Griggs courier., 1898-09-08

vorite with the Judge, ~ he was With
all the rest Of the people Of the village.
for he gave fish and game to the
housewives. gave pennies to the ba-
bies and taught the little boys to swim.
One evening the community was
horrified ON discovering that the
miserly old woman had been stran-
gled. The judge alone knew what
must be done and sent hurriedly for
the sheriff and the coroner. Investi-
CATION developed that there had not
only been murder, but robbery. The
carefully kept books showed that the
old lady had a trifie over three-quar-
ters of million in coin and bills.
Half the amount was gone, while the
other half was undisturbed. The last
man known to have visited her was
Brown. and he had disappeared. When
the sheriff and deputies had secured
the country in vain, detectives from
the large eastern cities were stimu-
lated by the offer of a big reward, but
their shrewdness and industry accom-
plished nothing. Meantime the village
absolutely refused to render verdict
against Brown. the judge, the rector
and the landlord being particularly
strong in his defense. They were
laughed at by the detectives and
roundly abused by the sheriff, but they
insisted that Brown was utterly in
capable of such crime.
By the time that the outside world
had forgotten the tragedy, the judge
was called to his door one evening by
knock and confronted Brown. Inside
OF an hour the judge had listened to
a'strange story. the thought never en-
tering. his mind that he might have
to sit in judgment and pass sentence
upon the man who was confiding in
him.
"This womans father" related
Brown, was my grandfather's part
ner in a fine mercantile business.
Plncton proved rascal, robbed my
grandfather of every dollar he had
and left the Browns in poverty. Grand
father died because he did not have
the courage to live; grandmother
soon followed him, and my father. who
seemed to have been stricken by the
same blow, never did more than sup
port his family. Pincton, who after
ward showed that he must have some
sort of conscience, because he made
away with himself, brought i'll luck
to our family for at least three genera
tons. His wealth was left to his only
daughter, and she added to it with
no other thought than of appeasing
the wrath of heaven by giving every
thing to the church. After working
until my health was impaired, and
with three sisters depending upon me
when they should have had plenty, I
determined to collect the money of
which we had been robbed, together
with what it had since made. I con-
suited able lawyers, but they regard
ed only the law and laughed at my
pretensions. I based my rights upon
equity and determined to yindicate
them. Half of that money belonged
to us, and was bound to have it,
even if you had to commit MUIR
der?"
"Inever brought myself face to face
with that contingency, but believe that
there was no extreme to which 1
would not have been justified in 60
ing had more moderate means failed
me. I came here, ingratiated myself
with the woman and finally told her
the whole story. She knew it to be-
true, but clung to the idea that she
could buy the future happiness of her
father through the church. Either
that or she SO gloated over the hoard
ed wealth that she would part with
none of it. worried her conscience
increasingly and believe, that she
took the same cowardly recourse as
did her father"
'The doctor says not. He is positive
that she was murdered. and all the
evidence goes to fasten the crime upon
you."
II found her lying dead upon the
floor, handkerchief twisted tightly
about her neck. looked upon her
death as a providential Intervention
on my behalf, broke open her secre-
tary, scrupulously divided the money
and fled in order to place it beyond
recovery. When I read that l was
charged with murder, l came back to
vindicate myself. have always lived
up to the best suggestions of my con-
science and all that have done is in
accord with the most perfect equity.
1t is one of those cases in which the
law is so unfortunate as to be wrong"
The judge could do nothing but turn
Brown over to the custody of con-
stable while awaiting the sheriff. Next
morning the prisoner was gone. and
the local veterinary said that the
landlords horse had been over-driven,
though no one seemed to establish any
relationship between the two events.
Before the year was out condemned
prisoner at the county Jail confessed
to the killing of Miss Pincton because
she tried to hold him when she found
him in her pantry. This confirmed the
judge in his belief that Brown meant
to do just what was right. and he has
no end of psychological reasoning to
establish his position.-Detroit Free