The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1902-12-19
fair enough to want to hear both sides

fair enough 10 want to hear both sides
of the ease.
1t so happened that four of the "E.
D." men We're wnrkin" in the yard that
day. moving Il big boiler. Each of the
four had applied for pardon and been
refused. and each had sworn revenge.
They had plotted TO get up scene in
the yard during the governors visit.
BY throwing down their tools and re-
fusing to work and by calling upon
other convicts to join them they would
upset all discipline for time and Gre
ate a sensation for the newspapers.
When the governor appeared among
them alone. they changed their plan.
OF sudden as his eXcellency stood
looking at the work in hand the four
men raised IL shout. rushed upon him
and hustled him into the alley between
SEe tailor shop and the shoe shop. In
two minutes the whole prison WAS in
revolt. There was no cowartlice among
the guards. hut when 600 men break
loose without the slightest warning
surprise and confusion will render thir-
ty or forty guards p0wcrlesS for Il time.
In the tailor shop where Barlow WAS
at work there was only one guard over
the thirty-fivc men. The fellow lost his
head ut once. and the first man to
reach him was Barlow. The revolver
was wrenched from his hand. and he
was dung aside as the thirtyfive
rushed into the yard. None of them
had as yet espied the governor, but
when It became known that he had
been captured Barlow dived straight
for the spot where he was being held.
Then. crowding the governor back. he
stood in front of him and leveled his
weapon at the cheering, curSing, eXcit
ed mob and warned them that it would
be death to them to come nearer.
For fifteen minutes pandcm0nium
reigncd in that yard. The mob Surgrd
from side to side of the yard. sacking
the building. destroying machinery and
dpfying the guards. The shoe shop WAS
set Oh fire. and above all the confusion
the notes of the alarm bell were heard
summoning help from the town.
In time most of the prisoners were
marched 10 their cells and locked up.
but Il score or more continued defiant
and were not overcome for an hour. and
then only after three of them had been
shot During all this time one man
stood between the governor and death
the convict Barlow. The "desprr
ates' begged. coaxcd. cursed and
threatened. They menaced him with
missiles. they sOrely wounded him
again and again, but they dared not lay
hands on him. dared not cross the line
he had drawn. When all was over. he
sat down and wept. The governor
went forth without scratch on his
person.
Everybody said here was case for
instant pardon. and yet 1t WAS Il
heroic thing on the part of Barlow,
but he had been sentenced for life for Il
cold bluodcd murder. Nor did he ask
for a pardon. What he did ask was
that his innocence might he proved |
lie had gone over the whole case in his |
mind Il hundred times. and now he WAS
able to throw some light on certain
dark spots. The governor had no doubt !
of his guilt. and yet he employed men
at his own expense to go over the
ground.
But by Il mere accident after all Bar |
low was cleared. In another state and |
hundreds of miles away horse thief |
was mOrtally injured by Il fall from the |
horse he had stolen. Before dying that |
NAH, who had not heard of the trial and |
other things. That he had entered the |
house where Mrs. Barlow was stopping |
to secure plumber. He was in the room |
when she woke up and cried out, and |
bolt. lie had no idea that he had |
caused her death. as he had not struck |
to kill. Barlow had been there in the |
evening to get word with her and make |
up their quarrel. but she refused TO
speak. When arrested, he was simply |
going 10 Il distant point, far from the |
scene of his domestic troubles.
If his guilt had seemed clear when |
tried before, his innocence seemed no |
less clear when he faced Il jury the sec
ond time. Leaving out his action dur |
ing the mutiny and taking the case OH |
its legal merits. he was honorably ac-
Quilted and restored to society without |
a stain on his name, and the first man |
to grasp his hand after the verdict was |
the governor of the state.