, 1897-03-15
A REPORTERS YARN.

found these city editors, The good Ia
turc is all blue p..ncilcd cut Of thcm.'
you're always ]cIunbling. Jim. If
you don't like the little Inconvenience
of newspaper work, why don't you get
into something else? 1t was your own
desire to get on the police beat, AID you
ought to take all that goes with it coed
naturcdly. Quit your growing and tell
us Il story by way Of pcnanCc. We have
IA couple Of hours before MS yet"
Jim loved 10 tell Il story. He had
been Il reporter for many years, NEST of
the time on criminal, and be had an ex-
periencc for nearly every day in the
year. His face cleared, be rcfilled his
pipe and stuck his feet on the table. His
three fellow morning paper mon fol
lowed his example ard amid the curls
of smoke this is the story Jim told
them:
Zone morning about Is years ago
Richard Johnston of the firm of John
ston a. Calvin, a very wealthy eastern
lumber concern. was found dead in his
office. He had told lis wife the night
before he wanted to lCOk over the books,
for things were not going quite TO his
satisfaction. The big ledger lay spread
out on the desk, Lis face buried in its
blood stained leaves, The head had been
almost split in two, and the cut was so
clean it was evident an ax had been the
instrument used. The detectives went
to work at CnCe, ard within - hours
Fred Wilson had been arrested on suspi-
ciou. He was Il cousin of the murdered
man and had LCCn cut Cf wOrl, a long
time. He had never been in NY kind Of
trouble with the police. but he had q
character for shiftlcssucss, ard it was
no secret that he and Johnston had had
some words a few days before over a
loan he had begged. He had been heard
to say that Il mGl who had heaps CT
money ard would TCt help is relatives
might better be dead. A glove was
found in the Office that was identified
us his. and, to make the chain Of cir
~cumstantial evidence complete he had
paid Il number Of bills the very morning
the murder was committed.
His lawyers admitted their client
had gone to tho Office, but denied any
quarrel had taken place. Tho very re-
verse had happened, they claimed.
Johnston had arranged the visit and had
expressed his regrets for being so severe
to his cousin, finally giving him money
enough to clean up his debts and make
a fresh start. This defense, i'll the opin-
ion Of the judge, the jury and the news
papers, was so daring that it was re-
garded rs o~rcrshooting the mark. One
iurvman, however, was Il little doubtful
and stood out fer manslaughtCr i'll tho
first degree. The others yielded, the
verdict was SO rendered, and Wilson
was sentenced for life. When asked if
he had anything to say, he replied that
he had told his story through his law
yers; that he still adhered to it, and
that, if there WIS II just God above. its
truthfulness would be proved some day.
He went to prison and was forgotten.
II tell you, boys, that case bothered
me more than II little lit. l meyer at
any time believed Wilson was guilty,
strong as the evidence was. l had sew
eral talks with him, and he never way
cred in his story, no matter how tried
to trip him up. l spent most of my
leisure time following imaginary clews.
1t was no use, and l gave it up after a
few months.
Five years afterward Calvin, John
ston's partner, died suddenly, and,
though obituaries were rather out Of my
line, for l was still doing criminal, l
ask ed for the assignment Oh account CT
my previous interest in the firm. l had
a hazy idea that Calvin had known
more Of the affair than he had pretended.
On those lines l followed up my old
hunt, and l was not u bit surprised to
find out frCm one Of the servant girls
that n small bottle lad been found in
the hand Of the dead man. l ran down
that side Of the story at the start and
showed the doctor up i'll great shape, for
he had given u certificate for heart fail
ure, having Leon irduced to do 81 by
Calyin's friends. Then l wanted Il pic
turc, but tho deuce Il picture was to be
had. Finally an old friend CT Calvin's
told me there was Il large crayon of the
lumborman in the lodgcrocm where
they met. Calvin had been Il of the
past presidents. and on retiring, shortly
after the death of his partner, had pre-
sented the ledge with this picture, fol-
lowing u custom in vogue III that par
ticulur body. The man who told me OF
It was one Of the trustees, and he offered
to &c to the room with me and let me
have the portrait. ! did not want, of
course. to bother with the frame, so l
proceeded to take out the back. While l
was doing so the trustee locked for some
wrapping paper, and l was alone. Talk
about luck! Luck wasn'tinit. ! am not
religious, as you know, but l have had
q aueer feeling about that affair ever
since. found u folded parchmentlike
paper between the picture and the back,
and you ,an bet 1 hustled it into my
pocket darned quick.
Just imagine, boys, how my heart
beat until l got to my room. wasn't
married then. I locked the door and got
out my precious paper. 1t was a COM
'bination will md confession, and the
introduction was the strangest part OF
It. Calvin gave his reason for hiding 1t
b the picture, and it was this: That
while he had not The courage to expose
his villainy, he WIGS willing TO leave it
10 Providence. If there was such q
thing, he said, the matter would all
come out even in the face Of apparent
impossibilities. Then followed the con-
fession. He had been playing a crooked
game with Johnston fer years, but at
last the senior partner had become sus-
picious and had started IN investigation
Of the books himself. Ruin and Disgrace
confronted Calvin, and in II paroxysm
of fear he had faken one Of the keen fire