The wageworker., 1910-05-13
AN ERROR
OF JUSTICE
BY BERTHA D. ALSOP
Copyright. 1910. by American Press
Association.

alOnS over fO1u uankeO on each side
by Il wood. Among the inside pas
sengers was gentleman notable for
a white wig. He chatted freely with
the others. making himself generally
agreeable. so that when he alighted
at a village midway between Paris
and Lyons he was greatly missed.
Not half an hour after he left the
coach u man riding u black horse left
a thicket beside the road, shot the
courier of tha mail. robbed him and
made away with the booty in the di-
rection from which he came
Several of the passengers. hearing
the shot, put their heads out of the
window and saw the robber
Great heavens!' cried one. 1T is
the gentleman who was riding with
us awhile ago. l would know him any
where. especially by his white wig''
And l would know him without the
wig" said another.
The courier was dead. having been
shot through the heart. His body was
left at the house of a peasant. and the
coach proceeded. Arriving at Lyons,
Vac murder and robbery were reported
and mounted police sent back to scour
the country for the man in the white
wig. He was found in the town at
which he had alighted. A couple of
gendarmes ran up to him and seized
him while drinking a glass of wine in
cafe
"What does this mean?" he cried.
"You think to throw the police of
the track by assurance" said one of
the gendarmes. You got off the
Lyons mail yesterday at this village.
rode ahead by a circuitous path. stop
ped the coach. shot the courier, robbed
him and dashed away. What have
you done with the plunder?'
This is a mistaken cried the man.
"You can prove the mistake before
the magistrate. Come along"
The magistrate asked the prisoner a
number of questions as to his busi-
ness. what he was doing on the mail
and his name. He said that he was a
wine merchant of Paris and travelling
for the purpose of buying wine. His
name was Jean Lesaurques. The mag
istrate upon a statement of the facts
attending the crime concluded to send
the suspected man to Lyons for trial.
LesaurqueS was thrown into prison
to await trial for murder and robbery.
The driver of the coach identified him
as one who had travelled inside for
some distance and as the man who had
| committed the crime. Several of the
| passengers who had caught sight Of the
murderer testified to the same thing.
Lesaurques claimed that on reaching
the village where he had left the
! coach he had mounted a horse-black-
and ridden out among the vineyards
Unfortunately he had not stopped to
| speak except with one vine grower,
but as he would have had time to rob
the coach and talk with this man aft
erward an alibi was not proved
The prisoner was convicted and was
about to receive sentence when wO-
man rushed into the court and said
to the Judge:
'Your worship is about to send an
innocent man to be guiIlotined. This
man is not the murderer"
How do you know that?" asked the
judge.
Because l know the man who plan
ned the robbery, and he told me all
about it. The man who committed the
murder is one Dubosq. The prisoner
very much resembles him"
''Where is this Dubosq to be found ~
asked the judge.
THAT question is not easily answer
ed. He is a professional criminal and
the worst of the gang that conspired
to commit this robbery"
The judge thought for time and
then said:
1.-The testimony of this woman is moi
admissible. She admits that she has
the confidence of the gang that did
the murder. 1t is a very natural de
vice for them to send her in here tc
tell this story in order to save the mur
derer. This case must rest on the tes
timony of those who rode with the
prisoner in the coach and those who
saw him shoot the courier. Jean lie
saurques, have you anything to say
why sentence of death should not bt
passed upon you?"
This woman's story is doubtless
true" replied the prisoner. Il never
saw her before in my life. In reject
ing her testimony you are condemninf
an innocent man. This Dubosq will il
time be captured and it will then coml
out that he committed this crime"
Lesaurques died protesting his limo
cence.
Four years passed, during which
several members Of the gang wht
were implicated in the murder wer,
captured, and it became known tha
there was such man as DuboSt
among them and the prime mover ant
executor of their crimes. Finally Du
bosq was captured. but he escaped
He was captured second time. bu
the slippery eel escaped again. A thir'
time he fell into the hands of the po
lice, and this time they held him.
Dubosq was tried for the murder TO
which Lesaurques had been executed