The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-08-24

the that II they broke down
the door they would be liable TO be prose
cuted for burglary, and that scared them.
However. they insisted that Withers was
in the house and that he had been seen at
the second story window. / tried to make
them believe that it was l that had been
seen and not Withers. but they said 1t was
perfectly ridiculous to suppose that anyone
could nave mistaken an old ~gray-haired
man for that handsome young Mr.. Withers.
And. to tell the truth, 1 thought so myself
though IL wasn't particularly polite for
them to call me gray haired.
Well, after a while. they gave up knock
ing at the door. and the sergeant. who
was a determined old maid by the name af
~ohnson-thoug now L think of IL, her
name was Smedley, which is enough like
Johnson to account for my having made
a mistake-sent to the station house for a
long ladder, which reached from the side
walk to the second story window. When
she had planted the ladder she looked
around at the crowd that had collected.
and asked II any gentleman would be
kind enough TO go up the ladder and bring
down the criminal Withers. AT that L
sang out through a crack in the door that
nobody who wasn't a policewoman could
enter my house through a window with
out being filled up with lead. 1 said tina.
Of course L wouldn't shoot at a woman,
but that anyone except a woman who
tried TO mount the ladder would find out
that he was climbing the golden stairs.
That settled the men for they knew that
/ was a man of my word. So they told
the sergeant that they couldn't think Of
interfering in the matter unless they had
first been regularly appointed special po-
licemen. The sergeant expressed the opin-
ion that the men were perfectly mean
and ungentlemanly." and then she ordered
one Of her policewomen to climb the lad
der and bring down withers. Not one
of them would stir. though she ordered
each one Of them In turn. She evidently
thought they were all afraid of Withers,
until one of them whispered to her. Then
she exclaimed stuff and nonsense," and
added that she would climb the ladder her.
self.
Accordingly she started to do it; but
when she had climbed high enough to
make the tops of her boots visible. the
| other policewomen called to her for heav-
ems sake to come down, and all the men
began to laugh. The sergeant burst into
cdr dnu CdHe SLOWLY QOWH the LADDER,
and then made a speech to the men, in
forming them that they were no gentle
men, and that she had a good mind to
arrest the whole of them for insulting the
police in the discharge of their duty.
The men only laughed, and that made the
sergeant more angry than ever. AS for
the policewomen who were with her, they
giggled like a parcel Of school girls, AMI
the prospect of capturing Withers seemed
further off than ever.
Just then Withers opened his window
and came down the ladder and surren-
dered. He said that he couldn't bear to
see so many ladies in an awkward situa-
ton, and that sooner than compel a single
-policewoman to climb the ladder in the
presence of a crowd he would go quietly
TO Jail. The sergeant thanked him. and
1 distinctly heard one of the p~olicewomen
whisper to him that he was "a duck"
1 doubted the wisdom Of his conduct, but
1 remember that he knew twice As much
about dealing with women as knew, and
that the chances were that he saw that it
would be to his advantage to surrender.
They took Withers off to the jail and the
sergeant asked the jailer to give him the
best cell because he was such a gentle
man." and the policewomen all shook
hands with him when they said goodbye
and promised to send him things to make
him comfortable. He was in prison about
three weeks while the prosecuting attorney
was preparing a case against him TO sub
nit TO the grand jury, and he told me
afterward that he had a bang-up time. The
policewomen sent him flowers every day by
the bushelful. and he traded these to the
jailor, who was fond of flowers, for cigars.
Every afternoon two or three policewomen
would come to see him.. and would bring
him books and sing TO him. till the other
prisoners in the jail said that il the
cisgraceful noise wasn't stopped they'd
complain TO the Governor Of the State and
ask to be transferred TO the chain gang.
The prosecuting attorney, who, / think
I told you, was an attractive young woman
by the name of Miss Florence Wilkins.
came to see Withers every evening and
had private. interviews with him i'm the
jailer's parlor. She said that she was get
ting up the case against him, and that
the true way TO proceed in such cases was
to examine the accused person before ex-
amir'rg the witnesses against him. 1t
was her idea that in this way she could
get at the truth much more certainly than
in any other way. When some one object
ed that this wasn't the usual method of
proceeding, she said that it was the meth
cd that was always followed in France.
and that IL stood to reason that people
who, like the French, could make prettier
bonnets than any other people, must know
all there was TO be known about such mat
tiers as law and criminal procedure.
Her interviews with the prisoner grew
longer and longer, and it was generally
understood that she had got e. ough in
formation out of him to hang him a dozen
times, even if no witnesses appeared
against him. The policewomen were of
the opinion that her conduct was grossly
unfair, but, as they could not put a stop
to ii, they had TO conhne themselves to
expressing the opinion that it was hard
enough for a young man TO be In prison
without being tortured by a person who
was virtually a mink, even II she was a
prosecuting attorney.
The day before the grand jury met the
prosecuting attorney sent two policewom-
en- 10 the Jail, with orders 10 bring the
wished to hold a final examination. Ac-
cordingly, he was brought in a closed cab
and left alone in the prosecuting attorneys
office. while the two p~olicewomen were
given tea and cake in another room.
That was the last that anyone In New
Jerichoville saw Of the prisoner or of the
prosecuting attorney for the next two
years. When the police woman got uneasy
at the length of the interview that they