Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-04-30

= VI ~ ftt0 - " Ut ftA 0Cetf W.
ing these days"
innocence; that his refusal to answer
her entreaties had been the last straw
to the load under which it had gone
down; that she believed him indeed the
murderer of Moreau. To seem the
cringing criminal. the pitiful liar and
actor in her eyes! The thought stung
him. Her faith had meant so much.
The ominous feeling weighed heavily
on Fielder when he rose to continue the
testimony for the prisoner. so rudely
disturbed the evening before. In such
a community pettifogging was of no
avail. Throwing expert dust In Jurors
eyes would be worse than useless. In
his opening words he made no attempt
to conceal the weakness of the de-
Tense, ~evidentially considered. Strip.
ped of all husk. his was to be an ap-
peal TO Caesar.
Through a cloud of witnesses con
cisely. consistently. yet with a winning
tactfulness that disarmed the objec
tons of the prosecution. he began TO
lead them through the series of events
that had followed the arrival of the
self forgotten man. Out of the mouths
of their own neighbors-Devlin. Bar
ney McGinn. Mrs. Halloran. who cana
down weeping-they were made to SCI
as in a cyclorama the struggle for re-
Mobilization against hatred and suspi-
cion, the courage that had dared for a
child's life, the honesty of purpose
that showed in self surrender. The
prisoner, he said, had recovered his
memory before the accusation and as
serted his absolute innocence. Those
who believed him guilty of the murder
of DR.. Moreau must believe him also a
vulgar liar and poseur. He left the
inference clear: II the prisoner had
fred that cowardly shot he knew it
now; if he lied now he had lied all
along, and the later life he had lived
at Smoky Mountain, eloquent of fair
dealing, straightforwardness of pur-
pose, kindness and courage, had been
but hypocrisy, the bootless artifce of
a shallow buffoon.
The session was prolonged past the
noon hour, and when Fielder rested his
case it seemed that all that was posi-
BILE had been said. He had done his ut
most. He had drawn from the people
of Smoky Mountain a dramatic story
and had filed in its outlines with color,
force and feeling. And yet as he clos
ed the lawyer felt a sick sense of fall
ure.
Court adjourned for an hour. and in
the interim Fielder remained in a little
room in the building. whittier DR..
Brent was to send him sandwiches and
coffee from the hotel.
"You made a fine effort. Tom" the
latter said as they stood for a moment
in the emptying courtroom. You're
doing wonders with no case, and the
town ought to send you to congress on
the strength Of 1t! l declare, some of
your evidence made me feel as mean as
a dog about the rascal. though l knew
all the time he was as guilty as the
devil"
The lawyer shook his head. "I don't
blame you, Brent" he said, 'for you
don't know him as / do. l have seen
much of him lately, been often with
him, watched him under stress, for he
doesn't deceive himself; he has no
thought of acquittal! We none of us
knew Hugh Stires. We put him dowr
for a shallow, vulgar b~lackleg, without
redeeming qualities. But the mar we
are trying is a gentleman, a refined
and cultivated man of taste and feel
ing. 1 have learned his true character
during these days"
"Well," said the other, "f you be-
lieve in him, so much the better. You'll
make the better speech for it. Tell me
one thing. Where was Miss Holme?"
at don't know"