Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06
TbeFiu fTrueDee Pushed the B6dd
ewof JutceO

doctor came out and what he told
Manners kept the young man from at
tending to the change in the doctors
attitude toward him.
She's hard hit!" the doctor said
CURLY and went back to his patient.
Toward morning heavy steps crunched
on the gravel outside the house, then
In the hall. The local police inspector
with two other officers approached
Manners.
I'm sorry" said the inspector, but
must take you into custody for the
murder of Mr.. LaScelleS.'
The young man. who thought he
had already reached the Depths dazed-
ly repeated:
For the murder of Mr.. Lascelles?
But didn't murder him."
That will be for the magistrate to
me peaceably! And warn you that
anything you may say"
X X X
RY the time the day of his trial ar
~ rived George Manners was sure that
only diabolical ingenuity could have
plotted such complete and simple
case against him as the prosecutor
without the least effort was able to
marshal.
The woman he loved, brought to the
witness stand from her sickbed, fall
tered her answers to the prosecutor S
questions. Yes, she was forced to adj
NIT, her brother had been against her
marriage toNthe prisoner at the bar.
Yes there was bad blood between the
two men. There had been scenes. The
last one, on the day of the murder,
u l. re
and both men parted on note OF
! towering rage.
Mrs. Marsh was called to the stand,
and testified that she, too, had wit
messed the scene.
And the last thing he said was,
Then, by God, If you won't shake
hands with me friendly you'll give me
your hand whether you like it or nor
The two maids of the house cor
roborated Mrs. Marshs testimony to the
| syllable.
James Crosby, the laborer. told of
| hearing cry for help on the night OF
| the murder. Taking his lantern he hur-
| ried out on the road. He saw George
Manners by the body of Edmund
Lascelles. His face and hands were
covered with blood and mud.
The judge and jury had little choice
enmity between the two men; their
high tempers; the last quarrel between
them, an hour or two before the MUIR
der; the blood on George Manners when
Crosby discovered him by the side of
| the murdered man, and, worst of all,
the threat in terms of the hand-there
was no refuting the case all these evil
dences built up.
| The jury brought in the verdict and
the Judge pronounced sentence. George
Manners was to be hanged for the
death of Edmund LascelleS.
And though the news was kept from
Eva Lascelles in her sickroom, she
might just as we'll have been told it, for
she was far gone with brain fever.
Manners had kept on repeating that
he was innocent, but after the death
sentence had been pronounced he sank
into the apathy of hopelesSneSs..
He had friends. however. who fought
for him. With all the evidence against
him some of them still felt that the
brutal murder was not in the character
of George Manners. Justice, the blind
folded goddess, with her even scales in
one hand and the sword of power in the
other, might declare herself satisfied
with the verdict. The friends of George
Manners were not.
They worked so hard and so sub
stantial was their joint influence that
finally they won communication of sem
tence for George Manners, from death
to life imprisonment. The prisoner re-
ceived the news with Indifference.
There was little to chose between death
and life spent in prison contempla-
ton of the fate that had befallen him.
But his friends were not content with
what they had accomplished
ONE day two strangers from London
~ came to Beckfield, tired business
men, they told the host at the inn
where they put up. They meant to
smoke. stroll about the country, chat
with the farmers and call it holiday.
Inevitably they became interested
in the Lascelles murder and visited
several times the scene where it took
place and its vicinity. They were So
ciable men, these strangers, who took
human interest in the murder and
chatted with anybody they could get
to talk about it.
In the course of time 1t seemed they
acquired as much knowledge about the
murder as the judge and jury had.
What they kept to themselves was the
fact that they began to acquire more
knowledge than had been brought out
in court
They learned, for instance, that the
farmer for whom James Crosby worked
was tenant of Edmund Lascelles. He
| was having such hard time making