Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1911-04-09
Self Condemned
By MARGARET c. DEVEAUX
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.

over the c. mrlon people for centuries.
: Now the COMMON people were endeav.
oring to extirpate the mobiles from the
face of the earth Judge Curier was
sending a batch of them to the guillo-
tine.
"Who is this?" he asked, seeing a
girl, a mere child, brought before him.
"Citizeness Elise Bellair," replied the
officer of the guard.
"Who ordered her brought here? She
is not old enough toto understand the
difference between patriotism and tyr
rany"
"She was included in a list furnished
by NJ. Marat."
Indeed" said the judge, frowning.
''M Marat is accustomed to make in
quiries if all those on his lists have
been-taken care Of"
"But this one-did he know that she
is a child?"
The officer shook his head. NJ. Ma
rats brain was not open to him to
look into.
1hC JuuSC IOuuGIGu a Lew A11O4llCA
There was something wrong in this
case. Possibly a list had been made
out and presented to some one in au-
thority who had signed the warrants
accompanying it while thinking of
something else. Nevertheless the judge
did not dare disobey the order he had
received to sentence every one sent be-
fore him.
Take her away with the others, y
he said reluctantly.
He was looking down into the child's
face pityingly. She saw the expression
on the judges face. Children are quick
to recognize their friends, and the mar
quise, not understanding that the
judge had sent her to the guillotine,
smiled at him. Then a soldier took her
little hand in his and led her away
with the others.
The judge asked one standing by
something about her and was told that
she was the Marquise de Bellair, and
since she alone represented the Bel
lairs and since the revolutionary COM
mittee was anxious that no member of
the family should be left alive the
child had been marked for execution.
When the deed had been done it would
be put down to an error.
The Judge went home that evening,
and his own little daughter, about the
age of the child he had condemned,
sat upon his lap, put her arms about
his neck and kissed him.
How hot your face is, papaw she
said.
He unwound her arms, gently put
her away, and called for a glass of
wine. He had stood up under the
grim duties required of him till the
matter of the little marquise had re-
Quired his attention. He did not eat
his dinner and went to bed feverish.
The smile he had received from the
| little marquise had unneryed him. All
night he lay in bed, two sights coming
up alternately before his mental vision
the one the marquise's smile, the 9th
er her little figure lying on the gull
lotine, the drop of the knife and her
little curly head dropping into the
basket.
In the morning Judge Curier looked
as if he had passed through a fit of
sickness. He ate nothing, spoke not
a word. When he went out after
breakfast his little daughter put up
her arms, as was her custom, for her
morning hug and kiss. Her father put
her away and left her standing with
tears in her eyes in the hallway.
The judge turned into a boulevard
and after following it for awhile en-
tered a street that led him to the
Place de la Revolution, now the Place
de Ia Concorde. 1t is one of the most
spacious plazas in the world, lying as
it does between the Champs d'Elysees
and the gardens of the Tuileries. Car
riages drive through it, but few who
ride or walk past its fountains and its
obelisk think of the work that was
going on there more than a hundred
! years ago.
A crowd was collecting about the
! guillotine, and a tumbrel was driven
up loaded with condemned persons.
AS is passed the judge he caught sight
of a little figure about half the height
Of the others and saw a little hand
waving to him. He walked on and
joined the party at the guillotine. AT
the moment an officer began to call
names from a list he had in his hand.
a"Citizeness Elise Belairv'
The judge approached, took the
child by the hand and said:
II condemned this child by mis-
take"
He was recognized by the officials
and permitted to lead the little mar
quise away.
She was never seen again in Paris
TIL long after the revolution. She re-
turned a middle aged woman.
When the judge went home that
evening he seemed to have the seal of
death upon his brow. He took his
little daughter in his arms, while tears
rolled down his cheeks.
In the middle Of the night there
was a knock at his door. The judge
went downstairs and met an officer,
who told him he was under arrest for
being in conspiracy with the emigres.
The visit was not unexpected and the
| prisoner went with the soldiers with
out word of protest.
A week later a tumbrel drove up to
the guillotine in the Place de la Revo-
! lutiOn and among those who sfenned