| Show COL OA y L 1 L AUTHOR AUTHORS NOTE the material facts in this tory story of circumstantial evidence are drawn from an actual recorded cae case only auth change of n carnei mes ind nd local cot calir ar being made mad as tl 0 remove them from the classification of legal re ports to that of fiction all the essential point of f evidence howe however verp are retained ck 1113 calf skin club had as emblen early for its week ly IY session fic sulon sad wid e eiery ery mem main ber her was in hie his accustomed place with judge grower in the chair when the routine business was fin shed lobed the chairman roae rose and enid sidd we now will hear crovi judge stoakes who we trust has a artory rela tive to circumstantial evi vi deace judge stoakes judge stoakes a large inan man of dig dined riffled presence prea ence whose silver hair alone bespoke his 70 jeara years rose and begani my aly tory la Is of the troubled days in M following upon the civil war when factional rancor till ran high and tho conqueror and the con lived together in outward amity but with secret suspicion I 1 bad had juat just hung up my shingle in a little town in the southern part of the state which had been the hot hotbed bed of df factional warfare now captured by lyon now held by price and re to heatedly peat edly by the roving ng bands of irregular A OZ 0 either at side de among the moat most noted leaders ot of these latter wag was col cot jm farrar among the northern sympathizers he was classed with quintrell Quai trell and the youn gore germ but when the struggle was over ho he settled down quietly in the little town of at chester and bis his tall form his flowing moustaches mou staches his campaign hat and long coat became him as the costume did many another warrior of the lost cause col cot household consisted ot of but one daughter 17 year years of age and of that rare type of beauty which so often crops aut in an adventurous and warlike stock her ifor name was wa luclle luello and she soon set the heart of at every young man in a flame I 1 my self sell fell at the first glance and as an I 1 look back down the long stretch of years I 1 can see the black hair the rosy lips and tho the flashing eyes of lu die cile farrar as I 1 watched her in silent adoration in the meeting house upon the street or flying along on her pony which seemed as full of life and alfrits as ua its fair rider it was ellent allent adoration upon the part of us as nil all for never a glance did the fair luclle lucile have for any of us hut but when melrin lessure leasure came to chester it was different something in her womans heart must have drawn him tor for all eat the indifference and all the scorn were gene and aid they gave themselves up willingly to a love that quickly ran the gamut from passing interest to pas devotion the very mention of a suitor for his daughters hand was sum clent ent to vetold ud col fanar fan ar into a rage terrible to witness lie ila noted the growing intimacy of luclle lucile and lessure leasure with lealou anger du but he be could not watch her always and many a time when he was away looking after the interests of his extensive plantation near the town we leas less fortunate youths saw lessure leasure starting on long walks with the fair luclle luelle melvin lessure Lessi ife inherited all the arey impulsiveness of a long line of at french anav ancestry stry and was not the youth to brook long this thin uncertain entente ot of hia his lovemaking lie ile had a big plantation several milea miles from chester and had moved into town for ho he social advantages that looked arge large to us then he ile was amply able to 0 o support matrimony in a style oqual 0 the best in the community he ile 4 an as handsome studious and courtly n his manners and seemed to be gible from any point 04 ob view the local madame grundy could find no eason why stelvin lessure leasure and luclle lucile farrar were not a perfectly matched couple but the rock on which their happl icea seemed destined to break was bat hat of factional rancor col farrar vas van of the south unreconstructed and gaspard lessure leasure father had cast his lot with he north and had bad died at his own corway defending his property the enemies of hta his adopted dag melvia telvin A lessure leasure was no match for col clot jim in brawn or bustwr blua bust tyr pr but he hesitated not to go to him with hia his suit and the stona storm he provoked I 1 give you as it was later reconstructed constructed ra through 1 a of the law edver Nv cr by the almighty roared the colonel before I 1 would see my daughter da married to one of the accursed assassins of at my country t I 1 would slay stay her with my own bands hands get out of my sight night and never dare your efesto eye to a daughter of the farkars Farr ars A SIJ 1 4 44 L A melvin telvIn lessure stood with white face clenched handa hands and gritted teeth while luclle lucile threw herself at her fathers feet and begged and implored him to mitigate the harsh sentence een tence but he be cast her rudely from him with a 6 curse and turning to leasure with murder la in his lits eyes cald said you doa rant my daughter you I 1 why L I 1 shot your yo ur father dowa la in cold blood because he differed with me pol cally do you think 11 do kin for tor for trying to rob me of toy my daughter daugn terl ter so 80 it will was you who billed killed my father return returned od lessaro in n a voice beneath the quiet of which whish lay the tense fixedness of a stern unbending resolve then col cot farrar farran I 1 tell you that I 1 will