Accused by a Dead Man's Head

Gabris Rabinski looked across the courtroom to the judge and jury. He stifled a smug smile. He was about to get away with murder. A labourer on a farm in upstate New York, he had been in love with a girl on the farm. A fellow labourer, Thomas Maika, had also been sweet on her, and when Rabinski had seen her kissing Maika, he had waited until Maika was alone, then beaten his colleague's head in. He had been caught, but only hearsay could connect him with the killing. Whenever the witnesses against him spoke, Rabinski, a Hungarian, accused them of being devils and liars.

This court had to prove him guilty 'beyond all reasonable doubt,' and Rabinski knew there would always be doubt.

One of the main exhibits in the case was Maika's skull, so shattered that it had to be wired together. Rabinski despised it, as he had despised the man whose flesh had clothed it.

During the case, however, the table was jogged, the skull rolled off the attorney's desk and went rollong across the floor. Rabinski could only watch with horror, as the ghastly object rolled towards him.

The skull stopped next to Rabinski's chair, its empty eye-sockets looking up at Rabinski. The killer remembered the last time he had seen life in those lifeless eyes, when the thing was clothed with flesh.

The murder shrank back, shuddering, fighting to shut out the horrible head from his view. But to no avail, in his mind, he saw the skull, head Maika's voice accusing him. With a wild scream, the prisoner buried his head in his hands and admitted his guilt.

Your Sins will find you out

Crime Does Not Pay