CHAPTER II.
THE TRIAL.
Pointing Finger]
The hand with the two lines under it signifies, in the court records(for the sake of brevity), that at this point in the trial, the chiefof the tribunal gave the signal to the executioner for another turn ofthe wheel. When this had been done, the notary would take down theconfession until the prisoner on the rack would cry out:
"Have mercy!--compassion!"
The prince was seated at a separate table, on a black-drapedthrone-like arm-chair with a canopy.
The mayor occupied the inquisitor's chair.
First question addressed to the accused:
"What is your name?"
"My name, in Podolia, is 'Jaroslav Tergusko;' in Zbarasz it is 'ZdenkoKohaninsky;' in Odessa it is 'Frater Hilarius;' in Hamburg, 'EliasJunker;' in Muenster it is 'William Stramm;' in Amsterdam, 'MynheerTobias van der Bullen;' in Singapore, 'Maharajah Kong;' on the highseas, 'Captain Rouge;' in The Hague, it is 'Ritter Malchus;' in Lille,'Chevalier de Mont Olympe;' in Pfalz, 'Doctor Sarepta;' here, I amcalled 'Hugo von Habernik.'
"Have you any more names?" inquired the chair.
At this question everybody began to laugh--the prince, the judges, theprisoner, even the skull on the table. The chair alone remained grimand dignified.
"I can't remember any more of my names," was the prisoner's reply.
Pointing Finger]
SECOND QUESTION:
"What is your religion?"
"I was born an Augsburg Confession heretic. When I went to Cracow Ibecame a Socinian; in the Ukraine I joined the Greek church; afterwardI became an orthodox Catholic; later, a Rosicrucian; then a Quaker. Ihave also professed the faith of Brahma; and once I was a member ofthe community of Atheists and devil-worshipping Manichees, called alsoCainists."
"A fine array, truly!" commented the chair, as the notary entered thelist in the register.
Pointing Finger]
THIRD QUESTION:
"What is your occupation, prisoner?"
"I have been ensign; prisoner; slave; robber-chief; parasite; ducalgrand-steward; mendicant friar; recruiting sergeant; sacristan;knight; shell-fish dealer; stock-jobber; ship-captain; viceroy;pirate; teacher; knacker's assistant; conjuror; bocksritter; hangman;pikeman; quack-doctor; prophet; constable--"
"Stop! Stop!" interrupted the chair. "The notary cannot keep up withyou."
Again the court-room resounded with laughter; the prisoner on therack, as well as the skull on the table, again joined in themerriment. Everybody seemed in a good humor--that is, everybody butthe mayor. He alone was grave.
After the signal to the executioner the fourth question followed:
"Of what crimes are you guilty?"
(For the purpose of greater perspicuity the chair dictated to therecording secretary the Latin nomenclature of the crimes confessed.)
Prisoners: "I was a member of a band of robbers and incendiaries."
"_Primo, latrocinium_," dictated the chair.
Prisoner: "I won the affections of my benefactor's wife."
Chair: "_Secundo, adulterium._"
Prisoner: "I robbed a church."
Chair: "_Tertio, sacrilegium._"
Prisoner: "I masqueraded as a nobleman under a false name."
Chair: "_Quarto, larvatus._"
Prisoner: "I committed a forgery."
Chair: "_Quinto, falsorium._"
Prisoner: "I killed my friend in a duel."
Chair: "_Sexto, homicidium ex duello._"
Prisoner: "I cheated my partners in business."
Chair: "_Septimo, stellionatus._"
Prisoner: "I betrayed state secrets confided to me."
Chair: "_Octavo, felonia._"
Prisoner: "I used for my own purpose money belonging to others."
Chair: "_Nono, barattaria._"
Prisoner: "I worshipped idols."
Chair: "_Decimo, idololatria._"
Prisoner: "I married a second wife while the first was still living."
Chair: "_Undecimo, bigamia._"
Prisoner: "I also took a third, fourth, fifth and sixth wife."
Chair: "_Eodem numero trigamia, polygamia._"
Prisoner: "I murdered a king."
Chair: "_Decimo secundo, regicidium._"
Prisoner: "I have been a pirate."
Chair: "_Decimo tertia, pirateria._"
Prisoner: "I killed my first wife."
Chair: "_Decimo quarto, uxoricidium._"
Prisoner: "I practiced conjuring."
Chair: "_Decimo quinto, sorcellaria._"
Prisoner: "I have been in league with Satan."
