. The dark
sockets with the gray covering glared
in steady light across that narrow
table, across the attorneys table and
| straight into a pair of gray eyes on
the other side. But the eyes We're no
! longer gray then. The gray had faded
from them and they looked white in the
poor light of the room. The mans
| hands seemed to turn pl1tple, the
| knuckles shone white through the flesh
Not muscle of his face moved as he
stared back at the sightless sockets of
the face he had once loved of the face
of the woman whom he was charged
with having murdered. and like mes
sage from the grave, grim and cursing,
| vindictive and terrible in it's silence,
that skull grinned, the salute Of wife
to her husband. The hideous scrap of
flesh over the lip waved In the air as
though beckoning for a kiss, the jaws