The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-06-21
o1RcUMsTANr1A1 EVIDENCE.
It Came Near Lynching Man in Wash ington Whose Innocence Is Now Made ulI,.a

ingtOn Whose Innocence Is Now Made
 Plain. .,-,.-.
 From the San Francisco Examiner.l Port Townsend, June 1.--Circumstan-
 tial evidence came very near causing a
 man to be Iynched and also to be un-
 justly accused of robbery. That hap
 pened nearly thirty years ago on Whid-
 by Island, a few miles from this city,
 and it required over quarter Of cen
 tury to establish the innocence of the
 accused. The evidence of the mans guilt was so conclusive that the people of the island seriously considered the advisability of lynching him, inasmuoh as he had persistently denied the theft in opposition to the testimony of half dozen witnesses who were positive of
 his guilt. Finally he was given twen- ty-four hours to leave the island. He
 protested his innocence to the last, but
 he did not lose any 1ime in accepting
 the invitation.
 In the early eos on Whidby Island a
 party of men were at work in field
 moving hay with old-fashioned scythes. A stranger came along seeking work and was given employment. A few hours before a neighbor happened along and paid the overseer, Luke Wright, nine hundred dollars in gold which was
 tied up in a bucksl1in bag and put in a coat pocket. It lacked some time from being the noon hour, aad tie owner carelessly threw the coat on bunch of grass. All this was witnessed by at least half dozen men. In using the scythe the stranger had occasion to re- move the garment few feet and laid 1t in the stubble. At noon the men knocked off preparatory to going to lunch. The owner picked up the coat and the gold was missing. The most diligent search failed to find its hiding place. Naturally suspicion centered on the stranger, and that soon crystallized l into conclusive evidence of guilt. Six | men were ready to swear to the facts as | stated.
 The stranger was told in no unmis- 1 takabIe terms that he would be the | guest of honor at a lynching if he did | not produce the money. The feeling | was very strong, but the advice of cool | CT heads suggested that there might be | doubt as to the mans guilt, as the | money could not be found in his possess sion. The matter was settled by driv- | ing the stranger off the island. No one \ ever doubted his guilt and many ex- | pressed the opinion that after stealing | the gold he cached 1t and at a later date | returned for the treasure. That was | the way the matter stood for more than | thirty years
 The field in which the men worked | af o~ nd | ly the story of the lost gold assumed the phase of legend. Not many years ago the farm was purchased by John | Like his predecessors he con tinued to plough the land and SOW crops. One day the upturned furrow revealed the presence of two or three | twenty dollar gold pieces. A find like that beat farming all to pieces. In an l instant he was down on his knees ! in the dirt and picking up coin. He found more and more of the double eagles until the amount ran up to seven hundred and sixty dollars. The most diligent search failed to re- veal any more hidden wealth.
 Then when the story was known the d-timers decided that the gold was found just about the spot where Luke Wright, thirty years before, had lost he bag containing nine hundred dol ars. But he and his fellow workers lad long since drifted away from the sland and their whereabouts are un- But, nevertheless, Gillespies ind has established the innocence of he stranger who was unjustly accused # robbing his employer, and who. had 1 le been arrested. would doubtless have served a term in the penitentiary for arceny.