Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-06-14

AS he listened to the millionaire evil
dence, given with suave ease and DELHI
Grafton, Huntington for the first time found
himself aware of the extraordinary power
publicity occasionally possesses of re-
ducing the importance of facts 1t almost
seemed to him that there might have been
a conspiracy between the coroner and the
millionaire so Pat can e the questions so
pat came SaXe's we'll modulated. concise
answers; a conspiracy to weave about the
man, already deprived Of that definite per
sonality which name implies and alluded
to as the prisoner" a chain Of cireum-
stantial evidence SO perfect-so horribly
perfect that every instinct of fair play
in Rimington rose up against it. II was
not that anything that SAKE said in an
swer to those swift questions was I'M
true it was something much more sub
tie than that-the deft conveying of an
impression, the skillful suppression of a
detail or a phrase
Morbid Thoughts.
Throughout the varying evidence that
followed Rimington sitting there at the
back of the court felt with feeling of
impotent disgust, like man who watches
the weaving of a web of lies in which he
is already himself entanged
The conviction was with him when the
summons. Cali Edmond Levasseur.'
came that whatever the man might say
whatever eXplanat ton be might volunteer,
would be as the useless beating of surf
against the unyielding face of granite
rock \ gigantic win power was in force
determined to prove him guilty. 1t was
in vain that he compelled himself to re-
member that this was merely a prelimi-
nary-a formal inquiry--that no definite
issue of doom hung on its pronounce
ment, whatever il might he. Looking. not
at the prisoner, who stood up now before
the public. but at the smooth horselike
face of the foreman of the jury. b seemed
to him that already he heard the man
condemned. saw the solemn farce of the
adjusting of the black cap.
1t was hideously morbid, of course-the
perhaps inevitable outcome of these three
days of appalling strain: yet as later
Rimington found himself walking trough
the crowded streets towards his lodgings
in Chandos street he felt that. morbid or
not. his premonition had justified itself
The man who, calling himself Edmond
Levasseur, had yet by action and speech
revealed himself as undeniably English
had made his explanation of his presence
in the house in Tempest street that night
with no success His frank admission of
his Intention 10 steal Mr. Fitzstephen's
collection of jewels, which were world
famous, had awaited him very little. He
had stated with perfect accuracy-as
Rimington only too well knew-how.
breaking into the house by the back en-
trance. he had been attacked in the semi
darkness of the hall by man. who.
knocking him down. had effected his os-
cape ny the way by which he himself
had entered. Against this unconvncing
statement was the weighty fact that the
murdered mans most notable gem had
been found in his possession and this in
spite of his denial of ever having been
upstairs.
The prisoner, with cynical gaiety of
attitude that had the worst of effects
upon the minds of the extremely stold
jury, had reserved his explanation of that
fact That was all The inevitable YER
dict had been passed that John James
Fitzstephen had met his death q the
hands of the man at present in custody
and the inevitable order of demand for
trial had followed.
AS Rimington walked fragments of CON
versa ton from the passersby came
to his ears; the excited spectators escaped
from court, their appetite for the great
coming duel of the Crown vs. Levasseur
vhetted by the morning. mimic court
were laying down the law
THE only verdict possible. Why. the
mans as guilty as Judas. The farce of
wasting public money on a trial when,
in a case like this. man is taken red
handed! At the best il only amounts to
a survival of death by tortureT
Continued Tomorrow