The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 129, December, 1908Various
History
The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 129, December, 1908
Various
Adventure stories -- Periodicals; English periodicals; History, Modern -- 20th century -- Periodicals; Voyages and travels -- Periodicals
As the long indictment which contained all the particulars of the plot was
being read out by the counsel for the Crown--a handsome man in full
Montenegrin costume--first one prisoner and then another started from his
seat, rudely interrupting and violently contradicting. A clamour then
arose from the whole thirty-two. The judge expostulated, begged them to be
reasonable, and finally touched a silver hand-bell. The soldiers pulled
them down to their seats again, but seemed as gentle in their methods as
policemen with Suffragettes. As names were mentioned now and again in the
indictment, exclamations of derision and protest were heard from the
prisoners. They next complained bitterly that they had no note-books or
pencils with which to take down the points and prepare their defence,
whereupon the President ordered that paper and pencils should be brought
to them at once. The indictment was long, and it finally asked for the
death penalty as punishment. At this loud clamours arose, and the
excitement grew so intense that a nervous feeling communicated itself to
the public. The President by this time despaired of keeping order, and
directed that the prisoners should be taken back to their prisons. One
alone remained, Raikovitch, the man who brought the bombs into Montenegro,
and the principal prisoner.
Raikovitch was a rather good-looking young man, dark and sallow. He had a
large, round nose, a round chin, and even his forehead seemed to bulge.
But his black, beady eyes struck me as shifty, and he appeared somewhat
ill at ease. In spite of his confident manner he would glance round at the
pressmen’s table every few seconds to note what effect his defence was
having on them. But he had an amazing fluency, and his story flowed on
like a river. There was no bullying by Public Prosecutor or judges.
Every now and then the President, tapping his fingers with a pencil, would
interrupt the prisoner with a short, sharp question, evidently very much
to the point, and he pulled up the prisoner’s counsel very sharply on one
occasion for attempting to prompt his client. Presently there was a small
stir, for Raikovitch was heard to denounce Vukotic, the nephew of Princess
Milena, Prince Nicholas’s wife, as having been in communication with and
paid by the conspirators. No one seemed to know who would be accused next,
and the Servian Minister, who was present, must have experienced feelings
of uneasiness. Raikovitch was next led to the table to examine the black
bag, to identify it as his luggage, and acknowledged that those were the
bombs he had brought into the country. His defence lasted for the rest of
the day.
[Illustration: SOME OF THE AUDIENCE.
_From a Photograph._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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