A Servant of Satan: Romantic Career of Prado the Assassin — page 96: what you’re looking at

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88 | A SERVANT OF SATAN. The advocate-general (district attorney) then arose and begged leave of the court to summon two witnesses of whose existence he had only become aware a few hours pre- viously, and whose testimony was calculated to shed a most important light on the case. A few moments afterward a short, fat man, with spectacles, was shown into the witness- box. Frederick, who had retained a stoical calm untilthen, be- came deadly pale. The witness, after having been duly sworn, stated that his name was Christian Martin, and that he was a book- seller by trade. He testified that about ten days before the newspapers published an account of the murder of Rose Hartmann, a young man yisited his shop in the Rue de Rivoli, and purchased several works on toxicology. He had specially asked for the most recent publications on the sub- ject of opium and morphine, and explained that he had re- cently returned from a long sojourn in the far Hast, where he had become interested in the study of the deleterious effects of these drugs among the natives. The bookseller added that the stranger had declined to allow him to send ‘the books selected, but had insisted on taking them away with him in his carriage. M. Martin’s attention had been specially attracted to the young man by the mention of his residence in the Orient, and by the remarkable knowledge which he displayed of the properties of hashish, and other narcotics used by the Asiatics. He had, however, thought no more about the matter until the previous evening, when passing in front of the offices of the Figaro, a portrait dis- played on the bulletin-board ofthe newspaper had caught his eye. On examining it more closely, he had recognized therein the features of the gentleman who had visited his shop some weeks previously for the purpose of buying books on toxi- cology; and having learned from the superscription that it was the picture of ‘‘ Baron” F, Wolff, the suspected mur- cComicbooks.com