The Worthington advance., 1880-09-02

murder in the second degree, and sen
fenced to the State penitentiary for
ninety.nine years, or the remainder of
his natural lie.
It would be useless to say that this
was q terrible blow to Alice, to whom
Harry was engaged, and when she was
informed of his fate she cried bitterly,
protesting his innocence. Alice was q
young woman Of great courage and de-
termination. She at once decided to
pay Harry visit at the place of his con-
finement the day before he was to he
taken to the penitentiary. She found
Harry in very low spirits, and upon see-
ing her he burst into tears. She said {:
Harry, I believe you are innocent of
this terrible crime, and it shall be the
work Of my life to see that your mno-
cence is proven it may be a long time
before this can be done, but I know God
will aid me in this holy work. You shall
yet be free and honored man."
"Dearest Alice," said Harry, "this is
more than / could expect even from YOU.
How do you know that I am not guilty
Of the crime of which I stand con-
victed?''
"Do not question me, Harry; Iwould
not believe you guilty though the whole
world were to declare you SO. You must
not 60 to that terrible place of contine-
ment. You must escape from here to-
night, and when once free trust to me
that your vindication will come. Go to
the gold fields of California, and I will
work for your vindication. will CON-
municate with you under an assumed
signature, and you will observe like
precaution. Take this and use it in
making your escape at once"
With this remark she handed him a
small file.
Harry took the file, and then looked at
Alice with surprise and amazement.
You must act" she said, "to-night."
"Dear girl," said Harry, "can ever
repay you for your encouragement in
this hour of sadness? I will 60 as you
direct, and trust to you and Heaven for
my vindication. I will write you under
the name of Samuel Washington, should
l succeed in reaching California without
being recaptured."
"Good-by, Harry, trust in God and
The next morning, when the door OF
the jail was opened, it was found tha,
Harry Woodward had made his escape.
Some of the bars of the window had been
prled away, and Harry had made his
exit. Officers were sent all over tho
country, but no traces were found of the
escaped convict, and, after some months
had passed. the chase was given up.
In the meantime Alice Warren was
not idle, but worked diligently, in Sc
cret, Of course, to secure 4 clew upon
which to commence operations. She
questioned the servants of the murdered
man closely, and ascertained from them
that man employed on the estate had
been seen prowling about Harry's place
Of residence short time before the kill
ing had been done, and that this man
had been seen with pistol exactly SIM
liar to the one Harry was known to
have. This mans name was William
Clark. At the trial Clark testified that
about midnight, on the night Of the mur-
der, while on his way from town, he
had seen Harry hurrying from the es-
tate. Also, that he had heard, or
thought he heard, the report Of q pistol
in the direction Of the estate. It was
upon this mans evidence that the con-
viction Of Harry rested, together with
the finding of the pistol and the hand
kerchief. Some time after the conclu-
sion OF the trial, and the subsequent es-
cape of Harry, Clark left for the city.
and there spent considerable money in
pleasure, and boasted he had large
sum laid away, and did not intend to
work hard any more.
Alice noted all these circumstances.
and made up her mind that this man
Clark was the guilty one, and that he
had contrived to throw suspicion upon,
and by concocting evidence secured the
conviction of, Harry. Alice went to the
city, which was only short distance
from where she lived. She visited the
gunsmith's shop and inquiredif there had
been within the past five months man
III the place to have engraved on small
pistol the name of Harry Woodward.
The workman said that man named
Clark had called for the purpose men,
toned. She had now clew to work Oh.
The murderer, instead of taking the pis-
tol from Ha11y's room, had procured one
similar to the one Harry had, and had
Harry's name engraved upon the handle.
1t is likely that Clark attempted to Sc
cure the original pistol owned by Harry
when he obtained the handkerchief, but
was not able to find it. At the trial
Harry said that the pistol found in the
bushes under the window of the mur-
dcred mans room was his. It occurred
to Alice that If both pistols could be OBJ
tained-the one Clark had had engrayedat
the gunsmith's shop. and the one owned
by Harry-she would then have suffi-
cient evidence to warrant the arrest of
Clark. Accordingly, she went to the
office of the county Sheriff and requested
that she might have the pistol that was
produced at the trial Of Harry Wood
ward, and also that she might examine
the effects Of the escaped convict. Both
requests we're complied with. The mo-
ment she had the pistol in her hand,
with flaming eyes and flushed cheeks
she commenced examining Harry's ef-
fects, which had been taken possession
of by the authorities, and had remained
undlsturbed. They consisted Of several
boxes and trunks. She carefully went
from trunk to trunk, until she had
reached the last package, md there,
buried in cotton, was the identical coun-
terpart of the pistol she held in her
hand. Taking both pistols she hurried
home, and at once communicated with
the counsel who had defended Harry ut
the trial.
The lawyer was struck with amaze
ment when Alice related the circum-
stances and showed him the pistols. He
said it was conclusive, and Immediately
went to the police station and communi-
Gated with an officer: who arrested
Clark. Clark was terribly excited when
arrested, and demanded to know what
proof there was against him. When
told Of the finding Of the pistols he Ut
tered no more protests Of innocence, but
admitted that he had committed the
murder Of John Woodward. He was
tried, convicted and sentenced to be ex-
ecuted