havo have your daughter and I 1 will avenge my father are you mine till death lucile I 1 1 I am your yours till death eald said tha girl ax as eho oba went over aad placed pa aced clr ami arm proudly about his 1113 neck very little was wasi seen of at leasure la in town after that and rind it waa was ahl whimpered pe red that he be waa was staying out on ble his farm and keeping out of the irate colonels way i i s Abou fo wedes aft after er bis his unsuccessful interview with farrar which was noised abroad AS such things are re in a mall small town luclle lucile farrar disappeared and the tongues began to wagin earnest when for a week she had not turned up the towns people who had little love for farrar at best were ready to believe anything ills threat against hia his daughter was known and the bolder abnes did not hesitate to whisper that he had put it into execution these hints took form by degrees and at last a witalia came forward who told of passing tho the colonels bouse house situated ou r the edge of at town late at light night and of 9 hearing low moans and ind pleadings at last suspicion clon took euc such herce root that tb tho J sheriff headed an in party col jim was away and they had tree free run of the premises the search led to a cave in the sido side of at the hill once used as a cellar but long since abandoned there they found torn pieces of a dres dress a boody moody hatchet and some tangled locke locks of black hair drenched with blood the dress and the hair were easily identified as belonging to luclle lucile farrar the hatchet as the property of the colonel when charged with the crime hie his knees tottered totter gd and he nearly fainted he ile made no direct denial dental but moaned and cried like a child during the trial that followed he seemed stunned and oblivious to what was going on I 1 will admit that the courts of today to day would be loath to accept so inadequate a corpus delicti dellett but our blood was hot in those times and it seems to me we banged hanged more than we do now service was bad had on les leisure and he testified to the facts of the quarrel and the threat upon this evidence and tho the prisoners failure to deny they found round their verdict of guilty and fixed flied upon the death penalty As the day of execution approach ed col cot farrar continued in a state of almost total insensibility dut but when the sheriff came to read the death warrant he roused and raising his hand to heaven said 11 before my maker I 1 swear that I 1 am guiltless of my childs death they led him to the scaffold ecat fold and on the way he passed mel via leasure who was watching the acciel scene liko like a bird fascinated by a snake lai far aar requested the short to and r r CU it IL extending bis his bald to lessure leasure ex claimed young man I 1 have wronged you and I 1 have no wish to leave thia this earth with the ill will of any man I 1 ask your forgiveness for standing between you and my poor child and for the death of at your father which I 1 believed to be in the line of 0 duty toward my country I 1 leasure Lee sure trembled violently but did not reply or raise hia his eyes the march match to the scaffold continued A deputy was forced to support the tot etring form of farrar while the sheriff adjusted the black cap then the sheriff stepped back and all MSS VIs in readiness for the fatal word when lessure prang sprang forward and cried in an agonized voice stop I 1 alone am guilty 1 I alone I 1 the of tho the law called him forward and demanded an explanation iio ila declared that luclle was not dead but that they had run off and been married and his wife was then living in concealment la in st louis for fear of the wrath of her father and until he could settle up his affairs and join her dut but he had not divulged to f iti her a plan which had bad formed in hs Is irain to revenge himself upon her father both for his insulting words and ad for the death deah of his own parent lie ile had bad cut off a portion of her hair while she slept and dipped it in the blood of a lamb he ile had also adank led blood over pieces ot of her dress the hatchet wag was easily procured these he hao hai placed in the cava cave during one of col cal farrar a numerous absences from the house and there also he had bad himself emited the moana velch bad had been heard he ile would have carried his hellish plot through to the end but that the colonel colonels plea for forgiveness at the gallows un nerved him thie this confession was made partly at the place of execution and partly afterward la in the jail As soon as an it became clear that lessure leasure bad had an im statement to make the turned to the colonel to take the insignia of death from bis his head far aar unobserved by all who were in tent upon the words word of amure assure baa sunk into a sitting posture the sheriff stepped up to him and raised the black cap lie ile ws as dead lessure leasure was immediately placed 1 50 i alv under arrest he ile blew his brains out in his cell that night with a pistol procured no one knew how bow luclle lucile went mad on hearing of the tragedy and was confined some time in an asylum she recovered and ended her days in a convent that gentlemen ie is my etory story there waa was a stirring of chaira chairs and a general lighting of pipes which had been allowed to go out la im the rapt attention that prevailed while judge stoakes waa was speaking when judge grower arose and said 1 I believe I 1 voice the sentiments of the club in extending thanks to judee judge stoakes VM 1 by joseph D bowles |
