The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-10-11


Proceeding. he said: You are charged on
| your own confession with murder; that is
all can tell you ut present. My duty is to
arrest you, SO we will proceed at once to
| the station"
In vain l tried to persuade the officer
! chat he had made great mistake, and
that knew nothing OF the matter When
| became less excited l saw that the best
| way was 10 proceed i'll cab to the station
and explain matters there. A cab WIS
| procured, and while riding tried to think
pinchcd myself to see if were dreaming.
| What did it meanp Surely there was n
| glarIng r,istakc, but | knew not n soul in
! MI Ireland who could vindicate my char
actor, and SO my thoughts ran on until
was brought back TO my senses by the Of
iicer who suddenly said, Here we are"
and was marched through IL hall into tho
office. where the charge sheet was filled in,
and was locked in cell, remonstr,lnce
being of no avail.
Having been in the cell some hours,
bethought myself of my story. so pulled
tho sheets OF paper out of my pocket. The
light was, however, too bad to enable mo
to read by. Determined to do something,
commenced counting the sheets OF paper,
end found TINT. instead Of there being
thirty sheets, there were only twenty nine
counted again, and still there was one
missing. This was very annoying, inas-
much as had intended posting my "story"
on my arrival ut Belfast.
! Tho next thing that puzzled me was my
inability to discover from which part OF
the tale the sheet was missing, for us
snid before. the cell was very dark
| felt i'll all my pockets, not once, but
about Il dozen times. but failed TO discover
the lost sheet, and 10 | came to the con-
clusion that in my hurry had left it ut
my lodgings in Whitehavc:i. Some time
passed by, and then II wnrtcr lit tho gas in
the corridor and II stream Of light found
its way through the hole in the cell door.
once more took out my papers and cnger-
ly road them through, but the most inter
csting part Of the tnle was missin4-the
confession of the villain Edwards.
What Yes. | see it all now" | cx-
citcdly exclaimed. 'Wurtler." / shouted
Now, can't you make less noise thcree"
answered TINT functionary, thrusting his
face i'll ut the hole in tlie door.
please tell those two gentlemen who
arrested me that wish to speak to them
Immediately"
Presently the two detectives arrived on
the scene and entered my cell.
Going TO confcsst" nsked one
YES" l replied. but not TO crime
Will you tell me If the confession made
was on sheet of paper like thatS"
One of them took the sheet remnrking
that they had not yet got the full particu-
| lars, merely wire.
| passed Il had night in the cell. and woke
| early noXt morning About o'clock |
was informed that the English police had
arrived. The superintendent Of police from
Whitehaven thon came to my cell, and
explained to him that / had been writing
tale, and i'll gathering the loose pages Of
paper together ut my lodgings had noel
! dcntally loft one sheet out. then handed
the twenty-nine sheets to him and he went
away Presently he returned. laughing
saying:
You have had n narrow escape. How
camo you to use rs your own name that of
the man you call Edwards in your storys"
l explained that my name was rather a
long one. and that just gave Mrs Smith
that name rs happened to be writing it ut
the time. He then took me into the office
and handed me tho missing sheet, which
read as follows
Ny namo Is not Edwards. The young man
bearing that name worked by no in 4 america
Quarrclcd with him, and in an angry mo-
mcnt l Slew him and buried him. AS his
rnih"r lad not seen him for many years,
cano TO pass myself OFF his son. but waa
followed by the police. Now am going away
again. Do not sock me, for you will never find
mo alive again. JOE MULLINS.
! When had finished reading it laughed
loud and long. and so did all the officers
and men. We had high time OF it that
night at my hotel, and next morning 1, to-
| gclher with the policemen from England,
sailed for Whitehaven. When we arrived
there the piers were crowded with people,
| evidently looking for some one on board.
a cab was waiting for us, so as soon rs we
landed we entered it, amid such exclama-
tions rs That's him with the silk hat onp'
Don't he look happy for a murderer"
| etc.
Arrived ut the station, matters were ex-
| planned and apologies offered, and we part
ed the best of friends. Poor Mrs. Su:ith
had n splendid tea ready for me, and with
her apron in her eye corner she said
| 81 thought You couldn't IN done such a
thing"
The townsfolk soon heard through tho
| papers that the whole affuir was n mis-
take, and they considered it great Joke,
but it taught me lesson-nevcr to lie,
even in half joking ashion.-Yankce Blade.
| A Noble beginning.
II am an old man," he said slowly, land
I've lived long time longer than most
men who have lived as long us / have, fol-
there's mighty little In this world that
/ oughtn't to know that don't know, but
there is one thing don't know, and I've
been trying to learn 1t for fifty years. more
| loa