The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-03-16
MATTHEWS OFT ON BAIL
Under Five Thousand Dollar Bond
Pending Appeai-Closing Scenes of
the Triai-Pcn Picture OF the Man.

DR.. Matthews has been convicted
Of murder in the second degree. receiv-l
ing a sentence of twenty years at hard
labor.
Through his attorneys the prisoner
made a motion for a new trial. which.
was o~verruled by Judge Ferguson.
4 motion vas made and accepted
that Judgment be suspended thirty
days pending an appeal 10 the supremel
court. and the prisoner was released
on $1,000 bail, his father going surety
for him. /
The appeal was made on the ground
that under an Indictment for poisoning
only two verdicis al oe returned. ac-I
auittal or guilty Of murder in the first
degree
The verdict was returned at 1881
o'clock this morning, the jury having1
been out since seven forty-hve last
night and sentence was speedily prof.
The prisoner IA accompanied inI
court oSly by his father. His bearingI
was calm, only an unusual pallor and
seriousness marking h face OF the.
man who has hitherto been Indifferent.
He received both verdict and sentence
without a change OF feature. but IL was.
observed that soon after sitting down.
his eyes We're suffused with tears. His
fathers eyes were also filled. though he
did not for a moment lose the quiet.
digniied courage that has won for the
old soldier the sympathy Of every heart
throughout the long trial
Pending the signing of the bond,
Matthews vas returned to Jail, but il
was not Ions before the ormalities
We're concluded that released him.
AS 500 as sentence was pronounced
the news of il spread through the town
like wild-fire. and not q person but
what was discussing the great trial and
IS conclusion. Many people are won-i
edering at the prisoner for appealing
for a new trial. considering hat he
was lucky To get off with twenty years
Both the prisoner and his father,
however, nave been sure from the be-
ginning that the verdict would be one
of acquittal, and it is on this con-
viction that they take the risk of a
new trial.
f. ID. Wheeler was chosen foreman,
of the jury. and gave the verdict.
When at last the tedium of the long
trial was over they welcomed their re-
lease as if the themselves had been
under trial and received an acquittal.
The strain on them was very great
Yesterday. as from eight thirty o'clock
in the morning till eight at night. with
Il short intermission at noon. they
were in the court room listening to-
tharge and evidence.
II is not known what DR.. Matthews
Win do in the thirty days during which
he is out on bail. His health is much
wd.rse than at the beginning OF the
trial. He had got down to the use of
comparatively little morphine during
his imprisonment. but under the strain
Of the long hours in the court room he
ha-nyn ~ : -,~
to deaden himself to the WEAKNESS of
the trial. which appeared to be the
only phase of the thing that bothered
him. To bitter arraignment n dam
ming evidence he was Indifferent, but
it was patent hat. for all his torpor,
he was feeling to the utmost the ia
tigue entailed by the long hours in the
court room. He appeared to hin
much more of that than of the posi-
bility of han ging, n almost seemed
to regard the whole thing as an unwar-
ranted interruption of his dreams
1t was stated by DR.. Matthews at
tOrneyS that in case of an acQuittal it
was the intention of the prisoners
people to send him to a sanitarium for
treatment. That the man needs treat
ment desperately is evident from his
appearance. Could he be placed beside
his former self there is no one who
would dream that the two persons
| were even distantly related, so utterly
has ne changed since his addiction to
the morphine habit. His face, which
once had much of assertiveness and
strength about it. has become utterly
passive.
The difference is especially marked
in the eyes. which once had the ex-
preston of keen and intelligent inter
est in the things going on about him,
bun which now apparently carry only
| a monOtOnous series of impressions TO
the numb brain which gives emphasis
and attention to nothing.
The change in the mouth too has
been great, the once dominating lips
having sagged and fallen at the corners
til the Whole is utterly unresisting
and weak. n expresses only sensu-
afFty-the base love for the drug OF
morbid dreams that ruined him.
The verdic1 Of the jury Of course inn
plies that they find DR.. Matthews sane,
and it is a tragic commentary on hui
nran nature that a man should fight
this decision and chose to go through
another long and expensive trial,
bringing to light every blemish on his
family escutcheon, in order to prove
that he is dCmcnted. 1t seemed on
ana lysis a passing strange phase of life
that any circumstance could so shape
things that the men who were most
against him.. seeking to bring him to
the %scaffold. should expend all their
energies in proving his sanity, while
those who fought for him taxed al
their strength TO prove him insane. de-
generate, and imbecile.-Industrial
News.