River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-06-05
A PRAYER IN PRISON.
Ii Attracted Attention and Established thi
Innocence OF Suspected Thief.


sometimes in time to save the accused
person from punishment, and sometimes
not. Among others is a serio-comic case
in which young girl was saved from I'M
just punishment through the intervention
of Mr.. Lewis Leland, of worldwide hotel
renown, how one of the proprietors of the
Sturtevant House In this city, but, at the
time of the story, was connected with the
Metropolitan Hotel.
at was in 1862, y said Mr. Leland to the
Times reporter yesterday, "when / was IN
the Metropolitan Hotel. | was just on
the eve of taking trip to California, and
Judge C, Of Illinois, who was a
guest in the house, was going too, but he
was going one steamer ahead of me. 1t
was on Friday, and the judge steamer was
TO sail the next day. On Friday evening
the Judges went out for walk, saying to
me as he left the hotel, that he was sorry
we could not 90 together in the same
steamer. But had engaged passage in a
steamer that was to sail the following
Monday, and could not very well change.
Judge G.. went out and walked down
Broadway, toward the St Nicholas. He
had gone only few blocks when he met
friend from Chicago, and they stopped
and had some conversation on the side
walk The street at that time Of the even
ing was not crowded, and the two men,
standing there quietly, occasioned no in
convenience; but, while they were still
talking policeman little the worse for
whiskey came up, and ordered them TO
move on
al will not move ON, said Judge c..
who was not vely well acquainted with
the inns and outs of Metropolitan life. Il
am an American citizen, and | will stand
as long as / want to-"
This angered the officer, and he arrest
ed the Judge and took him to the old po-
lice station in Marion street of which
Captain Williamson was then in charge.
About an hour later / received a very ur-
gent note from the judge, begging me to
hurry to the police station and get him
out. He did not know that by law,
then recently passed, he could not be
liberated before morning without getting
police justice to hear the charge against
him. But | went round to the police
station without delay and asked to see
him. They took me down into the pris-
on pen, and there stood the judge, in the
middle of his cell looking the picture of
despair.
g For Heavens sake, Leland, SAID he,
get me out of this The place is SO COW
cred with vermin, don't dare to move.
Il was acquainted with the captain,
Mr.. Leland continued, land explained TO
him that the judge had been arrested on
account of the officiousness of a drunken
officer, and asked permission for him TO
spend the night up stairs, in the captain 5
private room. The permission was grant
ed, and | went out to get the judge some
refreshment.
"While we were down in the prison my
attention was attracted by a young girl iii
the cell nearest the door, who was down
on her knees on the stone floor praying
earnestly that the money she was accused
Of stealing might be found, and she be
liberated. oh, my God, said she, in a
voice half smothered with tears, may the
money be found and my innocence be
proved; what will become of my
invalid mother, and my dear little broth
er if am sent to prison" She was terri
bly, in earnest, and used much better Ian
guage than could have been expected
from one in her condition.
afterward learned that her father was
a German and her mother an Italian, and
that she was very bright girl. Her
prayer made quite an impression ON me
and | was entirely convinced of her inno-
cence
''When l returned with the JUDGES
refreshments, Mr.. Leland went on, II
found another of the Metropolitan hotel
guests, Mr. B, of Connecticut talk
inc with the captain He said that he
had been robbed of a pocket book con
tanning $400 by young waiter-girl in a
laoer-beer saloon, and that he had caused
the girls arrest | soon learned that the
girl he complained of was the prisoner
had heard praying in her cell. | told
Mr.. b that ! was sure the girl could
not be the thief, for had heard her
praying so earnestly for the finding OF the
lost money, but he was sure that she had
stolen it. He went into the lager-beer sa-
loon, he said, and sat down and ordered
some beer, and when he went to pay for
IT his pocket-boOk was missing. No one
had been near him in the saloon except
this waiter-girl, and he was very deter
mined in brandin" her as the guilty per
son, and insisted upon appearing against
her. Mr.. b.. had only arrived from Con
necticut that same afternoon, and | was
so sure Of the girls innocence that | in
terested myself in her behalf, and ques-
toned the gentleman closely as to where
he had been since he had reached New
York. He said that he went straight TO
the Metropolitan hotel in the afternoon,
went to Niblo's Garden theatre in the
evening, and from there went to the beer
saloon in a Broadway basement, and there
discovered his loss.
Then come along with me to the
hotel,p / said to him, Mr.. Leland con
tinued, ''and we will go down to the
theater, and see whether we can find any
trace OF your pocket-book there The
Metropolitan hotel office, you remember,
has a door opening directly into the thea
ter. | took him through the office INTO
the lobby, and we woke up the night
Waterman, who had gone to sleep, for it
was getting late. / told the watchmBn
that were looking for something that had
been lost, and he unlocked the door and
lit the gas. The lower seats in Niblo's
in those days were upholstered. and sepa-
rated from the seats by space about
half an inch wide. Mr.. B. remembered
the scat he had occupied, and said that
it was at the extreme end of one Of the
sofas near the middle OF the house. We
went down there and looked over the seat
and the floor, but there was no sign of the
We had more of the
gas Jets lighted and ran my hand around
the crevice between the back Of the sofa
and the seat and the arm. There, in the
space between the upholstered arm and
the velvet seat, was Mr.. b S. pocket book.
He had carried it in his pistol pocket, and
when he sat down it worked its way out
and, being thin and fiat, although il con
tanned good deal Of money, it slipped
into the crevice, and there it stuck, just
about half an inch Of the end sticking upi
above the seat Nobody would have
noticed it without looking particularly
for it. The money was all safe and
sound
"B. was the gladdest man you ever
saw, ready to jump for joy, and half
Of himself, too, for accusing the
waiter girl told him he ought to make
her present of $50 or 80 for having her
locked up, but he protested that he
couldn afford it, saying that he had
brought the money on to buy goods, and
could not spare it. At last, though, after
some talking he agreed to give the i1ri
s25. WAS glad, ON BIS account, that