Evening star., 1913-10-12
Convicted on Circumstantial Evidence

was punishable by death and there SEEM
ed little possibility Of him escaping this
penalty.
Indeed, the public was eager for his
conviction. for. besides being evidently a
counterfeiter and an insolent rascal as
his methods of disposing of his bad
money and his action against Harris
proved him, he was also guilty of the un-
pardonable offense of being foreigner,
worse than that Frenchman.
When the court heard of Du Moulin s
suspicious efforts to make his customers
replace coins and of the instruments
and false money discovered in his house,
he was convicted in short order and SEN
fenced to death. Two days before the
date set for his execution his wife re-
ceived a message summoning her to a
house in poorer section of the city,
where she found miserable. dying
woman.
THIS unfortunate creature told Nine.
Du Moulin an astonishing story. She
was the widow of man named Will
liams, one of gang of four counterfeit
for years. Her husband had recently
died and the woman, who herself had
frequently aided the gang by diSposinS
of the false coin. wished to right the
wrong they had done before her death.
One of the gang was a porter in Du
Moulin's house and. with the aid of a
set of duplicate keys, he had been steal
ing the coins the merchant received for
his goods and substituting false ones
manufactured by the gang. with dis
astrous effect upon the prosperity and
reputation of his employer.
Mrs. Williams told the names of the
other members of the gang and where
they could De found. She died almost as
soon as she had finished her story and
Nine. Du Moulin, frantic with hope and
anxiety, hastened off to the magistrate to
tell what she had learned in excited,
broken English.
X ).
Du Moulin was respited and the three
men implicated by Mrs. Williams con-
fession Immediately arrested. Two of
them, including the porter. whose viii
lainy had nearly cost Du Moulin his
life. maintained their innocence; but be-
fore the third was examined their lodg-
ings had been searched and quantity
of counterfeit money and materials for
coming had been found. When the third
prisoner learned of this discovery he
broke down and accepted a tempting Of
fer of his life with the condition of be-
coming evidence for the crown.
He confessed that the story the woman
! had tod Nine. Du Moulin was true in
every detail. and his evidence was suf-
ficient to convict the two other members
OF the gang. They protested their in
nocence, even after conviction, until there
was discovered at Du Moulin's house a
bunch of duplicate keys and a wax i'm
preston of a key in a chest belonging
to the former porter.
The scoundrel then admitted that he
had systematically entered his master S
room to exchange bad coins for good
ones. and that the materials and instru-
ments for counterfeit.ng were found in
Du Moulin's room only because he had
just succeeded in placing them there be-
fore the entrance of the searchers. IN
order to strengthen the suspicion against
the merchant and to save himself.
The almost miraculous escape of the
Frenchman from the ckillfully con-
structed net of Fabricated evidence
seemed TO have filed him with no over
| coming sense of thankfulness. Ind.ca-
tons are rather that, on recovering his
liberty, he shrugged a pair of very con-
temptuous French shoulders at the Eng
lish in general, and at English law
courts in particular. and returned to his
respectable occupation of smuggling.