The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1901-03-14

burglary at farmhouse in Ches
q hire. Three men had tied dow
and gagged the farmer and his twt
maid servants, and had rified the house
at their leisure.
There were two clews. In the strug
gle one of the men had left a button
from his coat behind, and he had also
had his face so severely scratched by
one of the maids that the girl said she
was sure she had left her mark upon
him."
Weeks passed without any arrest be-
Ing made, and people began to forget
the burglary, until one day man was
arrested at Liverpool. He had with
him a bundle containing some of the
plumber of the farmhouse. His face
bore traces of scratching, and, to clinch
the matter, his coat wanted a button,
and the buttons on 1t correspondent ex-
actly with that picked up at the scene
of the burglary.
His defense was very fiimsy. HE
knew nothing about the burglary, but
had bought the coat and things very
cheap Off man In the street." He ae-
counted for the scratches by saying
that he was sailor, and had in that
capacity much rough work to do.
There was no defense; the jury found
verdict of guilty" without leaving
the box, and the prisoner was asked IL
he had anything to say.
well, cap'n," he said, "it's hard to
be convicted for noth'n'. l know no
more of this burglary than a baby;
when 1t happened l was fghtln' the
slayers on the Gold Coast"
There was something In the mans
manner that impressed the judge, 80 he
said, not unkindly:
But surely. prisoner, II your story Is
true, you must have friends and COM
rades with whom you could have com
municated? 1t is too late now"
"Yous right, cap'n; it's too late. l
couldn't communicate with them any
how, for don't know where they are.
They may be in America, or they may
be at the Cape"
But" urged the judge, the court
has no wish to convict man who may
be innocent. Is there no one who could
speak for your"
The prisoner looked In a hopeless sort
of way round the court.
NO." he began; but just then his eye
lighted on a man in the court. YES"
he added, pointing to him, there is a
gentleman who might speak for me If
he would" The judge looked In the
direction of the individual pointed at.
do you know the prisonerY he
asked.
"No, my lord" was the reply. 81
never saw him before in my life."
"Well, Captain Sharpe" said the
prisoner, II know you well enough"
as your name Captain Sharper
asked the Judge. Eyes, my lord" came
the reply.
"Well, the prisoner seems to recog-
nize you, so l will ask you to step into
the witness box and be sworn, that he
may ask you questions"
The captain went into the box, and
the following dialogue ensued:
Are you Captain Sharpe Of the wal
ship vultureT asked the prisoner.
YES"
"were you in command Of her on the
slave coast this spring"
81 was"
"And wasn't one of the crew."
"Most certainly not"
"But, cap'n, don't you remember tn,
slave ship that you boarded"
"Yes."
"And you yourself led the boarders p
"Oh, yes; but all that Is nothing-yot
may easily have heard of or read al
about that"
well. but cap'n, once more-don'
you remember the big black SLAYER VIII,
was almost cutting you down? Dom
you remember the one man who stoo.
between you and death, and what h,
got for it? Don't you remember that !?
And, brushing back his hair, the pris
oner showed great scar down one sid
of his head.
The whole court looked on breath
less as the captain stared at the sea
and at the man till his eyes SCENE,
starting from his head. At length, a
II in a dream, he muttered to himself
Good heavens, Is 1t possible?"
Then slowly and deliberately he go
out of the witness box and clambere,
into the dock. where he seized the pris
oner's hand, and. turning TO the Judge
said: "My lord, this was the best maj
n my crew and he saved my life. Prov
idenee has sent me here to save him
He Is so changed by Illness that coul
not recognize him. But there Is n
mistake now. If you imprison the oil
bo'sun of the vulture you must tax
the captain with him."
Amid cheers and sobs that no on
cared to suppress the Judge briefly d
rected the jury to reconsider their vel
diet, which they at once did, finding
unanimous Not guilty"
AS they left the town Captain Sharp
might have been heard addressing b
companion somewhat as follows: