Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1896-04-15

SO we put q man on to watch him. Mr.,
Nolen spent that night at Mr.. Martins
rooms on Fifth avenue. The next morn
ing. some one whom our man took to be
Martin walked out and went up town.
An hour or two later. Martin himself
came out Instead of following him our
man made the mistake of going up stairs
to see whether Nolen was in the rooms.
In that way they both got off, We did
everything in our power to stop them,
but it was too late. | sincerely hoped he
would think better of it, and come back.
/ am sorry for you, but there it isr'
AS regards myself. I'm not loser. l
lon't mind telling you that, few hours
after his escape, received by letter the
amoun.of the bail; it came. | have req
son to believe, from Martin. All Percys
outstanding bills were also paid, proba-
bly, by the same hand. OF course, Percy
shout have stood his trial, and had I had
any mixing of what he intended should
have used every means to prevent Inside
.parture But at any rate he left no debts
behind him"
He made the mistake of his life"
said the Inspector, emphatically. "As
the reason why will be known in o few
hours, may as well tell you now. In
the first place the evidence against him
was not conclusive, and, taking every
thing into consideration, the chances are
that he would have been acquitted. His
looks and manner and his previous rec
ord and social standing were in his
favor, though it is true that he had been
making a fool of himself here and there,
as boys sometimes will. But fellow
like that is not likely to steal. q lady's
pocket book in face of the absolute GER
tainty of being suspected of it. The
game wasn't worth the candle"
Il quite agree with you. replied the
judge; 'still there was possibility that
the verdict might go against him; and
you can understand that a conviction
would be as good as death to him.
Even then, if we were innocent. the
guilty party would be SURE 20 turn up
sooner or later and he would be vindi-
Gated. could make a guess, even now,
asfto who the thief really is: but he has
not committed himself yet, and as the
money stolen was in bank notes of course
it is more difficult to trace than Jewels
or any kind of personal property would
be. But that is not the point was going
to make. If he had appeared in court
today he would have been free man
ever after.
''How can you know that
in this way. You have heard all
about that affair of his with the wife of
the plaintiff. No actual harm had been
done, but she was compromised and her
husband had heard of it; they had had
some words about it probably: and when
he found Nolen in such an awkward pre-
dicament, he naturally was not going to
lose the opportunity of jumping on him.
So he pressed the charge, as we saw.
But his wife did what he had not antici-
pated-she joined him in the accusation,
and thereby ranged herself definitely on
his side. Of course that took the wind
out of his sails; it proved that she hated
Percy as much as he did, and therefore
his own chief reason for hating
him"
II understand; but
Very we'll Having no longer any
especial reason for revenging himself
upon Percy, and probably not believing,
on sober second thought, that he had
committed the crime, he would begin to
ask himself how the public trial would
affect his wife and himself And the
first thing he would see would be that it
would involve letting out the whole
story of the Irritation. Now, if his wife
had persisted in her folly, instead of act
ing the part of a virtuous cur, as she did,
he might have been willing to have her
shown up; but as it was, he would desire
to hush it up as securely as possible
There was only one way to do that, and
that was
"Ah! I see. The plaintiff would de-
cline to prosecute?
Exactly. and that (as have the best
reason for knowingly is just what he has
done. His counsel are instructed to
withdraw the charge; and of course,
under the circumstances, the judge
would allow him to do So But when
they see that the prisoner is not on hand,
it may cause them to modify this course.
They might profess themselves ready to
go on with the case. and as the prisoner
is absent Judgment would issue against
him.
1t is that result that | hoped to avoid.
1t would be a sad thing for an honorable |
family to be dragged through the dust in |
this way for crime for which the &C
cused is not responsible"
He should have had the manliness to |
face his accusers, repeated the inspec-
tor mo one knows better than you.
Judge that in this world man must de
fend himself. He cannot expect other
people to find excuses for him. But, as
say, he may live it down; he is a young
fellow yet, and
Have you seen this morning paper?"
the judge.
Il have looked through it. Is there
anvthino narticiIlar2''