g woman, who practically lived a life of
ease and luxury, by monetary gifts derived from two wealthy men, one a
United States Senator and the other a prominent Wall Street financier,
both being high pillars of the Church, and one of them being old enough
to be her grandfather. That was the most painful testimony of the whole
proceedings. It did not seem possible to me that the dear, sweet,
innocent girl, whom I had loved so much for her gentleness and kindness
of nature, could possibly lead such a dual existence, and I could not
understand why she should have deceived me, with accounts of herself so
at variance with the facts. When I thought of her as she had always
appeared to me, excepting those times when I saw her under the influence
of liquor, she seemed like a good angel, who was far beyond even the
suspicion of reproach; and so when I learned the worst, I pictured her
at her best, and my love remained unshaken. While I realized that it was
the poor girl's weakness that led her into temptation, still it was
plain to discern that the cause of her downfall was money and the
miserable creatures who utilized it to buy her very life's blood and
drag her along the mire of shame. The poor girl is dead, but the great
men, through whose efforts she was disgraced, are still alive, and are
considered eminently respectable by both the Church and the community.
The curse of money could not have been more forcibly demonstrated than
by this incident. The unfortunate young woman craved money, and sold
herself for it. My deepest sympathy goes after her to the grave. The
finger of scorn is now raised against Arletta by the whole world, but if
she could be brought back to life again, I should gladly take her by the
hand and say, that my love for her was as strong as ever, and that I
would defend her against the insults of the depraved society which
reared and educated her in the vices which it now deplores.

It took the jury just forty-five minutes to reach a decision against me.
Ten minutes of this time, as I learned from newspaper accounts, were
devoted to prayer, that the Almighty should point out the right way to
decide the case. Evidently the god, to whom the jury prayed,
demonstrated that it was their duty to convict me. For convict me they
did, by bringing in a verdict of murder in the first degree. My sentence
was that I pay the penalty of the crime with my life by being
electrocuted.

The trial was severe and brutal from b