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


selves. They all said that he was as nice
as he could be. and that il was a great pity
that he should be engaged in such a
wicked business as keeping a saloon: but
when a little later they found that Jim
had sued the town for destroying his prop
erty. and got a judgment for more than he
could have made at his ordinary business
in the course of a year, they began to
They broke up all the drinking saloons In
New Jerichoville. and for five or six
months the men had TO import their liquids
from the next town in boxes labeled soap.
Miss Twitchell heard of the unusual guam
tity of soap boxes that were coming into
town. but she never suspected that they
held anything but soap. She made a speech
on the subject to the Board OF Alderwomen
and said the increase in the use of soap
showed the refining influence of woman.
However, neither she nor any of the other
women in office could account for the fact
that after all the saloons had been shut
up there were more drunken men In New
Jerichoville than there had ever been. The
men understood that this was the natural
result of the whisky drinking that went or
in private houses, instead Of public bars;
but the women believed that secret saloons
must be in active operation and they
searched for them high and low.
We were a law-abiding people. as a gen.
eral thing, and such crimes as murder and
robbery were rather rare. Occasionally two
men would have a difficulty, and when they
began to shoot their friends would natu-
rally take a hand in; but, compared with
many other Western towns, New Jericho
Vile was a sort of Sunday-school. So the
police had a pretty easy time, and when
they did arrest a man he never resisted
them, but went along with the officer who
arrested him as meekly as a lamb. You
see, the toughest man in town, no matter
IL he was the meanest sort of a scoundrel,
would have lost his social standing if he
had dared to be rude TO a woman, whether
she was a private person or a policeman.
There was one chap, who was arrested
by a young policewoman for singing too
loud in the street on his way home from
the theater; and it was said that instead OF
going with the officer, he kissed her, and
then dropped her over a high wall into a
~brickyard, where she had to stay till morn
ing; but he was a sailor belonging to a
British revenue cutter on Lake Erie, and he
didn't understand the way in which we
Americans treat women. Besides, he had
drunk considerable California champagne
with the boys, and it was a brand that was
warranted to make a camp meeting preach
er swear at his congregation. So on the
whole his conduct wasn't to be wondered
at.
One night two cowboys, who had lately
arrived in town. had a difficulty opposite
, the postoffice, and before the thing was
over. so many people had joined in that
1t was almost as exciting as a riot. You
see, our town was, as L nave said, an un-
usually quiet town, and so. when a shoot
ing match did happen, the people naturally
made the most Of ii while it lasted. The
police came UP after the shooting was
over. and they arrested a young fellow
by the name of Observation-Disclosures J..
Withers-on charge of having shot and
killed an Irishman by the name of Sulli-
van. Now Withers hadn't taken any hand
whatever in the difficulty. and he didn't
even own a ~pistol-as l we'll knew. having
been a friend of his for years; but there
were three witnesses who were prepared
to swear that they saw him shoot Sulli-
van, and, of course, the police couldn't do
anything except arrest him. 1 ought to
have said that he was a very handsome
young fellow. who was naturally very pop
ular with the girls. and though in my
opinion he spent too much of his time in
frivolous amusement, there wasn't the
least bit of harm in him.
The policeman who arrested Withers, and
marched him off towards the station house.
was a particular friend of his, and when
she got him into a rather qiuet street she
told him that the case looked mighty
black against him, and that he had better
skip. Just you pull my hat off," said
she. land run away as fast as you can.
1 won't give the alarm until you are safely
away, and when folks see my hat lying
on the ground and me in tears they will
understand that there has been a struggle
and that you overpowered me-"
Withers was a sensible young man, and
he knew that if he were TO be tried before
a jury of Irishmen he might be found
guilty and hung. AS that wasn't a pleasant
prospect, he did as he was told. and hid
himself in my house, where 1 gave him
the second-story front room, and told him
10 lie low until l could look into the case
| against him and advise him whether he had
better give himself up for trial or bolt for
Morocco, where no extradition treaty would
reach him.
There was a good deal OF excitement over
his escape. as soon as IL was known. The
| papers spoke in the most enthusiastic terms
OF the bravery of the policewoman Carrie
Thompson, who had been violently assault
ed in the discharge of her duty by a fero-
cious criminal, and had sustained the loss of
all the feathers in her hat and several hair
pins. Withers was assumed TO be guilty of
murder as well as Of resisting the police.
and il was remarked that il was lucky for
him that he had escaped and thereby saved
himself from being lynched by an indig-
nant mob OF the late Mr.. Sullivan's friends.
Meanwhile the police kept up an active
search for the missing man. and the num-
Der OF clews that they continually discov-
cred would have made any male detective
envy them. OF course. none of the clews
were worth anything, but then that is the
chief merit of a detective clew. IL enables
a detective TO keep on playing his game
without any chance of bringing IL 10 a sud-
den end by discovering and arres;ing the
criminal for whom he is supposed TO be in
search.
1 had made up my mind that Withers
wouldn't stand much chance of a fair trial
if the police got hold of him again. You
see. that Sullivan had been a very popular
man and very influential in politics. A jury
of men would. therefore, have been preju-
H. -nN. WITH - II go - -