Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1894-11-16
A CLIENTS ESCAPE.

to face jury" So spoke young lawyer
but lately admitted.
WELL" said I, from layman's stand
point of law, II think that if / thought
the chances against me, no matter how In
nocent were, would decline the honor. I"
had just dropped in for friendly chat
and smoke with my friend, Richard Boyn-
ton, an old lawyer well known for an ex-
tensive clientele among staid and quiet
old Knickerbocker families. Turning to
him, said as lighted cigar, "What
say you, DickT'
I'm theory / agree with our young
friend; in practice, with you. III give you
a case in point, if you like.
1T is about 10 years ago when was
aroused about o'clock in the morning by
a messenger from police court, the bear
er of hastily scrubbed note from an old
client of mine. He was a childless wild
over, much interested in Egyptology, and
consequently spent much of his time in
Egypt. Being rich, he could afford this
expensive hobby.
1.-The note | received ran:
DEAR BoYNToN-They have brought mo
down here on some absurd charge or other.
Come and arrange for my release Immediately.
"R ROwLEY.
II FASTENED to the relief of my client.
Now, must tell you, he was very fastid-
ious in his dress and particularly nattJ
and trim in his appearance. He wore
brown beard, cut in vandyke fashion.
'Judge, then, of my establishment when
was shown man dressed in a particu.
larly flashy style, Of the Kind affected by
the sporting fraternity--a clean shaven
face, save for an inch or two Of side whisk.
ers.
All, Boynton, get me out of this
quick.
g There is some mistake l said to the
policeman.
- 'How?' asked he.
50 Why, this is not Mr.. Rowley. This
is not the gentleman came to see.
:" That so? Well this is the man who
gave me the note l sent up to YOU.
AT this looked up at the man before
me and said:
g What made you use Mr. Rowley's
name?'
He clutched me by the sleeve and
gasped out:
Why, man, what do you mean? Do
those clothes SO alter me? Speak.
Il looked at him very keenly, and grad.
ually there dawncd on me that, after all
this was my old friend Rowley.
Heavens! Is it you, Rowley? What
arc you doing here? Come, man, compose
yourself, and let's get at the bottom OF
this.
IT sat down on the bench by his side;
but, Notwithstanding my cross question
ing, all could get from him was nothing
more than that he had arrived the previous
at a hotel, had had some Welsh rabbit and
bottle of ale and had gone straight I'd
bed. About midnight he had been aroused
by violent knocking at the door, and on
opening it had been gruffly told that he
was under arrest, and that he was to dresa
pretty quickly.
Hurried by the officers, he had hastily
dressed himself, protesting uselessly that
the clothes he was hustled in were not his
and was hurried off to the station.
mo amount of cross questioning could
get him to vary or enlarge his story, not
could he give me the slightest reason fof
his arrest AS to his beard, that had easily
been explained in answer to a question oil
mine Owing to slight skin eruption
contracted in Egypt, he had it shaved of
some time ago.
1.-The next step was to get him bailed
out. This, found, was not so easy a task.
Ny nonrecognition at first of my friend
was against him. The police justice next
morning protested that this prisoner was
a confidence man wanted for various Of
fenses, and that he was certain Wilcox,
II u; D,1t 81
and scof1ingly declared he would not let
him out under So, 600 bail.
II did not stay to argue the matter out
but in less than an hour was back with 8
couple of friends of well known wealth
and standing.
"Next morning my client was in a statd
Of fever. easily got certificate from
my physician exaggerating the illness.
'He remained in my house and in bed
for nearly week During that time
found out enough to solve the mystery I'd
my moral satisfaction, but not enough to
convince jury, or even any outsider. The
solution of the mystery was this:
"The man with many aliases had come
by the same train as my friend Rowley,
had registered at the same hotel and had
been assigned q room on the same narrow
corridor. BY some chance my friend, aftef
supper, had been given the key of Mr..
Wilcox 8 room and had gone straight to
bed.
'Mr Wilcox's keen mind, ever bent on
covering up his tracks, on finding that he
had been given the wrong key, said moth.
ing, examined my friend g valise, and then
the idea evidently came to him that IL
would be good thing if he could pass out
of the hotel as Mr. r. Rowley.
1.-The probability was that he (Rowley)
was in his room. To open the door was
an easy trick for the crook. Then he
must have taken my friends attire, leav.
ing his in its place. This effected, he paid
his bill as Mr.. Rowley, saying he was CO.
ing to catch the 11:45 p. m. night express
for Syracuse and SO vanished.
His resemblance in Wilcox's attire was
80 like the photos sent on to the people,
and SO unlike his own photos, that, with
the correspondence, papers, cards and odds
and ends which Wilcox had, either in
haste or Intentionally, left in the coat and
vest pockets, and which the police at the
station had seized when they had searched
him, shudderingly felt the chances were
all in favor Of speedy conviction"
What did you dor" asked the young
lawyer
''What did doi' you ask. II SNUG.
gled him off on 1oat to Cuba and for
feited the bail He was, as said, rich
man. 1t was the simplest way out Of the
difficulty and the surest. Still my client,
though perfectly innocent, is now fugi'
tive from Justice. Exchange