Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1910-05-11
AN ERROR
OF JUSTICE
By BERTHA .. ALSCP
Copyright. 1910. by American Press
Association.

The Lyons mail coach was bowling
| along over a road tlanked on each side
| by a wood. Among the inside pas
sengers was gentleman notable for
white wig. He. chatted freely with
the others. making himself generally
agreeable. so that when be alighted
| at Q village midway between Paris
and Lyons he was greatly missed.
Not half an hour after he left the
coach a man riding black horse left
thicket beside the road. shot the
| courier Of the 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 heavensr' 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 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
the 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
70 mr. q In 1T
him while drinking glass Of wine in
| q cafe
"What does this mean?" he cried.
"You think to throw the police off
the track by assurance" said one of
the gendarmes. You got Off the
| Lyons mail yesterday at this village,
rode ahead by circuitous path. stop
ped the coach. shot the courier. robbed
him and dashed away. What have
you done with the plunderY'
"This Is 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 bust
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
1strate upon 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 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 q wo-
man rushed into the court and said
to the judge:
"Your worship is about to send an
innocent man to be guillotined This
man is not the murderer"
How do you know that?" asked the
judge.
Because 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 professional criminal and
the worst of the gang that conspired
to commit this robbery"
The judge thought for a time and
then said:
1.-The testimony Of this woman is not
admissible. She admits that she has
the confidence Of the gang that did
the murder. 1t is very natural de-
vice for them to send her in here to
tell this story in order to save the MUIR
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 Lee
saurques. have you anything to say
why sentence Of death should not be
passed upon your
'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 condemning
an innocent man. This DubosQ will in
time be captured. and it will then come
out that he committed this crime" -
Lesaurques died protesting his inno-
cence.
Four years passed. during which
several members of the gang who
were implicated in the murder were
captured, and it became known that
there was such a man as Dubosq
among them and the prime mover and
executor Of their crimes Finally Du-
bosq was captured. but he escaped:
! he was captured q second time, hui