Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1903-01-22

kb$& ~ I'll criminal courts IN JnlS
UAI city is spare little man
ALL Of 80, with a prominent
lBTLP~VvW lower lip cleaning red
fFW.V1i between a pair of sandy
HX@N side whiskers He is seen
,at every trial of import
It=SE ance. The court officers
have not the least idea who he is or
what he Is. but they are accustomed to
him as part of the local color" of the
proceedings, so they throw the door
open to him without asking for a pass.
Unlike the other frequenters of the
criminal courts. he scarcely ever push
es his way to front seat, usually pre-
ferring remote corner outside the in
closure. He is remarkably keen of hear
ing and has no difficulty in following
the testimony at the far end of the
room even when some of the jurors are
compelled to lean forward and to listen
with their hands behind their ears.
The other day, during the excitement
which followed the verdict Of mot
guilty in a celebrated case, he accost-
ed the occupant Of the next seat a
newspaper man who had dropped in
out Of curiosity rather than in quest of
material.
The conversation at first turned on
the case which had just been disposed
of by the jury, but it gradually passed
to the subject of acquittals in general
There was something in the little mans
manner as he talked which piqued his
listeners curiosity, and the two went
to have lunch together.
I'm so full of the subject couldn't
talk Of anything else just now" the fire.
quenter of the criminal court building
said to his new acquaintance. There
was something in my own life which
accounts for my inordinate interest in
matters of this sort. You think 1t queer,
don't you, that should initiate per-
feet stranger into the secrets Of my
past life, but, as ! have said, am full
of it at this moment that cannot help
unburdening myself. Besides, there Is
nothing very serious In my own case.
It was not murder that | was charged
with. 1t was something else and was
acquitted; but / have since studied
scores OF other cases which have ter
minated in an acquittal, and some Of
these are certainly full of what you
writer's would call human interest.
There are scores of foreigners in this
country whose chief reason for going to
America was the fact that they were
accused of some crime at home. | am
not speaking of runaways from justice.
These don't interest me. mean exclu.
fiicatiou at the way the trial ended and
have been declared innocent, but who
have found It difficult to live down the
impression which the groundless charge
has made on themselves | am one of
them.
when | was returned to my family
a free and spotless man there was con-
siderable enthusiasm in town, yet | had
to emigrate. My native place, my old
surroundings, had assumed new a
fOrbidding aspect to me. was haunted
by the echo of crime which had never
committed Not that | suspected my
fellowtownsmen of doubling the justice
of the verdict; for they were all quite
| demonstratiye in expressing their graf
ifcation at the way the trial ended, c1d
| knew that all they said to me came
from the very bottom Of their hearts
Besides, the prosecutions case had been
destroyed by my witnesses so complete
! ly that the states attorney could not
help congratuating me upon my free
dom He Is an honest man and treated
me after the trial in a manner which
showed plainly that he considered me
/ innocent. And yet-and yet-well,
there was something in the faces of the
people around me, in the very air that
] Ia1 taftNt lFnnt mr.
scious of the fact that had been &C
cused of a crime and that I was not
the same man had been before
my relatives said it was all i'm
agination, nerves, and that sort of
thing. They we're sure would get over
IT, but | knew that never would. 1t
kept growing on me; in fact, got so
that II became impossible for me to
follow anybody's talk without thinking
of the cloud that had hung over me.
People accused me of absent-minded-
ness. and at the same time 1t seemed to
me as though they became absentmind-
ed the moment they began to speak to
me. While their mouths were saying
pleasant things to me, their minds were
taken up with the fact that the man
they were talking to had been accused
of a crime, and that although he had
been acquitted, yet the mystery had
never been fully solved. That's what
they seemed to be thinking OF as they
addressed me. and as | watched them
sneak to me | seemed to detect lrrele-
yancies and incoherencles in their talk.
"Ah. they don't hear what they're talk
ing about I used to say to myself.
81 was afraid I might go insane II |
STAYED in my native town. | had to
emigrate. feel all right here. Only
sometimes talk too much; that Is, !
tell a rank stranger about the charge
that was made against me, and how II
all ended. and then | feel uncomfort-
able for week or two. My wretched
past comes hack to worry me. Another
thing. whenever there is big criminal
case become so absorbed in II that
give up my private affairs and attend
the trial as regularly as | would II |
were on the jury. Otherwise, the mat
ter never bothers me.
zone day | met man who made
an exceedingly pleasant impression on
me by everything except a certain
something in the look Of his eye. We
spent a whole day together, and all the
time I was in his fascinating company
I wondered what that something was.
At last II flashed upon my mind that he
must have been charged with some
grave offense. Yes; that's IT, | said to