Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-12-27
SNATCHED FROM JUSTICE

Some few years ago, at the close Of an en-
gagenent in Washington, I took q brief
vacation in order to visit dear relatives in
Phils islphia, before going to Boston, in
which city was my next date.
These relatives Of mine were boarding
with o Quaker family, and il was an ultra
pious and quiet household, even for one Of
that circumspect sect and we all had q good
deal Of amusement in speculating as to
what they might think Of the presence Of Q
play acting woman in their midst, " and
as 70 how / might like the quiet and prayer
full routine Of SO religious a household
or this last had no fears. felt quite
sure ! should like it. l have passed many
, delightful hours within the walls of relig-
ious houses, | remembered, and the recol-
{ lection always comes to me with the sense
Of rest and peace, that comes like slippers
| after shoes, week | once passei in a
convent in Italy, the sisters in charge of
which, many of them high born ladies, all
I Of them sweet, pure and lovely women,
devoted their lives to tho care of little chill
dren. The halt, the lame, the blind, the
cruelty deformed were there and
But, dear mel What am doing in Italy
when am due in Philadelphia!
/ left Washington in the gray Of the
I morning, true TO a habit of mine, arriving
| at the depot a full half hour early found
! it almost empty, but | noticed in a casual
way young man walking up and down
the platform and looking furtively about
him and nervOusly biting the ends OF his
! long blonde mustanhe.
When he saw ME he evidently recognized
me and started forward as if he would
| speak, then stopped. A deadly pallor
overspread his haggard face; he turned
sharply away and walked rapidly in the
| opposite direction.
My idle curiosity was in an instant con
verted into interest.
Trouble-deep, agonizing trouble-was
written in that mans face
In that great trouble he had turned to mo;
but conventionality stalked between us,
rustling her fiiusy robes, flashing her pinch
beck jewels and frightened him off
After the hesitation of Just one moment,
l walked up to him and said: You were
going TO speak to me. You are in trouble.
You know me-trust me- tell me all about
it,
There are supreme moments in all our
lives when conventionality, social usages a
proper regard for appearances and all the
thin partitions put up by selfishnes and
hypocrisy fall in a crumbling little heap
before the slightest touch of truth in its
purity and might.
The man whom / addressed turned t.
me, his blue eyes filled with tears, he trem-
bled like a frightened child, or like
woman when, after long hours of watching
and listening, she hears her drunken hus-
bands footsteps; he looked fearingly about
.,,I laiI in
voice: " am afraid any moment / may be
recognized; but help me-for Gods sake,
help me, as you would the dyingl''
was quite determined to help him il
could; the great question was, how
remembered that, when my ticket had
been purchased, there had also been pro-
cured a drawing room in g Pullman car,
and the key of this drawing room had as a
special favor been sent me- that might on
coming to the train retire at once, if SO
wished.
saw in this circumstance a CLEAN OF
light
A glance at the ticket gave mo the name
of the car, and a survey of the depot showed
mo that car few hundred yards off lying
on a side track.
Telling my protege to watch mo closely,
and hold himself in readiness TO obey any
signal might give him, ! assumed a weary
manner and making my way up to a por-
ter who was sleepy as I pretended to be,
showed him my tickets and key, and at
the same time | showed him a dollar and
asked him if he did not think | could
get into the car at once At first he was
quite sure l could not, but a good look at
the dollar as it lay in his palm induced him
to reverse that opinion, and the thought
that possibly might be able to do 50.
With the aid Of his keys this was accom-
plishsi Now | realized that the next
thing imperatively needed was the absence
of the porter from the scene for few mo-
ments for though by this time people be-
gun to move about the depot on their sev-
eral interests, | realized that, while my
movements might escape their notice, this
would hardly be the case with the porter,
who would naturally keep his eye upon me,
looking beyond the present one to the dollar
of the future.
now turned quite faint. murmured
that only a cup of coffee would revive me-
This was proposition fraught with much
difficulty, and involving as it did a five
minutes absence from his post, he could
not see his way TO that.
Another dollar cleared his vision
As soon as his back disappeared around
the corner l signaled my supphant, and in
a moment | had him unobserved and safely
locked up with mo in my drawing room for
five hours ride.
Could anything be more reckless more
shameless than my conduct
have only TO plead in eItenuation that
never in life of varied experiences had l
seen a picture of more abject misery than
that poor fellow presented.
In the hour OF his need he had cried out
to me for help. l knew, ! saw, that that
help must be immediate, and with the
means that had at hand / gave it.
When the porter brought the coffee re-
ceiyed it through the smallest possible slit
in the door. and at the same time handed
him my tickets and begged him to give
them to the conductor and tell him l was
i'll and weary, was going to try to sleep and
| did not wish to be disturbed
Then / sat down to hear my captive's
story and to find in it, l hoped, some ex-
cuse for nv own conduct that now began
to loom up before me in very disagreeable
colors
And here, stripped of the hesitation,
| lamentation aud despair Of the teller, it Is:
He was the son of respectabl= pious people
in Philadelphia, He had been for the past
two years in Washington, holding posi-
ton ,f trust in bank, having been placed
there through the influence Of a relative
who was a member of the cabinet.
Tie temptations Of the capital had been
too .trong for him.
Tie last winters poker playing had
led dim on, step by step, through losses
| till he had robbed the bank OF which he
was the trusted servant.
Detection had promptly followed, and
for two DAYS and nights he had skulked
about the streets in momentary dread Of
arrest.
The night before he had wandered aim
ieesSly into the theater. That night l had
played Rose Michel"
The story had touched and moved him
as nothing else had done.
When he saw in that mimic scene tho
picture of the devoted mother Offering her
whole life as a sacrifice to her child; when
he saw her bearing in her pallid face, her
trembling limbs, traces OF the wreck to
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