The advocate., 1894-05-02

been prosecuted nor disgraced by ex.
pOsure, his repentance Of that act was
the turning point in his career. Had
he been sent to prison and disgraced,
he might have become a hardened
wretch. Then, too, l believe there are
men in prison for what the law makes
a crime, but which, looked at in it's true
light, was virtuous act prompted by
the nOblest impulses. | do not think it
could happen in Kansas, but in large
cities, where, as rule, the community
knows nothing of the tragedies acted
in the criminal courts, have no doubt
men are sometimes buried in prisons
for years for doing manly deeds; as,
for instance, protecting feeble men or
defenseless children against the brutal
conduct of half-drunken officers max
ing needless arrests for trivial offenses
or no offenses at all. From what
know of the police of Chicago and of
New York, IhaVe no doubt that a de-
liberate police conspiracy is sometimes
formed to punish a real hero for that
most heinOus of crimes in the eyes of
the force resisting an officer"
81 know of just such a case," ex-
claimed Kate. II shall not reveal the
gentleman's name, for you might meet
him sometime, and his story was con-
fided to me as a sacred secret. If there
is good man in the world he is one;
yet he is an eX-conVict. About two
years ago an old gentleman was badly
hurt in a runaway accident at Golden,
and for some weeks / helped take care
of him. One day he abruptly told me
he was an ex-cOnVict; that he had spent
twenty-five years in Sing Sing, and was
released only three years before coming
to Golden, and he seemed astonished
that l did not become frightened and
run away when he made this startling
announcement. But l told him was
sure he had not been in prison for any
WickedneSs he had done; that there
must have been some mistake, and he
told me his story.
and baby boy with his father-in-law
and had enlisted in the army. At the
close Of the war he was in New York
on his way home, having already
written his wife to expect him, when
he saw an Irish policeman trying to
tear little girl from the arms of
poor woman who was protecting the
child. The policeman had struck the
woman with his club and had, with the
same blow, cut cash in the little girls
scalp, and as he was about to saVagely
strike the woman over the head, my
friend drew a pistol and ordered him
to deSist. The officer was drawing his
weapon when my friend fired and killed
the brute. A trial followed, before an
Irish judge and a jury selected by an
Irish bailiff, resulting in the senten-
cling of the woman to twenty years in
prison and the sentencing of my friend
to death. Some comrades got his SEN
tence commuted to life Imprisonment,
and he was pardoned at last only three
years before met him. When he gave
up hope, he handed his money, his
watch and letter to a cOmrade home
ward bound requesting him to deliver
them to the waiting wife,"
Mason and his mother started at this
alluSiOn to the watch, and sat open
mOuthed, unable to say word.
"Not hearing from home, he believed
the news of his fate had killed his wife,
but after his release from prison he
learned that the train upon which his
comrade was travelling homeward had
been wrecked; that the watch had been
found in the debris of a burned car and
the railroad company had sent it to his
wife with the statement that her hus-
band had been burned up in the wreck" !"
"Oh, MarshallP' exclaimed Mrs. Ma
son. Kate did not comprehend Mrs.
Mason's agitation, and proceeded:
"He hastened to his father-in- in-law's
home in Wisconsin to find it occupied
by strangers. There were no new
graves in the family graveyard and it