Year: 1873

the incidents Of the plot the more definite
IL before the reader, We viii briefly give a
concise statement of the circumstances
surrounding the lives of each, and the re
lation existing between them as grand
movers III our drama.


EUGENE ALLERTUN.


To this individual, who as the leading
character If our story deserves due prom
.uence. had been awarded afate which was
az terrible and woeful as il is possible for
one to conceive In the remote solitude
of his prison cell he became changed
man. undergoing the transition from a
high-spirited, lovable young man into a
gloomy cyuic, silent recluse, IN the Sc
cret thoughts Of whom lurked resolve to
wait and then carry out the determination
which he had formed III his mind


lie was now, and had been for nearly
three years the inmate Of the Philadelphia
prison. To any one who has read Of or
seen this gloomy building, which is place
Uf perpetual silence and despairing soil
tude. 1t Will need no pen-picture from the
writer uI these lines to reproduce re
membrance which the sombre recollection
" the prison viii render very vivid. 1t





where the young miner. Eugene Allerton,
Vas now confined.


Iii q trial III which he had spoken not a
word, the sentence Of Imprisonment for a
term Of years had been awarded to him,
together with the most condemnatory
words from the Judge There we're but
few witnesses the woman who had be-
trayed him, Ronald Darlington, who was
compelled to give his evidence, and the
general run OF dOmestics about the place.
1t had been proven BIZ all these that Eu-
gene Allerton had been a lover of Miss
Nernons, that he had gone to her room on
the night Of the murder, that he had there
met her husband who had Just returned to
her. and that frenZied with the discovery
that he had been batfled, that he had been
deceived. he had flied at his rival and had
killed him,


On the other hand it was set up by the
defence that there were two points which
required explanation :-


First. The woman, Miss Vernon, had
not only led Mr. Allerton astray by caus-
ing hun to believe that she was single, but
had so filed him with love for herself that
he was really frenzied and insane when he
was 50 TERRIBLY informed of his betrayal.
He had no plea to set up. for he had posi-
lively refused, even to his counsel, to state
what he knew Of the murder. He had
plead not guilty, but was willing to allow
the presumption to exist that he was gull
ty he made no effort to disprove state
ments of those who were arrayed against
him as the witnesses III behalf of the pros
ecution.


Second, The pistol which it was affirmed
Mr. Allerton had shot the husband of Miss
Vernon with was weapon which it had
been proven belonged to the lady i'll ques-
tion herself. 1t was asked how came this
weapon in the possession of the prisoner
at the bar


Easily answered were these two queries
oy the bold, bad woman to whom the
true promptings Of honor and the words
of truth were foreign. She, even in the
face uf the storm of the indignation which
the outraged society poured down upon
her, in bold tone acknowledged her guilt.
She had led the prisoner astray,-she had
deceived him she had not only led him to
believe that she was a single woman, but
as Miss Beatrice Vernon had given to him
the promise Of her hand in marriage, she
was neither an adventures nor a woman
of no fortune, the claim that the public
i'll general had invested her with possess
ing to the former title was a claim she
could only make in view Of acting as she
had for mere play. She loved to be in a
whirl of excltement-why should she not
| fllrt as others had done


In the face Of such frivolity and 50 great
a disregard of ordinary propriety and hon
or, the court only listened to her explana-
ton of her giving to the prisoner the pis-
| tol few days prior to the murder, but did
not command corroborative evidence. 1t
had been clearly settled in the minds OF
all present that the prisoner was guilty, and
in the face of such stolid Indifference to
the court of the trial, it was very gener-
ally believed that the murder had been the
means of turning his mind. The jury
were unanimous in their verdict, and the
sentenca of the court was brief.
But that sentence, which the judge pro
nounced in the few words, imprisonment
for life. was not destined to be carried out
He had many friends, and more than one
fair sympathizer. The woman for whom
he had sacrificed himself had 80 bAsely de-
serted and betrayed him, thas he was be.
lieved by some to be innocent of the ter
rible crime which had been imputed to hin
by the clea4 est of evidence. In the face o.
ali this, it was not long ere friendly move
had been made, and the sentence Of Eu
gene Allerton, the convicted murderer, was
transmitted to an imprisonment Of thres
years in the Philadelphia prison. Here L
the solitary confinement Of his prison eel
he had remained, the wreck Of what he
formerly was,-a haunted shadow of hi
former ssk


BEATRICE VERNON,


the base adventures, the woman to whom
life brought a. much Of that pleasure