Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1920-04-23
&C O n ( n u e d.

when the morning or my tr1ai actu-
ally arrived entered the courtroom In
q state Of dull apathy. The night be-
fore had not slept at ALL had spent
all the black hours reviewing my life,
especially the last year. thinking with
what high hopes and great expecta-
lions | had come to the metropolis and
how miserably everything had turned
out for me. Step by step ! had re-
viewed the events that had brought
me, dlscredited. all but friendless, all
but penniless, into this dismal court
room accused Of q horrible, cowardly
deed, seeking to see wherein ] might
have altered my recent actions or
changed the course Of my life to avoid
having arrived at this shameful goal.
Yet strange to say, found myself
after mature reflection convinced that
had this last year to live over again
not In one iota would | have done diff
ferently-no. not even II | could have
foretold what the future had In store
for me.
No sense Of shame nor of guilt pos
sessed me. was aware Of having
done wrong to no one. A clear con-
science kept assuring me that II was
misfortune and not error on my part
that had brought me here. At every
point In the strange chain OF circum-
stances I felt that had acted as q
man of honor should have acted. My
sense Of innocence upheld me even
though the deliberate malicious plot
ting Of evil men might make II appear
to the judge. to the Jurors, to the
whole world that / was q murderer.
Even though should be. sentenced to
death for killing a woman never had
seen the knowledge that at every point
I had done what still believed to
have been right. brought me strong
comfort and filed me with new cour-
age.
Yet II was with lack of interest that
/ listened to the monotonous question
ing that formed part Of the selection
Of a jury.
$50 far as I am concerned" had
said to my counsel In our last chat,
"any sort Of jury will do. Unless
we succeed in upsetting the evidence
against me with crash that all the
world can hear II makes no differ
ence."
II guess you are right" he answer
ed. despondently. 1t seemed to me.
land II the worst happens, We always
can take an appeal"
His reply convinced me that he. too,
was anticipating the result. which
long ago had decided to be the only
outcome. unless something unforeseen
happened-a verdict against me Of
murder In the first degree.
heard, almost with amusement,
the district attorney. with eloquent
oratory. tell the jury the crimes he
expected to prove against me, even
smiling little at the picture he paint
ed Of gangster seeking employment
In an apartment occupied by families
Of wealth that he might find oppor-
tunities for plundering them. and
when he was surprised In the midst
Of his burglarizing, brutally choking
the unprotected woman whose home
he was despoiling and then as she lay
there. helpless and insensible. shoot
Ing her through the heart.
In fact. l quite agreed with all he
said. even to his most strenuous ad-
jectives-except for the one fact
that ! knew I was not the man he
was talking about. II had been bru-
tai, cowardly murder, and was fully
as anxious as the district attorney
could possibly be to see the miscreant
who had killed Miss Lutan brought
to book.
The testimony that was to come,
devoutly hoped, would give some clue
that would lead to the unmasking Of
the real murderer. The first witness
called was one of the detectives who
had arrested me. He told concisely.
as though repeating q well rehearsed
story, Of having been summoned to
the Granddeck and finding there the
body Of Daisy Lutan. He said that
bne nhu tDccu siiOt tHIOukn -tuc ucurt
"was there anyone In the apart
ment when you arrivedr'
"Yes. doctor"
ANYONE else7"
Eyes, Mr.. Wick. the superintendent
Of the apartment, and the prisoner"
what did they sayf How did they
explain their presence theref
"They said they had heard shot
and had come In to investigate"
He told Of examining the body.
questioning the physician and Of max
ing a search Of the apartment for the
murderer. but finding 90 one else
there.
what did you do then7'
my partner and followed the
prisoner to his apartment and placed
him under arrest. We searched his
room and In the dresser I found q
revolver with one chamber recently
discharged"
---S~ -. Noiaou