Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-10-14
CHAPTER XVIII.

CHAPTER XVIII.
The futter that followed the read
ing of these letters subsidized into alb
solute quiet as the detective cleared
his throat, and, at the instigation of
Mr.. Everett, continued his testimony:
''Franklin's letters were of course
ingenious Misrepresentation, de-
signed to secure money, with which
he hoped to be able to suppress all
the testimony against his ownership.
had no trouble in satisfying Meri-
vale that the statements contained
in the letters were almost entirely
false. I came back to Nilus resolved
to play bold game with Franklin.
He, [ knew, did not want to see much
of Merivale just then, so he had my
coming made as public as possible
and limited that 1 had come to invest
money. This of course took me off
his hands great deal, but managed
to see him considerably. In my con-
versations with him was impa tient
over the delay, but he had all sorts
of gaudy excuses to offer. After
worrying him right smart I said to
him one day: Franklin, do you know
[ have found you out?'
"'What do you mean?' asked he,
turning a bit pale.
"'You have deceived me from the
start in this matter said 1, and by
so doing you have lost my assistance
If you had let me entirely into your
confidence from the first, we would
have been operating those mines to-
gether by this time; but by your
cursed dilatory policy, your scruples
of fear or conscience, you allowed
things to drag along, and all the
while the millions were slipping be-
tween our fingers. You are entirely
too squeamish to suit me-
Gle smiled at the idea of being
squeamish, as if / did not know him.
81 have picked up I continued,
, some of the threads of the case, and
you might as well tell me the whole
truth and let us work together
HE was skittish of me at first, and
wanted to learn how much / knew,
so [ startled him with few facts,
and then he frankly admitted that he
had been scheming to get possession
of the agreement. To test me he
asked my advice as to the best way
to get possession. [ replied that
there was only one way, and that
was to take it.
How would you take it . said he.
I'm the good old way replied 1.
Pay some handy ruffian to do it for
you
''He smiled and said: THAT is
what [ shall do if I do not succeed in
getting it from the person who now
has it.
Il pretended to have handled sew
eral little difficulties like this and in
timated that if we were out west it
would not be difficult to get rid of
such an obstacle as a human life. I
persuaded him that [ was willing to
commit any crime, even murder, in
order to secure my object; and en-
boldened by finding me a congenial
spirit, he grew more confidential. He
told me that he had hired Morris to
steal the agreement from Wright's
safe. l Wormed from him all the de-
tails Of his association with Old Tom,
Bob Padgett and him Of the red fan
mel shirt. | also managed to become
acquainted with them and learned
how and where to find them when I
wanted them. [ convinced Franklin
that was such cold-blooded scoun-
drel that he took me completely into
his affections and made me his con-
1dante. He was charmed with my
affable villainy, and he spoke with
good deal of pride of his scheme to
shut the mouth of Herbert Wright
and his little arrangement for the
removal of Irving Warde. One day |
told him that I had the ingenious
theory that he made away with John
L. Wright. He looked scared at that
and changed the subject I tried to
appeal to his pride in his criminal
achievements, but on this one sub
Ject-while he never made any posi-
tive denial-he was entirely uncom-
municative. The intimate association
L had with him leads me to believe
that there is no sort of cowardly
crime which James Franklin would
not commit provided his personal
safety was assured
'One of the hardest jobs I under
took was to win over the three
ruffians whom Franklin had employed
so often to our side of the case, or
rather to induce them to tell the