Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1907-01-21
p9nUpUoO

TO the point which doubtless you and
the gentlemen of the jury have been
waiting for-the question of motive.
Why should the prisoner, a man of evil
dent refinement, a gentleman on be-
half of whose character my learned
friend. his counsel, will no doubt bring
a cloud of witnesses, commit this aw-
full crime Why should he shoot this
woman? My answer is: because she
was his wife,
A thrill shot through the court; and
as the crowd seemed to stir and sway
with astonished excitement, faint
cry rose from Olivia's lips.
Faradeane heard it, and for mo
ment he raised his eyes and looked at
her-a look that pleaded for forgive
ness, for mercy. White as ghost,
she chung to her fathers hand.
'Tt-it-is not true!" she breathed.
His wife; the woman who, in
moment of passion, as unreasoning as
that in which he slew her, he had Sc
cretly married. 1t does not become
any man to speak i'll of the dead: but,
gentlemen of the jury. it will be my
painful duty to produce evidence to
prove that the tie which the prisoner
had in a rash moment contracted
with the deceased was of so calling,
so uncomfortable a nature that he was
compelled to fly from her. Most men
would have severed the bond. The
prisoner could have sought and oh
tanned a release in the divorce court,
for she had given him cause; but
there were reasons why such step
should be unacceptable to him. My
lord, gentlemen, up to the present, We
see in the prisoner only an ordinary,
private gentleman, living in a quiet
country spot secluded from the eyes
of the world. But such was not al
ways his position. The prisoner has
not always borne the name of Harold
Faradeane; and it is my painful task
10 ask you to recognize in him the
person of the Earl of Clydesfold!"
A murmur quite audible, and not 70
be suppressed rose from the crowd.
The barrdsters put their heads to-
gether, the judge leaned forward and
looked at the prisoner.
THE Earl of Clydesfold!" went
from lip to lip.
Olivia uttered no cry, but sat white
and statuesque.
His wife. His wife!" rang in her
ears.
She understood that scene in the
hoJJ h.0,. in, h is
arms and called her his love, and then
drawn back like a man stepping from
the edge of a precipice. His wife!
The Earl of Clydesfold!" continued
the counsel witnesses will be called
who will tell you the story of his I'M
fortunate, his Inflated marriage; will
show you how man, gifted by nature,
favored by fortune, of ancient and no
BILE birth, possessed of enormous
wealth, was induced by mad passion
to forget all that was due to his rank,
to the honor of an ancient name, and
to marry a young gypsy girl whom,
blinded by that passion, he believed to
be all that was innocent and pure;
but who, before the honeymoon had
passed, proved herself utterly I'M
worthy to bear the name of any hon
est mani
He paused and arranged his papers
Consider his position. Consider
the nature of the prisoner He had
all unwittingly, married this woman;
was it possible for him having dis
covered her true character, to drag
the story of his shame, to drag the
honor of his name through the mud of
divorce case? AS many man in
his position has done before, he
elected to hide his misery and his
dishonOr from the eyes of the world,
in which he had held so lofty place.
He put aside the name rendered
famous by long line of distinguished
ancestors, and, leaving the woman
who had ruined his life, he came and
hid himself in this retired spot. For
time he succeeded in concealing himself
The woman-his wife-was free TO
live in riotous splendor upon his
money, and he may have laid the fiat
tering JUNCTION to his soul that she
would be content to leave him IN
peace. But, gentlemen, the conse-
Quences of such a folly as the prisoner
committed are not to be avoided Or
escaped. The woman to whom he had
given his name, in an evil and i'll
fated moment, resolved that she would
compel him to own her before the
world or lay bare the story of his
shame. She succeeded in tracking
him to the place of his concealment
She had an interview with him on the
night before her death. The incidents
some of the words that passed at
that Interview shall place before
YOU. An appointment was made for
the morrow. On that morrow she was
found lying dead at his feet, the
weapon by which she was slain he
side her, bearing his name. Such evil