Flechter broke
down and declared bitterly that he was the victim of a conspiracy upon
the part of his enemies, assisted by a too credulous prosecuting
attorney. Everybody admitted that it was an extraordinary case, but the
press was consistent in its clamor against Flechter, and opinion
generally was that he had been rightly convicted. On May 22nd he was
sentenced to the penitentiary for twelve months, but, after being
incarcerated in the Tombs for three weeks, he secured a certificate of
reasonable doubt and a stay until his conviction could be reviewed on
appeal. Then he gave bail and was released. But he had been in jail!
Flechter will never forget that! And, for the time being at least, his
reputation was gone, his family disgraced, and his business ruined.
A calm reading of the record of the trial suggests that the case
abounded in doubts more or less reasonable, and that the Court might
well have taken it from the jury on that account. But a printed page of
questions and answers carries with it no more than a suggestion of the
value of testimony the real significance of which lies in the manner in
which it is given, the tone of the voice and the flash of the eye.
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