The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-05-13

Circumstautial evidence is regarded.
know, by courts as very often the strongest
possible proof, yet how often in human ex-
perience has il been shown that circum-
stantial evidence was a cruelty beyond de-
scriptionl l have told the story before,
but Us il is pertinent let me give il IN brief
again. Some years ago, in Brooklyn. at a
boarding house table a young invalid from
Minneapolis discussed with great earnest
ness with his fellow boarders IN general
but more especially with bright New
England girl. then school teacher in the
City of Churches, the insanity of Hamlet.
1t was bright December day. and either
Booth or Dayenport-and think the form
er-was playing Hamlet" IN Booths
theater in this city. Half in fun and half
in earnest the young man suggested THAI
he and the young lady should attend the
performance that night and renew the dis
cussion later on
They did so.
AT the end of the second act, being trou-
bled with asthma, the young man excused
himself, saying is would be necessary for
him to take the air and that ne might not
return to his seat until the close of the fol-
lowing act. To his surprise, when he
reached the front door the sky was filed
with snow. brisk breeze was RAPIDLY drift
ing is and the pavements were covered to
the depth of at least an inch He mufied
himself up and trotted literally toward
Broadway. Then turning, he walked
briskfy back toward the thester. While
so proceeding a man rushed rapidly past
him toward Sixth avenue with the feet
ness of deer As he did so he dropped
something which shone in the snow.
The young man picked it up.
1t was watch and broken chain As
well as he could he called after the rapidly
retresting individual. and. failing to make
him hear, endeavred 10 catch him Un-
conscious OF group Of men behind him,
he ran as quickly as possible until he
reached the conner of Sixth avenue aud
Twenty-third street, where to his amaze
ment, as police officer grssped him. q
crowd from behind bounced upon him.
shouting: I'VE have got himI Here be isl"
One OF them remarking as he snatched the
watch from his hands, by heavens, he has
got it here"
THE NORMAL SEQUENCE.
The young man was bewildered, amazed,
dumfounded.
no was IdACn 70 tLc bbsIINb
house, where he was charged with feieni-
GUS assault at the corner OF Fifth avenue
and Twenty-third street and with highway
robbery.
How soi
Some one, and the crowd believed 10 20
be he, had grabbed an old gentleman about
the throat. dealt him q tremendous blow
behind the ears with blunt instrument,
roughly grabbed his watch and with vio-
hence broke the chain ere he rushed away.
OF course you see it was the man who had
run ON past our friend OF this he knew
nothing. Ali he could say was that a man
had dropped his watch in the snow and be
picked it up. He was laughed at. He
was thrown into cell. In the morning he
was taken, in serious physical distress and
mental discontinue, before fat, sleepy
judge, and sent TO the Tombs TO await the
action of the grand jury.
And his friend, the young lady!
Well, perhaps you can imagine her con-
dition. She waited patiently during the
third act, impatiently during the remain
der of the play, wondering 1t the absence
of her escort. At last, the curtain down.
she walked slowly toward the door, where
she was encountered with the usual gang
of cab shouters and street loafers, more
serious even in their insulting attentions
than the tremendous storm which then
hurled through the air. She hadn't a
dollar in her pocket; she was unfamiliar
with New York.
What should she do,
The night Waterman IN a very few mo
ments told her that she must step outside,
as the theater must be closed. 4 cabman
asked her where she wanted 70 go. She
said TO Brooklyn. With lie he told her
that the ferryboats stopped running at Y,
and recommended that she should drive to
the United States hotel.
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
So she said she would like TO, explained
the absence OF her escort as well as she
could, and asked the man IL he would trust
her until the following morning, when she
could send TO her friends or go 70 her home
in Brooklyn He laughingly replied that
that would make very little difference,
jumped on the box and started, as she be-
lieved, for the United States hotel. On Full
ton street, near the ferry.
During the long, long drive, with the
storm beating outside and her heart tu-
multuously moving inside, the poor girl
AMY intuition told her all was not right,
and as she hooked out, SEEING nothing, she
was convinced that they were beyond the
line Of residence. Her rpyeased blows upon
the window made no impression upon the
driver or his companioa
Desperate, frightened. she burst open the
door and sprang as well as she could into
the snow, tripped and fell In front Of gin
mill On tho boulevard, as 9 door opened
and the light from the interior revealed
her, disheveled, in tears, TO group OF half
drunken rDerrymakers who emerged At
that monent- She was taken into the
room. revived, given something TO drink,
which she at first hesitated 20 take, and
after much urging accepted the hospitali-
~ of a billiard room until the following
morning. when the kind hearted wife Of
the proprietor. who was his own bartender,
enabled her 70 return, half crazsd. en-
tireiy demoralized woman. to her Brook
Ign home.
Then began the search for her escort
And nothing under heaven but the clean
cut New York experience Of a well known
newspaper friend spared that young man
the disgrace Of al Indictment a trial and
a probable conviction for felonious assa1l:
and highway robbery, he beinR a. guilty
b. il Is possible 70 conceive man judged
D. circumstAntial evidence. jet a. innocent
As babe uBbo-n judged from the fsctuAl
point u view-Joe Howard n New Iork
Recorder
Origin Of Duustnx.