The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1890-07-16
ALMOST 0UTLAWED.

Hartman was by no means bad man.
Youth, love and opportunity made him
q criminal That pocketbook full of
bank bills had been left in the counting
room. There was no one present, and the
young man had thoughtlessly seized it.
All that had happened more than four
years ago.
Strange that no suspicion had fallen
on himl It is true, he enjoyed the conf
dence and favor of his employer, but also
happy chance had good deal to do
with it. 1t happened that just at. that
time an office boy had been detected in
some misdemeanor and forced to leave.
Naturally, of course, he was suspected
of having committed the theft likewise.
An able young lawyer had been retain
ed to investigate the. case, and he was
not little chagrined at his failure to
discover the perpetrator.
Hartman experienced moment of re-
lief, but only a moment, as o burden as
of lead seemed to weigh on him.
Might not some new clew be found,
some unforeseen occurrence throw light
on the matter? The torture lasted for
four horrible years. The very thought
of it made the perspiration start on his
forehead in the coolest days.
Why did he not invent some pretext
for going abroad? He was often on the
point of doing SO, but the fear of arous-
ing suspicion by any singularity of con-
duct prevented him from putting this
idea into execution. So he lived on with
this threatening specter ever before his
eyes, unable to dispel 1t or to hide him
self from it.
1.-THE othersn-he would not even to
himself use more definite expression
''are in Jail for their wrong doing they
suffer more? They are deprived Of free
dom indeed; the blow has fallen heavily
upon them with the sentence Of the
court; but afterwards there is peace
around and within them.n
To accuse himself? That would be
foolish. Chance had favored him hither-
to; why should it not continue to do sof
So more hoping, more trembling.
Hartman had become by his misde-
meanor, strange to say--a dilettante in
matters of law He had furnished him
self with book on the criminal code
and the criminal procedure, together
with various commentaries. These books
formed his favorite reading after shut
ting his door at night. With hasty Gag
erness he devoured their contents.
AS chess player would treat an in
teresting problem, so he treated his case.
Mitigating circumstances, tho chances
in trial, everything possible and impos-
sible that lay1nan could extract from
this juristic material, were brought into
action. More than once he caught him
self declaiming brilliant defense in a
loud tone, and then he would listen
anxiously; somebody might have heard
him.
Hartman had also his favorite chapter,
which treated of the statute of limita-
ton. There he read: 1.-THE prosecution
for crimes that are punishable with no
more than three months imprisonment
must begin within FIVE years, etc"
Although he knew the passage by
heart, yet he read it again every day, as
If its contents might have changed in
one night.
Four years and a half have passed; six
months more, and he will be free, legally
free. The voice Of conscience would
soon learn to be silent when the pressure
of anxiety should be removed. Six
months-why should they not pass as a
moment; why might not miracle hap
pen, and time for once, just once, make
leap?
The almanac became, from that time
on, his best friend. He could sit bent
over it for hours, counting first the
months, then the weeks, then the days
again and again. In the middle Of the
night the thought would strike him that
he had made mistake in counting; the
lamp was quickly lighted, and his work
began anew.
Time never passes slower than when
one counts the minutes. It seemed to
Hartman sometimes as If it stood still, or
as if the minutes grew maliciously to
hours, the hours to days.
If he only could spend few hours in
sleepl The thought led him to buy
opium, and now many day and almost
every night was passed in artificial slum-
Der. A moment of relief came, when he
awoke and realized that SO and so many
hours had passed.
The continual excitement could not
fail to undermine even such a powerful
constitution as Hartman possessed. With
every day that brought him nearer to the
longed for goal, he grew feebler and
paler. 1t seemed to him as il his limbs
were lead, as if his head were too heavy
TO bear. He dragged himself heavily
from the sofa to the chair, from the chair
to the sofa. When pain in the back
seized him he called physician.
"You are going to have a severe sick
ness" was his decision.
.Qf what kind? Be perfectly frank, 4
am alone in the world, and must make
my arrangements"
We'll, the symptoms look like typhus.
Hartman's face became even paler
than before; his eyes stared with the ex-
preston Of horror upon the speaker.
"a slow fever, in which one docs not
lose consciousness; is it not SO, doctor?
Certainly sol"
If my fears are likely to be realized,
could wish the contrary. The fever
begins violently, you are delirious at the
crisis, and the worst is over, when you
recover consciousness"
To be deliriousl Hartman shuddered.
To be deli1ious, not to be master Of his
thoughts and words, to betray his secret
motives, IN spite Of himself to reveal
that with which his mind had incessant-
" rrr,s,ssa1 ffoa1f-,,r f1,, I,oaxvo,.,e 90 ia