The Crime of the Century Part 49

We, the jury, find the defendants Daniel Coughlin, Patrick O'Sullivan and Martin Burke, guilty of murder in the manner and form as charged in the indictment and fix the penalty at imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of their natural lives.

One prolonged buzz, as though a thousand bated breaths had been loosened, filled the court-room as the clerk resumed his seat. Then there was a wail, a despairing cry. Little Kunze, the comedian of the prisoners, had broken down at last. The hot, scalding tears chased each other down his cheeks as, with clasped hands and a look of unutterable agony upon his face, he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed again and again, "My G.o.d! My G.o.d! G.o.d knows I am innocent! I never was in Lake View that night! Oh! G.o.d knows I am innocent, gentlemen!"

Very different were the feelings of John F. Beggs, who occupied the extreme right of the line. No sooner had the last words of the verdict been read than in a single bound he was before the jurors. Shaking each by the hand he thanked them cordially, and then, addressing them as a body, said: "Gentlemen, I thank you. I trust that the future may confirm your judgment upon me, and that you will never regret that you found me not guilty of this terrible charge."

O'Sullivan was the only one of the other three prisoners who gave vent to his feelings in tears. They trickled down his cheeks for a moment, but he brushed them away and soon recovered his self-possession.

Coughlin looked defiantly around the court-room but did not betray any emotion, while Martin Burke looked more cool and unconcerned than any man in the room. The formal motion for a new trial was entered and recorded, the iron doors revolved on their hinges, the four prisoners pa.s.sed to the jail beyond, the great trial was at an end, and with three men condemned to a living death and the fourth incarcerated for a period commensurate with his crime, the murder of the Irish patriot was avenged.