Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-06

you little story. show why you ought
not to take tn. life of this prisoner and I'll
try to make it short enough so as not to
| tire you out To begin with, l might say
| that L WIS born-in a. little Connecticut
town, that my father was a lawyer and
generally looked upon as the leading man
| Oh the village The listeners looked at
one another in surprise and one or two of
lhem Whispered, What's this got to do
with the case? Must be the old man has
silppe9 cog. They paid careful atten-
ton. however. as the judge went on in a
flrmer voice: Il had every advantage and
AFTER gong through college l succeeded to
my lathers business. I married the par
son S daughter, the belle OF the town She
| had all the countylto choose from and she
TOOK me- The judges voice became a trife
nusky. put he cleared his throat and went
on: FOR TWO years we were as happy as
took to gambling
G was the old story, of course. Trust
Iuilus went after my own good money /
was FOUND out and sentenced to fourteen
years in prison. Only YOU who were
Drought up in the east know what that
meant to everybody connected with me- 1t
was impossible for me to live down the dis
81 te' ana my wife, after sticking to me
all through the trial. left for the west to
puid UP nome for herself and her chill
uieh' where L could join them after my
t s was over. | think that l could have
uoiie 50, ana have lived an upright life
afterward If it had not been for my wife's
ia,ner. lie was hard man, and he didn't
oeIe'e there was any good in me- He
came 10 me toward the end of my term and
Iotu me mat L was to be pardoned, but that
/ naa better not try to go to my wife, that
sue was happy with her children and didn't
wish ever to see me again
hnow now that he was lying to me,
anu tndt 1 was a fool ever to give him my
promise, but man feels as though he'd
iost MS bearings when he first gets out of
prison, and even though he's an honest
man. ne wants to hide from honest folks
w VII
course, l couldn't stay in my native town.
SO dr1fted west, making my living or
soihetnlng better, at the gaming table
where had already lost more than I could
eysI win BACK. l didn't intend to see my
"ile again, but after couple of years /
went 10 the town where she had lived
eninh!ns 70 md how she was getting along,
ana to do something for her if / could
Miuioue letting her know where the help
came from. But they had moved away,
peeil gone about two years. the folks said
and nobody knew where
Wen, drifted on, not caring much what
peSdtie OF me, until l struck Gordon City
l hddn been here long before l saw NV
SON on the street one day. | knew him at
ofoe. LOT he has his mothers looks. I
was around / watched him You can inn,
dglne ! would. l found out that while he
might be little wild he had the right sort
ql STUN IN him, and wasn't like his father.
l dldn It dare show myself to NV wife for
rear she would know me, but hung around
sun because L wanted to scrape together
d llltle more money before 1 did the disap-
le 5iI act for good and all
me Judge paused and cleared his throat
asdIh- Gentlemen he said for the first
1lile turning toward the jury, Il was
w tchlhg my son when l saw this shooting
! sa" Long Pete speak to Faro Bits
daughter-she will tell YOU that this is Tho
truth. l saw her knock Pete's hat off and
saw Pete pull his gun. He was drunk of
course but that wouldn't have saved fha
srl. Nothing would have saved her. If this
prisoner hadn't been quicker than pate
lie might have winged him I'll admit bnt
SouhS men don't always stop to think of
such Things. He has his own reasons 7
naptoG Tor not telling of this, as l ex-
pected he would, but these are the facts
gentlemen. And I want to saw that az
ploua OF MIN added the judge, forgetting
t ~, ~ excitement that he had omitted to
idef'ti1y the prisoner with his SON
buzz of aStonished comment went
around the room, but the judge had not
yet finished. "Of course" said he for the
iIfst ufne assuming something of a legal
tIahher' 1 am aware that as the counsel
LOT the opposition says an example must
De SET: But since you are trying to produce
an erect. and not to punish crime Cor
no CRIME has been committed l suggest
nrfsa3 sUu aliow me TO take the place of the
prisoner ana by executing the law on me
instead OF the prisoner you will end mans
misery and save woman from heart
break"
Dead silence reigned for a moment after
the Judge sat down.. everybody was too
much surprised for speech. The marshal
was the first to break the spell. His hand
dropped from the prisoners shoulder. he
turned to the crowd and said: This here
man Is free" 1t was somewhat irregular
out highly satisfactory. and ringing cheer
went up from the usually International resi-
dents of Gordon City
Inc judge seemed hardly to understand
what was going on around him. He sank
back on his seat after the men had shaken