Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/342

 MARK TWAIN

in an enchantment of wonder and joy during the proverbial nine days. Then the sobering process followed, and men began to take thought, and to say: &quot;But a man was killed, and Clayton killed him.&quot; Others replied: &quot;That is true: we have been over looking that important detail; we have been led away by excitement.&quot;

The feeling soon became general that Clayton ought to be tried again. Measures were taken accordingly, and the proper representations con veyed to Washington; for in America, under the new paragraph added to the Constitution in 1899, second trials are not state affairs, but national, and must be tried by the most august body in the land the Supreme Court of the United States. The justices were, therefore, summoned to sit in Chicago. The session was held day before yesterday, and was opened with the usual impressive formalities, the nine judges appearing in their black robes, and the new chief justice (Lemaitre) presiding. In opening the case, the chief justice said:

&quot;It is my opinion that this matter is quite simple. The prisoner at the bar was charged with murdering the man Szczepanik; he was tried for murdering the man Szczepanik; he was fairly tried, and justly con demned and sentenced to death for murdering the man Szczepanik. It turns out that the man Szcze panik was not murdered at all. By the decision of the French courts in the Dreyfus matter, it is established beyond cavil or question that the de cisions of courts are permanent and cannot be re vised. We are obliged to respect and adopt this

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