The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-02-04
JUDGE HASTINGS, QUEER CLIENT.

You've never met her, Proctor2''
asked the Judge, turning TO his friend
No2 Tell her TO come right in. Pete
She came in radiant. dignihed. wo-
manly. cordial. and Proctor. who was an
Old bachelor, began 10 realize his friend s
feFerential faith in marriage VOWS, his
fame as 4 peace-naker betwixt warning
pairs, his dislike for fraiI divorces and
errant husbands. Very gracious to her
husbands colleague. she fingered but e
moment and went away. Hastings closed
he door, lighted another cigar and re
Z sumed the talk
Speaking Of queer clients" he began
( the worst and the best, the most decep-
tive and Yet the most ingenious I ever
/ had was a woman shoplifter. 1t was
/ down in Cincinnati, in the old days, when
1 had but little experience outside OF
criminal practice. You know, 1 was
/ prompted 70 come here 10 get away from
growing reputation criminal
/ pleader. and yet my first case in Chicago
was for one OF my loyal Cincinnati
! crooks. Crooks-yes, that's the word.
/ guess, though it seems harsh now, for
/ she was the most loyal, ingenious and
/ most yirtuous thief that ever lodged the
penitentiary. Well, TO begin at the be
Z ginning.
she was arrested one day in cincin-
/ natl by the house detective of a big dry
E
Ing is, caught red-handed.' OF course
she sent for me. I was terribly strong
with the shoplifteTs OF Cincinnati and
the Lord knows there were enough of
them to keep a Woodworking tyro in
board money. l don't deny that l was
struck with her beauty and evident re-
hnement the moment net her-she was
on the books as Mary Smith-and the
cheap calico and dowdy cape she wore
were not much OF a disguise for her ex-
trdordinary qualities, physical and men
tai.
Il told her to tell me the truth about
herself up to the time of her arrest and
she did. I'm sure she did, as you will
find. She was of good family, and ten
der nature, had eloped with a handsome
salesman and had been living for three
years in Covington. where her husband
was doing well. Well. he was found TO
be short IN his accounts, convicted of
embezzlement and sent to the peniten-
tiary, leaving his young wife and baby
in absolute penury. She sold everything
the first year to keep him supplied with
the extras that are not on prison menus;
she denied herself, looking for work of
any kind, and finally awaking TO the
realization that there was nothing be-
tween her and hunger except the few
good garments that remained OF her once
splendid wardrobe.
She sold them, and IN utter gener-
osity wrote hopeful letters TO her hus-
band, even when her prospect loomed
blacklist. She could hardly sew, knew
nothing Of business, had neither means
nor time to learn shorthand or type
writing, and soon found that even the
petty positions open for young women in
the big stores, paid next to nothing AS
sailed on all sides by rascals of the I'M
clean and impertinent type, who would
have favored her on account OF her
beauty, she could do no better than fill
an occasional vacancy as extra in some
store. She tried writing at home, but
found that the pittance for addressing
10000 envelopes would not keep her and
her baby day. Then, in desperation,
she began to steal. timidly at first, but
finally with holiness and shrewd dex-
terity that for a time meant ease and |
even luxury for her ard the baby.
She fixed up snug little fiat in Gin |
cinnati, but with her weather eve on |
possible detection, held on to the squalid /
room in Covington, where she had hid /
her misery and her shame from the fair |
weather friends of her early married |
days. She made no effort to conceal nor I
condone the crime for which she had |
been arrested. [ got bail for her, and as
we left the jail together, what do you
suppose she proposed? Simply that she 1
81 Ddth WIN ltI BdDY TO the dirty. :
bare room in Covington, and leaning /
wholly upon her story OF pinching want, |
throw herself on the mercy of the rich |
merchant she had robbed. No lawyer
could have devised a better plan. and at I
once 1 was struck by her swift ingenuity
1t means a chance TO plead first Of
Tense and 1 seized upon it as her only
chance TO escape a sentence:
"Of course, I played her hard-luck
To ffr-f --f
10 so over with me to Covington. and
to make a long story short, not only got
the case dropped, but actually convinced
the proprietor that Mary Smith should
have a place in the glove department of
his store. She got it, and, as l took
pains to know, contrived 10 exc out d
decent living for herself and child till
her husband came back from the peni-
tertiary. OF course, that meant that !
they must leave Cincinnati, and the next
thing knew they were gone, bag and
baggage, nobody knew whittier
Il came to Chicago year or so after, |
set up a modest office, resolved to keen
away from the criminal branch, and was
in the way Of forgetting Mary Smith
when suddenly one day got a telephone
message to the effect that a woman Dris- !
oner at Central wanted to see me. I
went over and met Mary She was
almost in rags, had come to Chicago
with her husband, who deserted her as
soon as their money gave out. She had
tried to get work. failed. begged a little
too little TO keep her child warn-then
she resumed stealing. The old story.
Everybody knows il. Well, 1 took the
ease. got her over to her squalid room on
the West Side. and began 70 figure on q
scheme 10 get her out OF trouble.
4 couldn't think OF any, but when I
came back the next day l found her full
IF hone, though she was IN bed. III and
looking quite cadaverous. I've got con-
sumption, Mr.. Hastings she said. smil-
ng wanly; we must try the quality of
Chicago mercy, this time Then I no
-iced that the handkerchief which she
brought TO her mouth was stained with
red and at the corners Of her pretty
mouth were tiny crimson lines. i got
doctor TO visit her, and he promptly de-
Jared that she was in rapid tubercu-
osis-pthisis, I think. he called it.
But the prosecution was obdurate al /
7rst- They didn't swallow the dying
mother story very easily; II had been !
worked too often. they said 50 I sEg- !
seSted that they send their own doctor
% see my client, and. Il he declared her
,ther than consumptive, or declared that
he was shamning. I would pay his bin
nd 20 10 trial He went a dozen times.
md finally agreed with my doctor that
he was falling rapidly lie was q good
leErted man The pretty chile touched
us heart I dare say, bat the unfortunate
nother's hemorrhages. her failure to gain
sesh. her pinched. almost transparent
.esh, brought him over 10 or E!Ce.
Then my Cincinnati experience was .
created Case dropped, position for the :
mother as soon - she vas able 70 walk.
dniness. help. hope But she rallied 50