On these facts, which did not seem to admit of contradiction, Recorder
Goff ordered an oral examination of all the witnesses, the hearing of
which, sandwiched in between the current trials in his court, dragged
along for months, but which finally resulted in establishing to the
Court's satisfaction that the violin discovered in the possession of the
Springers was the genuine "Duke of Cambridge," and that it could not
have been in Flechter's possession at the time he was arrested.
On July 7, 1902, eight years after Bott's death and the arrest and
indictment of Flechter for the theft of the violin, a picturesque group
assembled in the General Sessions. There was Flechter and his lawyer,
Mrs. Springer and her son, the attorneys for the prosecution, and lastly
old Mrs. Bott. The seals of the case were broken and the violin
identified by the widow as that of her husband. The Springers waived all
claim to the violin, and the Court dismissed the indictment against the
defendant and ordered the Stradivarius to be delivered to Mrs. Bott,
with these words:
"Mrs. Bott, it affords very great pleasure to the Court to give the
violin to you.
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