Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-10-09
DAILY SHORT STORY
A Farfetched Deliverance.


IOriginaL1
In 1S9- became interested in read
| ing newspaper reports of the Edmin-
| ton-Blake murder case. Alan Edmin-
| ton and Edna Blake were lovers. Mr..
/ Blake, Edna's father, opposed the mar
| riage One night he was murdered in
the vestibule of his residence. His
daughter was out and returned n few
minutes after the murder must have
| been committed. Neither she nor Ed
minton could account for where they
had been during the evening. n sin
| gular feature was that they did not
try to establish an alibi. They simply
let the matter go by default. There
was no circumstantial evidence against
Miss Blake. and the only circumstan-
tiaI evidence against Edminton was
Mr.. Blake's opposition to his mar
rlage to Edna. taken in connection
with Edmintons inability to account
for his whereabouts at the time of the
murder Edminton was convicted, but
owing to the weakness of the testimo-
ny against him was let off with TWEEN
| ty years imprisonment.
One morning about ten years later
my friend Carl Strelitz came into my
office, evidently with something of i'm
portance on his mind. When we were
alone, he closed the door. Then, tax
ing n paper from his vest pocket, he
held it in his hand while he said to
me:
Il have just come in from yachting
and wish to consult you about n mat
ter of Importance that has fallen into
my hands. We were cruising off New
/ -ff inc
when 1 saw a bottle in the water. l
fished it out and, drawing the cork,
took out this paper" He handed it to
me, and 1 read:
Ship Albatross,
on East Coast of Africa.
Aug. .. 1892.
We are lost. Whoever finds this go to
No. =, - street, New York. and in
southwest corner room on fifth story
take up plank in middle of floor. You
will find important papers.
RALPH HARDING.
81 don't like being mixed up in such
AFFAIRS said Strelitz. What would
you do?'
Go and see what it means, of course.
L will go with you if you like
The offer was accepted, and we went
to the place designated. We found
building of questionable character
saloon below and furnished rooms
above. We acquainted the owner
with our mission, and with his con-
sent, taking a carpenter, we went to
the room described and lifted several
boards in the center of the floor. Be
tween two joists we found a bundle
wrapped in brown paper.
What it contained filled me with sur
prise and a satisfaction 1 have never
felt before or since. Calling Il carriage,
Strelitz and 1 took the bundle to the
chief of police. Then, hunting in the
directory for the address of AIiss Edna
Blake, we drove to her house. We
found a young woman of thirty who
looked nearer forty. l gave her the
facts concerning the bottle and the
finding of the bundle. Then 1 said to
her:
Miss Blake, Mr. Edminton is inno-
cent of the murder of your father"
'I know it,
by papers found today it appears
that one Jorbert, alias Slippery Jim,'
followed your father into the Yestibule
of his house, killed him and took from
his pocket $4,000 in United States
bonds. Not daring to dispose of them,
he hid them under the floor, and, being
shot to death while housebreaking,
before dying he communicated the Sc
cret to his pal, Harding. The papers
and the bonds are in the hands of the
police, but they belong to you"
Miss Blake uttered never a word,
but, going to a sofa, buried her face in
pillow. When she became composed,
she entered the carriage with us, and
we drove to the depot and in few
hours were at the prison where Ed
minton was confined.
1 had resolved at the time of this
mans incarceration never again to be-
come interested in a murder case. Now
that witnessed the announcement of
Edna Blake to him that the true muir
derer was known, they were vindicat-
ed and he would soon be a free man l
felt that there may be n bright side
even to a murder case. Yet it was
solemn sight to see those two. whose
| happiness for ten years had been ru-
ined and on whom the injustice must
always remain a blight. clinging to
each other as though they dared not
trust the good news.
Soon after Edminton's release Strel-
itz and 1 were invited to witness a
quiet marriage between him and Miss
Blake. Indeed, we were the only
guests present, for those who had been
near to them had thrown them both
over upon Edminton's conviction.
After the ceremony Edminton said
to me:
You gentlemen have been the in
struments through whom we have been
saved from further suffering, and to
you, and you alone, 1 will confide the
secret of where we were on the night
of the murder. We were then ten
years younger than now and more inn
prudent. We went to a hotel to be
married. 1 went out to find minis
ter and had poor success. When 1 re-
furned Edna Dersuaded me to defer