The Yale expositor., 1911-02-16
AN ERROR
OF JUSTICE
By BERTHA u Al.SOP
Copyright, 1910 o. American Press
Assn- ..r4

along over ROAD udnnHN ga edCn SIDE
by wood Among the inside pas
sengers was a gentleman notable for
white wig lie chatted freely with
the others. making himself generally
agreeable. so that VIXEN hf aiighled
at a village Midway between Paris
and Lyons he was greatly missed
Not half an hour after h" irft the
coach IL man ridinga hlacE morse left
q thicket beside the road. shot the
courier of the mall robbed him and
made away with the booty in the d.
rection from which he came
Several of the passengers, hearing
the shot, put their heads out of the
window and saw the robber
Great heavensp' cried one. lit is
the gentleman who was riding with
us awhile ago. | 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 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. couple Of
gendarmes ran up to him and seized
him while drinking a glass Of wine in
a cafe.
what does this mean?" he cried.
You think to throw the police Off
the track by assurance" said one Of
tie gendarmes. You got off the
Lyons mail yesterday at this village.
rode ahead by circultous path. stop
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 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
istrate upon statement Of the facts
attending the crime concluded TO send
the suspected man 10 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 10 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 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 II. 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 time and
then said:
"The testimony of this woman is not
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 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 I'm the coach and those who
saw him shoot the courier Jean Le-
saurques, have you anything to say
1 why sentence Oh UedlD SuOulu not De
passed upon your
This woman's story is doubtless
true" replied the prisoner. II 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 1t will then come
out that he committed this crime"
Lesaurques died protesting his limo
eence.
Four years passed. during which
several members OF the gang who
we're implicated in the murder were
captured, and 1t 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 a second time, but
the slippery eel escaped again. A third
time he fell into the hands of the po-
lice, and this time they held him.
| Dubosq was tried for the murder for
which Lesaurques had been executed.
| Soma NJ tho witnesses who tosfffiad nv,