The evening world., 1894-06-05
INNOCENT, YET A PRISONER.
HEMINGWAY SUFFERED FOR AN.
OTHERS CRIME.
Convicted of n Theft which He
Never Committed

Ex-State Treasurer Hemingway. of
Mississippi, has been trying for four
years to work out a most awkward and
difficult problem, says the Springfield
Republican. He has kept every cell in
his brain substance buzzing and every
%convolution in It's gray matter active In
trying to max clear to his conscience
Just how he, an innocent man. who never
defrauded his State or any one else Of a
cent, should be locked up in prison. a
convicted embezzler.
True, there were awkward facts against
him which were skilfully used at his
trial by the prosecution and which con-
WINGED the jury Of his %guilt-facts which
he really admitted. but which did not re-
move the reasonable doubt of his guilt
from his own mind. Somehow. as he sat
evidence and the pleas, It seemed clear
enough hat the man on trial must be
guilty as charged In the indictment
trial was and knew h he knew that
man to be innocent.
1t was proved on the trial that he.
Hemingway: was State Treasurer, OF Mis-
sissippi, and In that capacity had in his
charge several ..undreds Of thousands Of
dollars in State funds. 1t was further
proved that when his term expired and
ne was Cdlled upOn " TURN tnDbt IuInue
over to his successor, his vaults were
empty and the States money gone.
stu further It was proved. and he ad-
mitted 1t in his testimony. that nobody
but himself had access to the vaults, and
no one else knew the combination to the
safes in which the stolen money was
kept. His books were correct, and they.
too, proved the shortage and Heming-
ways responsibility for 1t.
With all this mass Of evidence before
It, what could the Jury, do but bring In a
verdict Of guilty while the one man In
verdict. because he knew better, was
Hemingway. There was a lingering
hope In the mind Of the Judge, who knew
that there was some horrible mistake
somewhere. because. for one reason. the
missing none could not be traced to the
convicted ex-Treasurer-not a penny of
It. He had made no increase in his eX-
penditures, had not specialized nor de-
veloped any bad habits.
Everybody gave warm testimonials to
his character. and to Justify them he
ave every dollar he was known to pos
sess freely n Willingly. to the State to
make good its loss. All these things
sentence he pronounced a. light as was
consistent with what seemed the enor-
nifty of his old friends o~fense-five
You Four IN Of s't thes er'f s~e years are nearly
gone. and the problem which has turned
Hemingway's aair gray and well-nigh
exhausted his brain power is hnally
solved.
How the clue was found we do not know
but found II was ana followed, and now
all Mississippi knows that jury AND
Judge and public opinion were wrong
and Hemingway right in his persistent
assertion Of his innocence.
Instead of beng the .robber, he wal
robbed. almost before his eyes. Wher
he sgore on his trial that he alone hac
Aoosss 10 the vaults and knew the com
btnatton 70 The safes which held thu
State fun6E, he DID not know hat thii
knowledge has been stolen from him
and b the thieves were stealing tn,
money ne mad sworn 70 guard
Now he knows that TINS was the case
and % does the Grand jury which In
dicted MIN, the DnEg1ct-Atryrney VII
prosecuted hin, the yetit jury which con
vlcted him and the JuaEs VINO sentence,
him AL these. with tnDpsSnas ., citi
zene ali owe the State. are GsEing IA
Governor 10 pardon MIN, Sns soyr %
will be q free man. at ne rnfEni nav
beer al the time had ne been ar I1Ea!sr
IN the execution " nif rrusi Et NJ
honest He mar paic & heavy psnsLi.
for his carelessDesa-