Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1901-07-13

full enough to get along in this world
with men. let alone women. He
thought Miss Mead would never look
Mt him. and suppose she took him at
his own valuation. Women are apt to
do that, you know. At any rate he
made no progress. You know what |
mean. l am telling YOU the results Of
my observations. Harrison never said
anything about 1t.
well, after Miss Mead met you at
Tampa last year the boys chances
seemed to dwindle to nothing"
"It seems to me you are making a
long story of It," said Willoughby.
Cant you cut it,"
"Bctter let me go on, l guess. Now
I've told you how the case stood when
Miss Mead came north last year
The listener made another move to
protest against the form the narrative
had taken, but realizing that his tor
mentor knew no other way of tcllin.
what he had made up his mind to say
Willoughby settled back again.
'Three or four months after we had
been reading in the newspapers about
your work in Cuba Harrison was
drawn on jury" A groan from Will
lOuGhby announced his despair mt this
new depression, but Scott went on
without a pause:
"You will see the connection later. |
helped him kill time while he waited to
be called, and when he was finally
drawn l was there as regularly as the
judge. | have forgotten the title of the
case they put him on. 1t was the heirs
of somebody against man named
Stevens, who held a lot of property
that was claimed by the heirs under Il
will. Stevens claimed under deed,
and the suit was brought to set aside
the deed on the ground that it was
obtained by fraud.
"When the lawyers on each side went
through the form of asking the jury
men If they knew any of the interested
parties to the suit, | saw Harrison
shake his head in bored way. TO cut
this part short, Miss Mead walked into
the courtroom on the second day of the
trial. Harrison told me afterward that
he knew in an instant that she was in
terested in the case. Before he left the
box that day he asked to be allowed to
see one of the exhibits. and. reading
the caption, ne found that his intuition
had been correct. | believe Miss Mead
had been made party to the suit aft
er it had been begun in a lower court,
and her name did not appear in the
list which the lawyers read when they
pOlled the jury.
1--WE talked the matter over that
evening and Of course | advised the
boy to explain to the court that he had
discovered since the trial began that he
was acquainted with one of the plain
tiffs in the case. l have not been able
to make up my mind as to why he in
sisted upon going on with the trial.
explained to him that it was very
risky thing to do. He always was bull
headed, though, when he made up his
mind.
"Nfiss Mead did not come to the
the trial. The lawyers strung it out for
two weeks. 1t was a very close case.
l could never have decided it either
way. 1t had been fought by skilled
lawyers from the start, and they had
succeeded in keeping everything off the
record that would throw light on the
questions at issue. There was some
thing like 100000 or $4,000 in 1t for
each of the heirs under the will These
heirs were nieces of the original bene-
ficiary, but that hasn't anything to do
with this story. Miss Mead is not rich,
l believe" the narrator added reflect
lively.
"As have told you, Miss Mead was
on hand to hear the lawyers sum up
on the last day of the trial. She took
good care not to sit where Harrison
could see here. but he passed within
ten inches of her when the - men filed
out to the jury room. 1t was a long
uneasy wait for me while that jury de
liberated as the newspapers say. Har-
risOn was the foreman, and when he
got up to deliver the verdict | could
feel my heart beating way up in my
throat"
"Go on, go on" Willoughby urged as
Scott paused at the recollection of how
his heart acted on this occasion.
"Well, the jury decided against the
heirs at every point. Stevens had sew
eral deeds, and every one was sustain
ed. The heirs didn't get shilling
Miss Mead had left the room by the
time the jury was discharged"
"By Jove" namely remarked the
listener.
Yes, sir. and Harrison told me he
had hard time persuading two of the
jurymen to decide against the-against
her."
But | don't quite see"- Willoughby
began.
"Of course you don't. my brave sol
dier boy. | am coming to that now.
Harrison. mind you. had not seen
Miss Mead for the two weeks, except
on those two days during the trial, and
he did not hurry about calling after the
verdict. | think that 1t was a week
later that we all met at the theater,
great piece of luck for the boy. can't
tell you exactly how they Strengthened
the matter out. Perhaps it didn't need
any Strengthening, but way back in the
box toward the end of the show l
heard Miss Mead say, half soberly and
half laughingly, There are all sorts of
courage and when we got home"-
81 think that's enough, Scott, if you
don't mind. Where can | find the sail
ing of the Havana boatT
Il was afraid of that" said Scott
st. Louis Republic.