The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1906-05-04

"eptcu as Deing an acknowledgement
that there was nothing to he done for
Paul Westcott. for lie was known to
have been Erca's sutton, and it was
argued that if there was any hope he
would have disappeared in search of
the murderer.
In spite of this Erica seemed hopeful,
and the trial, through political infu
ence. was pushed to appeal. Gordon
Westcott, her cousin. was opposed TO
the haste and argued violently against
it. but he had always been hostile to
Elder, and it was natural that he
should object to any Of the latter's
suggestions
AS in the previous trial, the evidence
hinged almost entirely upon the lette"
There was brief testimony to the cf-
feet that Paul WeStcott had haeg IL
danger of being wiped out in Ice mar
ket to prove motive 1t was shown
that upon his arrest he had been I'M
able to negotiate loans and had lost
heavily. Then the prosecution put in
the evidence of handwriting expert.
who had testified at the previous trial
ana who discussed learnedly the indi-
vidual peculiarities that. even in Il for
gerry, will unconsciously betray them
selves.
Almost letter by letter he compared
the formation of the characters of the
supposed last message with Pauls
handwriting, and with each fresh slide
there was more firmly established in
the minds of the jury the fact that
Paul must have written. the letter
With the letter the prosecution rest
ed the case. and the defense began.
Elder was the first witness. and. to
the surprise of every person. he took
his stand by the llntnrn which had
figured so Spectacular" 81 both trials
He first flashed L.. he screen half
a dozen examples Ct Paul Westcotts
handwriting and thea in succession
showed another hand displaying many
of the same characteristics.
You will perceive that the two men
whose handwritings have shown
have many traits in common" he said,
but in his eagerncss to prove guilt by
angle and curve the previous witness
has neglected his photography.
"The first examples were those writ
ten by the defendant prior to the com
mission of the crime. The ones last
shown were written by his cousin.
who studied under the same tutor in
his unce's house. | will now show half
q dozen examples of the late James
WeStcott's handwriting asking the
jury to note that in every instance
until is spelled properly, as it was in
the examples shown of Paul West
colts hand. Only in Gordon West
colts letters will the word be found to
be persistently misspelled 'untill as
was the case in the forgery \ writer
uncOnsciOuSly betrays himself but in
this instance it was the spelling, not
the formation. which told tales.
Il also show Il letter from Gordon
Westcott to a money lender, written
Immediately after the murder in which
he calls attention to the fact that, as
Paul Westcott could not inherit, the
estate would be divided between him
self and his cousin Erica ana that then
he would be able to make the deferred
payments
The defense rested its case, and as
soon rs the opposing counsel had sum.
med up the jury brought in verdict
of Not guilty. and Gordon Westcott
was placed under arrest
Erica. her arm about her brothers
neck. reached forward in the cab.
Fired" she said, 81 will take back
all | sid about not marrying you I'M
til you gave UP your detective work"
whats the incentive to give it up"
he laughed as he kissed her, when q
simple matter of spelling pays me so
large Il fce?'