The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-05
The House of the
Whispering
 Pines

1 The small flask of cordial and the | three glasses, one clean and the otn- | CTS showing signs of having been used,
 were next taken up, but with no re- l suit for the defense. I had told all i knew about these in my direct eXam1- nation: also about such matters as the
 bottles found on the kitchen table, the
 leaving of my keys at the Cumberland l house and the fact, well known, that 1 the two bottles of wine left in the wine l vault and tabulated by the steward as | so left in the list found in my apart
 ments were of an exclusive brand un- | likely to be found anywhere else in
 town. I could add nothing more, and,
 having spoken the exact truth con- | corning them from the very first, I ran | no chance of contradicting myself,
 even under the close fire of the oppos | ing counsel.
 l But there was matter I dreaded to | see him approach and which, 1 was l equally sure, with an insight unshared,
 I believe, by any one else in the whole courtroom, was equally dreaded by the | prisoner. w
 This was the.presence in the club l house chimney of the half burned let | ter I had long ago been compelled in my own defense to acknowledge hay | ing written to the victims young sis | ter, Carmel Cumberland. AS 1 saw District Attorney Fox about to enter upon this topic I gathered myself to- gether to meet the onslaught, for in | this matter I could not be strictly truthful, since the least slip on my part might awaken the whole world to 1 the fact that it could only have come there through the agency of Carmel l herself.
 What Mr. Moffatt thought of it.
 what he hoped to prove in the prison CTS behalf by raking this subject over it was left for me to discover later.
 The prisoner was an innocent man in | his eyes. I was not, and, while the time had not come for him to make | this openly apparent, he was not above l showing even now that the case con- tained a factor which weakened the | prosecution-a factor totally disasso- ciated with the only accepted theory | that the crime was simply the result of personal cupidity and drunken spite. And in this he was right. It did weaken it-weakened it to the point of collapse, if the counsel for the de- fense had fully acted up to his oppor- tunity. But something withheld him. Just at the moment when I feared the :! truth must come out he hesitated and veered gradually away from this sub-
 ject In his nervous pacings to and fro before the witness stand his eye | had rested for moment on Arthur's, and with this result: The situation
 was saved, but at great loss to the defendant.
 I began to cherish softened feelings toward Arthur Cumberland from this moment. Was it then or later that he began in his turn to cherish new and less hostile feelings toward my self? He had hated me and vowed
 my death if escaped the fate he could now dimly see opening out before him. self, yet I could see that he was glad
 to see me slip from my tormentor's hands with my story unimpeached and that he drew his breath more deeply and with much more evidence of free
 dom now that my testimony had been thoroughly sifted and nothing had come to light duplicating Carmel. I even thought I caught kindly gleam in his eye as it met mine at this crit ical juncture, and by its light I under stood my man and what he hoped from me. He wished me, at any risk to him. self, to unite with him in saving Car mel's good name. That l should ac- cede to this, that I should respect his generous wishes and let him go to unmerited destruction for even so i'm perative an obligation as we both lay under, was a question for the morrow.
 Several short examinations followed mine, all telling in their nature, all cal culated to fix in the minds of the jury the following facts:
 First.-That Arthur, swayed by cu pidity and moved to rage by the scene at the dinner table, had by some un- known means of a more or less violent character prevailed upon Adelaide to accompany him to the whispering Pines in the small cutter to which, in
 tuC dUScuCc OI every SSl dhL dDOul the place, he himself had harnessed the gray mare.
 Second.-That in preparation for this
 visit to spot remote from observa
 tion and closed against all visitors
 they, still for some unknown reason,
 had carried between them candle stick and candle, a flask of cordial, three glasses and a small bottle marked "Poison;' also some papers, letters or scraps of correspondence, among them the compromising line l
 had written to Carmel
 Third.-That while in this building. at an hour not yet settled, a second alteration had risen between them or some attempt been made by the
 brother which had alarmed Adelaide and sent her flying to the telephone in great agitation with an appeal to the police for help. This telephone was in front room. and the jury was led to judge that she had gained ac- cess to it while her companion ran sacked the wine vault and brought the six bottles of spirit up from the cellar.
 Fourth.-That her Outcry had alarm ed the prisoner in his turn, causing him to leave most of the bottles be- low, and hasten up to the room. where he cOrnDletnd thn deed with which he