Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1898 — ZOLA ESCAPES PRISON. [ARTICLE]

ZOLA ESCAPES PRISON.

Court of Appeals Holds He Shall Not Be Punished. The French Court of Appeals, in the case of the appeal of M. Emile Zola against the judgment of the Paris assizes court, condemning him to twelve months’ imprisonment and to pay a fine of 3,000 francs, decided to sustain the finding of the lower court, but also 'decided that M. Zola shall not undergo any punishment. In other words, the verdict and sentence are affirmed, but they are not to be put into effect. . . It was at first reported that the Court of Appeals had quashed the verdict and remitted the case for retrial to the Versailles assizes, but this proved to be untrue. The general interpretation of the action of the Court of Appeals is taken to mean an application of the Berenger law remitting sentences imposed upon first offenders in certain circumstances.