The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1920-06-26
CHAPTER xxIlI-contInued.

.,,ance Kept assuring me that II was
..,ortune md not error on my part
-. - had brought me here. At every
IN, in the strange chain Of circum-
f..rces I felt that / had acted as a
IN OF honor should have acted. My
&c If innocence upheld me even
though the deliberate malicious plot
49,. !, evil men might make 1t appear
- the Judge, to the Jurors, to the
.,ls world that / was a murderer.
r-.r though I should be sentenced to
...th for killing a woman l never had
- the knowledge that at every point
"a done what I still believed to
-. been right. brought me strong
s.-,,oyt and filed me with new cour-
age
yait was with lack OF Interest that
,,s,eued to the monotonous question
,ur that formed a part of the selection
Of a Jury.
.so far as I am concerned" had
aid 70 my COUNSEL IN our last chat,
s,,v sort Of a Jury will do. Unless
:. s.cceed in upsetting the evidence
.,o,rst me with a crash that all the
woy,d can hear 1t makes no differ
nee"
II guess you are right" he answer
"a despondently. it seemed to me,
s,nd II the worst happens. we always
e,n take an appeal"
His reply convinced me that he, too,
"a. anticipating the result. which |
,one ago had decided to be the only
suteome. unless something unforeseen
hsunened-a verdict against me of
murder In the first degree.
heard. almost with amusement,
ne district attorney. with eloquent
eutory. tell the jury the crimes he
sxpected to prove against me. even
smiling little at the picture he paint
"A of gangster seeking employment
n m apartment occupied by families
If wealth that he might find oppor-
tunitIes for plundering them, and
when he was surprised in the midst
q his burglarizing. brutality 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 / knew / was not the man he
was talking about. 1t had been a bru-
tal eowardly murder, and l was fully
a. 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
- though repeating a well 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 arrivedT'
@Yes. a DOCTOR"
Anyone else?"
-Yes. Mr.. Wick. the superintendent
Of the apartment. and the prisoner"
what did they say? How did they
explain their presence thereT
They said they had heard a. sho
and had come in to investigate"
He told Of examining the body
questioning the physician and of max
Ing search Of the apartment for thu
murderer, but finding no one els'
there.
What did you do them"
MY partner and I followed tn,
prisoner to his apartment and place.
him under arrest. We searched hi
room and in the dresser / found {
revolver with one chamber recent.
discharged"
what made you suspect Nelson
Why did you arrest him?"
MY partner and / talked 1t over
and We both were Of the opinion tina
u was an inside job. A burglar woul,
have no chance to get into a buildin
Ike the Granddeck and make his get
away. II was between the superin
sendent Of the building, who was
nan Of responsibility, and this youn
teilow-who was only a caretaker."
Had anything in Nelson's action
nsde yeu suspicious Of him?"
" notlesh that he was greatly ez
eites"
Anything sise?"
-Aftsy Nelsoo had gone upstairs (
ale OVID apartment. l questioned Nj
Wick. he said be had been in th
devator wher he heard the shot. II
,ad gotten cut at the fifth floor. wher
. seemed to have come from. At tn
saor of Miss Lutan's apartment h
mad fosnd the prisoner"
That's ALL" said the district attol
ley rrsunphsntly.
MY attorney waived cross-examint
uon- The second detective was pu
" tne stand and corroborated hi
partners evidence in every respec
nom OF them told of finding blood o
Wy coat. The physician whom Vic
VAC summoned gave somewhat tecl
VA description Of the bullet woun,
sho The prosecution put in evidenC
~ bullet extracted from the bod
sno the revolver the detectives ha
suna' pointing out that they were {
ue same calIber.