Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-03-20


permit, withdraw my question. will
endeavor to confine my questions with
in limits which even my learned friend
the lawyer for the defense, will be un
willing to object to-"
| Qmmense satisfaction in the cour
room. l am not lawyer enough to de-
lcide whether the prosecution had beer
generous-or only shrewd; are you
You can guess how the spectators re-
garded it. The tide was going down.
downtown. Gilbert Sem was once
more a red-handed rascal, for whom
hanging was too good.)
The examination of the witness was
lcontinued:
You may state how long ago yor
gave the ring TO Constance Craig"
About twenty-five years ago"
THAT would be some fifteen years
before her DEATH"
Yes, sir"
You had seen ii frequently after
giving it to her?"
Yes, sir; 1 saw her very often, and
1 never saw her without the ring upon
her finger"
How old was she at the time of hel
death?"
About twenty-five years of age
"She had the ring when she was a
little girl of ten, or about that age, die
she?"
she did"
DO you remember how it fitted her
when you gave it to herr"
1T was a good fit. 1 remember dis
tinctly her trying it on. 1t was just a
fit. She asked me to give it to her.
did So"
She was strong. active girl, was
she not?'
She was"
Fond of play?"
"Yes, sir"
Sometimes rough and violent in her
play?"
| Yes, sir: sometimes"
Il presume the blood-red stone got
some hard knocks during her girl
hood?"
Yes, indeed"
Possibly she sometimes let it fall
upon the fioor?"
# have heard her speak of such oc-
casions."
But it wasn't broken until the night
of her death?"
Il suppose not. 1t was whole, to my
certain knowledge, a month before. She
would scarcely have allowed the brok-
en- fragment to remain under her table
over a single night, even, if she had
broken it by accident"
DO you know how the ring fitted her
shortly before her death?"
81 do. For months it had been so
tight that she could not remove it."
Did you examine the finger on which
| 1t had been worn?"
After her death? Yes, I did"
State what you found"
1.-The finger was torn and lacerated.
| It looked"
I'VE object" said Aldrich; 1--WE don't
want any theories or guesses smug-
gled into this testimony"
Very we'll" said the prosecuting at
tomey. I'VE will use every effort to
keep them out You may tell, Mr..
Prier, whether a ring-some ring-had
been recently removed from that fin
ger, and by violence"
There had been"
You are sure? You will swear to
that?"
II am sure. I do swear to it,"
Your honor, We offer the broken
ring, the fragment which fits the brok-
en- stone. and the document signed by
Sem, all in evidence. Mr.. Prier, will
you tell me what else you found which
was of INTEREST,""
Il found. Constance Craig's sewing
materials upon the table, to which
have referred"
"The table which was close to the
head of the bed?"
Yes, sir"
| What articles were upon the table,
"A pair of scissors, two spools of
thread, half a dozen pins, a cake of
bees wax and the article at which she
had been at work"
And what article had she been at
work upon?"
An infants dress"
(The spectators bent forward in
breathless attention)
An infants dress? Was Constance
Craig a married woman"
Mrs. Craig was a widow. Her hus-
band died by accident in the June be-
fore"
The attorney for the prosecution
moved Il step or two nearer to the wit
ness. He bent forward until his face
was near that of the detective. He
spoke slowly, solemnly, and he tapped
with the extended forefinger of his right
word was uttered. But he had not
moved nearer Prier for the sake OF
speaking privately; his voice rang out
strong and clear. filling the great room
with the awful question he asked:
And so the man who killed Con-
stance Craig took two lives instead OF
one did he?"
There was a terrible pause. One
might have fancied himself suddenly
carried into watchmaker's shop, fol
there was absolutely no sound to be
heard in all the crowded room but the
ticking of the time pieces: every breath
seemed to hang silent on the lips OF
the on-looker whose lifeblood depended
upon it for publication and renewal;
the very hearts of the spectators seem
ed to have forgotten to beat.
A cry burst forth from the lips Of
the witness. a cry which was half the
sob of long pent-up agony-half the
snarl of some furnished beast who sees
before him the hated enemy of his kline
whose body can give him food and life
The tears ran down the detectives