The Perfume of Eros: A Fifth Avenue IncidentSaltus, Edgar
General
The Perfume of Eros: A Fifth Avenue Incident
Saltus, Edgar
Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Murder -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Trials (Murder) -- Fiction
Within the Bar, restless as hyenas awaiting their prey, roamed the
district attorneys. Against that Bar, crouching there, were Orr and
his associate counsel, restless too, but prepared to spring. To the
rear were reporters, the flower of newspaperdom, handsome young men
dressed to the ears in resplendent collars and astounding cravats.
Back of them were the spectators, a solid mass, ladies of every degree
except the high one and, with or without them, men whom you would
recognize as first-nighters, others whom you would not recognize at
all. To the right of the Bar were witnesses for the prosecution,
experts in various matters of which gastronomy evidently was one. To
the left was the jury, and above, beneath the amber panoply of the
Bench, the Recorder sat, an ascetic Solon.
The atmosphere of the room, high ceiled, close packed, was
Senegambian. Without you could see, within you could feel, the heat
and eagerness of the autumnal sun.
"Arthur Annandale to the Bar!"
Into the court, as though it were a theatre, the defendant strolled,
perfectly groomed, the Tombs pallor on his face but none of its dust
on his coat, an air of tranquil boredom about him. At his heels was a
keeper. He shook hands with Orr, sat down beside him, turned and gave
his hat to the keeper, turned again and looked over to a gated
inclosure at the right of the Bench where, in a sort of proscenium
box, Sylvia sat with her mother.
The entire settings were those of a play. With this difference, it was
real, a drama of mud and blood without orchestral accompaniment. After
months of preparation, after days of talesmen baiting, on this Indian
Summer forenoon the curtain was rising. The jury it had been a job to
get. A full hundred were examined, cross-questioned, challenged and
rejected before the dozen were boxed. When the last, the twelfth, a
cadaverous individual, was accepted the stage was set.
"May it please the Court; Mr. Foreman and gentlemen of the jury."
With three bows and these rituals, Peacock opened for the State,
outlining the case of the People, describing the crime, detailing the
motive, summarizing the evidence, expressing the wish that the jury
would believe the defendant innocent until his guilt had been proved,
but declaring that, personally, for his own part, of that guilt he was
thoroughly convinced.
Before he had finished Orr was at him. "I object to the District
Attorney prejudicing the jury against this gentleman, my client."
That gentleman did not appear to heed. From Sylvia and her mother he
had turned to look at the spectators, from them to fabulous beasts
that climbed the fluted columns on the walls.
The objection was not sustained.
"And I object to Your Honor's ruling," Orr with a bulldog look threw
up at the Bench.
Peacock proceeded. "There, gentlemen, is the crime, there too, the
motive. To finish the picture evidence will be adduced."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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