Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-06-08
FAST BEING MADE RARE.
A Curious Book. OF Which Nearly All
Copiea Have Bcen Destroyed.

Copies Have Been Destroyed.
That queer book, IAN Innocent Man
In a Felon's Cell" by A. Il. Dunton.
late of Belfast, author of the Duntonl-
an system of pcnmanship. is not includ-
ed in the photography of Maine. How
ever, II a person should 60 to the state
library with one of those volumes in
his hand have an idea that the insti
tuition would pay 500 or 5000 fer the
work. The fact is there is probably a
larger premium on that book than on
any other by Maine author. For 20
years certain parties have been engag-
ed so sedulously In destroying the
books that it is scarcely ever that one
is turned up.
Mr.. Dunton didn't write that book In
any dilettante spirit. He wrote 1t for a
purpose and was so much in earnest
that he paid for the publishing Of the
book and for the most part gave the
edition away The volume is as large
as the ordinary novel, and therefore 1t
may be seen that Mr.. Dunton was very
The story is too long to tell here. and.
for that matter ii is not wise to rake
up too many Of the details. Briefly, a
woman was found murdered in small
town in Knox county some 20 years
ago. She had lain several days in her
home when she was discovered by
some of the neighhOrs. Beside her was
a bit of paper on which was written, Il
did il"
The man who was then county attor-
ney of Knox county brought to a. X.
Dunton this scrap Of writing and with
1t vessels lOgbook. The attorney de-
clared that this book had been kept by
one Nathan Hicks. Mr.. Dunton was at
that time well known expert in hand
writing. After examination he declar-
ed unhesitatingly that the writing on
the paper and in the logbook was by
the same hand. He declared that Ii
was one of the plainest propositions in
chirography he ever had submitted to
him. He went on the stand and testi-
fed 10 that effect Hicks was sent to
prison for life.
In a short time after the trial Mr..
Dunton found out that deception had
been practiced on him and that he had
unwittingly sworn away the liberty OF
one whom he had reason to believe did
not kill the woman. He learned that
the logbook had been written by a
prominent sea captain. retired living
in the town in quC.;..l. Dunton en-
deavored f. secure 4 pa",On for the
man Hicks. but not meeting with much
success hp set about writing a book on
the matter. He directly charged sew
eral lawyers with conspiracy to con-
Wet Hicks IN order that the really
guilty man r;ight 70 free. During the
progress Of tie controversy Hicks died
IN the Maine state prison. Dunton
brought out his book and for time
Il produced quite stir. but the par
ties who were named in such an I'M
complimentary way set about buying
up the books and destroying them.
They claimed that they had been cruel
" slandered and asserted that they had
a right to destroy enc Of these books
whenever they came across 1t. They
did so. If one of the men entered a
home and saw one Of Dunton's books
in sight anywhere, into the fire it went
without a word. Situations were fire.
duently uncomfortable for both par
ties, but the lawyers were determined
to put these books out of existence.
They believed long ago that their
object had been achieved, but n stray
one of the books kept bobblng up every
now and then. During the last SEES.
sion of the legislature one Of the accus-
ing volumes was floating about the
statehouse to the extreme disgust of
two lawyers who were more or less
prominently engaged In the work of
legislation. They paid good round
price. got hold Of the book after some
negotiation and destroyed it. They de-
clared that they hadn't seen one of the
things for - years. but it Is likely that
as some of the old Waldo county at
tics are rummaged the books will pop
out occasionally.-Lewiston (Me) Let
Ter in Boston Advertiser.