Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-04-08

| ened. The case was called, the pre-
| limlnaries were gone through, and
| then Chris was requested to Identify
| the man who assaulted him. watched
him nervously, as l saw that the man
he wanted had seated himself in a
chair and had buried his head behind
| paper. In fact, he was the least
| conspicuous person in the room. Chris
glanced around and look of disnp-
pointment overcome his features. Again
he surveyed all present, and to my in.
| tense astonishmentpointed to ma n who
somewhat resembled the accused, and
said, There he Isl Clark then dropped
| the paper from his face. Chris threw
his hands up excitedly and exclaimed,
My Got, I haf made mistake! 1t is
he"
"Then the Squire took hand in
the proceedings. That won't do he
said to Chris. You have upon your
oath identified this man (pointing to
the innocent strangely as your assail-
ant. Now we shall see whether you
have made a true Identification At
this point my friend and myself, as
being witnesses in the case, We're or
dered from the courtroom. Not know
Ing the law then, and thinking that a
trap had been set for my man, we
refused to go. Whereupon the Squire
gave orders to the constable that If we
remained in the room during the hear
ing he was to arrest us for contempt
Of court. We decided to retire, but
fully expected to be called as wit
nesses. We left Chris, who could not
understand English, to face q hostile
crowd alone. An interpreter was pro-
vided, but he twisted the replies in the
favor OF the prisoners. The rulings
Of the Squire, too, were such that the
competent.
"Well, we had waited outside for
an hour when Chris appeared with a
very detected countenance. Well
said to him, is it our turn now? He
shrugged his shoulders. It's over.
Made me sign paper know nothing
who robbed me. Gave ME $2.70, but
my cane gone for ever!' We realized
what they had done. Chris had signed
deposition absolving the prisoners
Of any completely in the highway rob-
berry, and he had received a paltry
sum of money to compensate him for
the amount taken from him. The
'SquireI whose duty it was to admins
ter the law Justly, had compounded a
felony. A wilful perversion of justice
had resulted, but I don't know but
what our ignorance of the law was
partly responsible therefor. The evi-
dence should have been presented for
the consideration of the Grand Jury.
who, had it been sufficient, should have
indicted the two men accused The
Squire really had no jurisdiction over
the case.
"My man. however, thought that my
friend and 1 were In league with the
others, and all that We did was for
the purpose Of clearing the men of
the grave charges of highway robbery
and assault with intent to kill. Our
desire was to befriend Chris. He never
had the same faith in me, and very
shortly left my service. Wilson be-
came prosperous hostelry proprietor
nearby. AS for Clark, two months
later he was appointed constable by
the Squire. A number of burglaries
which aroused the neighborhood were
proved to the satisfaction of a few
citizehs to have been committed by
Clark during his rounds in the per-
formance of his duty. They knew,
however, that his trial and conviction
were impossible, as his friends were
all-powerful, and that persecution
would be the reward for any action
they might take with that object in
view. Not long ago Clark, who had
remained constable, died a respected
citizen, and at his funeral he was eulo-
gized as a faithful public officer. But
my faith in human justice received a
mighty jar"