The clerk forthwith proceeded to business. “Judith Peixada, stand up,” he ordered. Upon her obeying, he rattled off, “Judith Peixada, do you desire to withdraw your plea of guilty of murder in the first degree, and to substitute for the same a plea of guilty of murder in the second degree, as charged in the second count of the indictment? If so, say, ’I do.’.rdquo;
Mrs. Hart cried, “No, no! She does not. Don’t you see that the child is sick? How should she know whether she is guilty or not? Oh, it will be monstrous if you allow her to say that she is guilty.”
“Order! Silence!” called the officers. One of them seized Mrs. Hart’s arm and pushed her into a chair.
The prisoner’s lips moved. “I do,” she whispered.
“You answer,” went on the clerk, “that you are guilty of the felony of murder in the second degree, as charged in the second count of the indictment; and so your plea shall stand recorded. What have you now to say why sentence should not be pronounced upon you according to law?”
Romer stepped forward.
“If your honor please,” he said, “the People are not yet prepared to move for sentence. In the absence of counsel for the prisoner, I must take it upon myself to request that sentence be suspended for at least one week.”
“The court suspends sentence till this day week at eleven o’clock in the forenoon,” said the judge; “and meanwhile the prisoner is remanded to the city prison.”
The prisoner was at once led away.