Chair: "_Decimo sexto, pactum diabolicum implicitum._"
Prisoner: "I have coined base money."
Chair: "_Decimo septimo, adulterator monetarium._"
Prisoner: "I preached a new faith."
Chair: "_Decimo octavo, haeresis schisma._"
Prisoner: "I have been a quack doctor."
Chair: "_Decimo nono, veneficus._"
Prisoner: "I betrayed a fortress intrusted to my guardianship."
Chair: "_Vigesimo, crimen traditorum._"
Prisoner: "I have eaten human flesh."
Chair: "_Vigesimo primo, anthropophagia. Cannibalismus!_" cried themayor in a loud tone, bringing his fist with considerable force downon the pandects lying before him on the table. The perspiration wasrolling in great beads over his forehead.
The prisoner on the rack laughed heartily; but this time no onelaughed with him. The executioner had mistaken the chief's wink for asignal to turn the wheel, which he did, and the sound which came fromthe victim's throat was a strange mixture of merriment and agony--asif he were being tickled and strangled at the same moment.
What the chief's dictation was really intended to signify was that theproceedings were concluded for the day; that the accused should bereleased from the rack and taken back to his dungeon.
It was a most unusual case--unique in the annals of the criminalcourt. Never before had a prisoner acknowledged himself guilty of, oraccessory to, so many crimes. It was the first time such a combinationof misdemeanors had come before the tribunal. The accused wouldcertainly have to be tried without mercy; no extenuating circumstanceswould be allowed to interfere with justice.
The prince was extremely interested in the case. He was curious tolearn the coherence between the individual transgressions, in whatmanner one led to the other, and gave orders that the trial should notbe resumed the next day until he should arrive in court.
The prisoner had cause for laughter. Before his confession reached itsconclusion, before he could relate the history of his one-and-twentycrimes, the Frenchmen would capture Coblentz and release him fromimprisonment and death.
But one may laugh too soon!
What was to be done with this fellow?
That the death penalty was his just desert was unquestionable; but inwhat manner should it be imposed? Had he confessed only the crime forwhich he was now under arrest--treason--the matter might be settledeasily enough: he would be shot in the back. But with so manytransgressions to complicate the matter it was going to be difficultexceedingly to pronounce judgment.
For instance: the wheel is the punishment for robbery; the polygamistmust be divided into as many portions as he has wives; the regicidemust be torn asunder by four horses. But how are you going to carryout the last penalty if the accused has already been carved into sixportions? Also, it is decreed that the right hand of a forger be cutoff; the servitor of Satan must suffer death by fire. But if theaccused has been consumed by flames, how will it be possible to brayhim to pulp in a mortar for having committed uxoricide? or, how carryout the commands of the law which prescribes death by starvation forthe wretch who is guilty of cannibalism?
After much deliberation the prince, with the wisdom of a Solomon,decided as follows:
"The prisoner, who is arraigned at the bar for treason, havingconfessed to twenty-one other transgressions, shall relate to t
hecourt a detailed account of each individual crime, after which heshall be sentenced according to the crime or crimes found by thejudges to be the most heinous."
This decision was perfectly satisfactory to the mayor; and the judgesgave it as their opinion that, as the accused would require all hisstrength for so prolonged an examination, it would be advisable tosubstitute the torture by water for that of the rack, as was firstdecided.
"No! no!" objected the prince. "The man who is forced to drink nothingbut water is not in the mood to relate adventures (I know that byexperience!) Let the prisoner be subjected to mental torture. Sentencehim at once to death, and when he is not before the tribunal let himbe shut up in the death-cell. The hours spent in that gloomy hole area torture sufficient to bring any criminal, however hardened he mayhave become, to repentance. Besides, it will be a saving of expense tothe city. The curious citizens, who like to gape at a condemnedprisoner, will, out of compassion, supply this one also with food anddrink. When he has eaten and drunk his fill, we will have him broughtto the court-room. The man who has had all he wants to eat and drinkis talkative!"
The judges concurred with his highness; but the mayor growled in adissatisfied tone:
"This knave, who confesses to having committed twenty-one crimes inaddition to the treachery in which we detected him, will, by thedecision of his highness, fare better than his judges, who havelearned during the siege what it is to hunger and thirst."
To which the syndic responded consolingly:
"Never mind, god-father! Let the poor wretch gormandize between therack and the gallows. Remember the old saw: 'Today, I--tomorrow,you.'"
PART II.