Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1895-04-05
THE SENATOR'S STORY.
A Hasty Speech for Which He Dearly
Paid.

well, Stllu the senator, as ne SeleCG-
ed fresh cigar and reached over for q
match, "you may not think it, but
came mighty near being hung once.
The whole party started. Any one
less likely to be accused of serious
crime than our host-a distinguished
lawyer and state senator of California
it would have been hard to imagine.
.'How was thatp' I asked
when / was young chap got my
sheepskin from Dartmouth, and as
had few dollars, / made my way oul
to this state. | mined for a while, and
then went to Sacramento, where | hung
out my single and waited for bushes S.
1t was literally a single, too, painte
by myself. | soon after met girl,
Polly Sinclair, the daughter of Robert
Sinclair, a builder. There were not SO
many girls there then. and Polly had
plenty of fellows after her. But some
how she took d shine to me, poor as
was, and | was as much in love with
her as man could be- Her people did
not like me, though, and naturally
enough, too. for | was only poor,
struggling lawyer, and they thought
Polly could do better. Her brother
was especially against me. Poor Bob,
perhaps l was to blame most in the
matter. Anyway, Polly and had
found out that we cared for each other,
and one night, when we were walking
together, we met Bob. He began by
calling me all the names he could think
of, and my temper being none of the
best, got mad
Polly kept begging me not to quar-
rel, and at last turned away, leaving
her with him AS / left said to him
that we would meet again, when
would make him explain his words.
Il was so excited that | could not
go home, and II walked along the road
for, should think, five miles from
the town. Then turned and walked
back, went to my room, and, being
tired out, went to sleep.
.In the morning | was walked up by
the sheriff, and arrested for numbering
Bob. The poor fellow had been found
in the street with his head crushed in
by a blow from behind, and every
thing he had with him taken. There
were dozen witnesses to what l had
said to him and to the quarrel. No
one had seen me during the evening;
my clearinghouse keeper had not
seen me come in, and altogether
things looked rather black for me.
The only thing in my favor, and that
was little enough, was that there was
nothing of poor Bob's found in my pos
session.
well, was locked up in the old
Jail. and to tell you the truth, l didn't
caa nf tho fpr,,bln Evnru
one in town believed me to be guilty,
and there was some talk about lynch
ingme out of hand When say every
bless her, believed in me still, although
naturally enough.
81 had been in Jail about ten days,
when one day the door of my cell
opened, and Polly came in. How she
managed to Persuade Sheriff Hughes to
let her see me, | do not know, but she
did somehow.
II am not going to tell you what sort
of meeting that was; could not if I
would Of course, | told her was in
nocent of poor Bob's death, and she
sobbed out her belief in me as | held
her in my arms. Atlast she whispered
her plan to me. was to escape, and
the dear girl showed file into my
pocket as she talked.
'.No one she said, in Stockton would
ever believe that | was innocent; and
if | did not run away | would be hung.
AS for herself, she would try TO prove
my innocence, and if she succeeded we
would be married. If not, then she
would never marry any one else.
Naturally, | said l would stand my
trial, as | was innocent; but when Polly
pressed me as to how | was to prove
this, ] did not know. She talked and
begged, and at last | consented. So,
as Sheriff Hughes came back, she had
to leave me.
II did not like the job. but still l
worked away with the file, and as the
1 bars were pretty poor stuff | got out
one of them. | crawled and reached
the street. and then made my way
along it towards the edge of the town
I was to strike out across the plains,
hiding in the daytime and travelling
at nights only. / reached the open
country, and just about daylight lay
down to sleep in a hollow between two
ridges. / could not sleep long, how
ever, and after a time l was lying
there wide awake. got so nervous at
last that made up my mind to go on,
and started once more. l had not been
walking very long, and, as you may
suppose, / was taking advantage of
every bit of cover that l could get.
when / saw long line Of men riding
over the plains toward me. With
them were any number of dogs, for,
although we had no bloodhounds in
those days, there were lots of dogs who
would bark at a stranger if they saw
one.
"Gentlemen, my heart seemed to
stan d still. Although ! didn't want
to escape at first, now that | had, it
seemed to me doubly bitter to be re-
taken. do not know how to explain
it to you, but the second capture was
far worse than the first But what could
I do? Tn ere wasn't a tree for miles
there was no broken ground nor rocks
to hide in. Nothing but that wide roll
ing plain, and that line of men slowly
riding towards me. 1t made me feel
sick.
Il took the only chance l had, and