The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1920-11-06

10
No sense Of shame nor of guilt pos.
sessed me. l was aware Of having
done wrong to no one A clear con.
science kept assuring me that It was
misfortune and not error on my part
that had brought me here. AT every
point in the strange chain Of clrcum-
stances l felt that I had acted as q
man Of honor should have acted. My
gense of innocence upheld me even
though the deliberate malicious plot
ting Of evil men might make it appear
to the judge, to the Jurors, to the
whole world that l was a murderer.
Even though l should be sentenced to
death for killing woman ! never had
seen the knowledge that at every point
/ had done what still believed to
have been right, brought me strong
comfort and filled me with new COur-
age.
Yet it was with lack of interest that
] listened to the mOnOtOnOus question
Ing that formed a part of the selection
Of jury.
$50 far as / am concerned" l had
said to my counsel in our last chat,
"aRy 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,"
81 guess you are right" he answer
ed, despondently, 1t seemed to me,
"and If 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
bRppened--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 q gangster seeking employment |
In an apartment oCc' oied by families |
Of wealth that he might find OppOr-
tunittes for pIundering them, and |
when he was surprised in the midst |
OF his burglarizing. brutally choking
the unprotected woman whose home
ne was despOiling and then as she lay
there, helpless and inSensible, shoot
ing her through the heart.
In fact, quite agreed with all he
said, even to his most strenuous adj
jeCtiveS-eXcept for the one fact
that l knew | was not the man he
was talking about. 1t had been bru-
tai cOwardly murder, and l 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, I
deyOntly hoped, would give some clue
that would lead to the unmasklng of
the real murderer The first witness
called was one of the detectives who
had arrested me. He told cOncisely,
as though repeating a we'll rehearsed
story, Of having been summoned to
the Granddeck and finding there the
body of Daisy Lutan. He said that
she had been shot through the heart.
"WaS there anyone in the apart
ment when you arrived|
Eyes, DOCTOR"
anyone elseT
'Yes Mr., Wick, the superintendent
of the apartment, and the prisoner"
what did they say? How did they
explain their presence there?"
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 no enc else
there
what did you do thenY
"My partner and | followed the
prisoner to his apartment and placed
him under arrest We searched his
room and in the dresser | found a |.
revolver with one chamber recently
discharged"
What made you suspect Nelson?
Why did you arrest him?"
MY partner and / talked 1t over.
and we both were Of the opinion that
II was an inside job A burglar would
have no chance to get into building
like the Granddeck and make his get-
away 1t was between the superin-
tendent of the building, who was q
man Of responsibility, and this young
fellow-who was only caretaker"
Had anything in Nelson's actions
made you suspicious of him?"
81 noticed that he was greatly ex.
cited"
Anything ese?"
after Nelson had gone upstairs to
his own apartment, questioned Mr.
Wick. He said he had been in the
elevator when he heard the shot. He
had gotten out at the fifth floor, where
1t seemed to have come from. AT the 9
door of Miss Lutan's apartment he i
had found the prisoner"
That's ALL" said the district attor. d
hey triumphantty.
My attorney waived crosS-examina-
ton. The second detective was nut
on the stand and c0rrohorated his tt
partners evidence in every respect
Both Of them told of finding blood on
my coat. The physician whom WicE fl
had summoned gave somewhat tech. o.