genuine Stradivarius and share the profit of the fraud, the prosecution
introduced the following letter from the witness to his lawyer:

CLIFTON HOUSE, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

_March 23, 1896._

_Dear Counsellor_: Received your letter just now. I have been
expecting Mr. Flechter's lawyer would settle with you; he got nine
hundred dollars for the violin and Mr. Meyer arranged with myself
for the half, four hundred and fifty dollars, which he proposed
himself and have been expecting a settlement on their part long ago.
I have assisted Mr. Palmer, his able lawyer, with the best of my
ability, _and have covered Mr. Flechter's shortcomings of faking the
violin to a Strad_.

Yours most sincerely,

JOHN ELLER,

Metropolitan Opera Co., Chicago, Ill.

From this letter it was fairly inferable that although the defendant
might be innocent of the precise crime with which he was charged, he
was, nevertheless, upon his own evidence, guilty of having "faked" a
cheap Nicholas violin into a Strad., and of having offered it for sale
for the exorbitant price of five thousand dollars. This luckless piece
of evidence undoubtedly influenced the jury to convict him.

It will be recalled that ten witnesses for the prosecution had sworn