Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-05-29

sAASAAA AoA sOAAC ACuSOu--lu SnOrI, tnat
he washed his hands of them entirely
and said that they might get out as
best they could. told Tom and his
partner that / thought the charge
against them was two-fold, the at
tempted murder Of Irving Warde, and
participation In the murder of John
T. Wright; and that i thought Frank
lin saw in their arrest u way to have
his crimes showed off on them, and
that he would deny all association
with them. I told the red flannel
shirt man that it had been discovered
that he had placed in young Wright's
house the pistol with which the older
Wright was killed; and that there
was strong case of circumstantial
evidence against him as the suspected
murderer. told him also that
Franklin washed his hands of the
case, and was very well pleased to
have the crime fastened on him. I
even intimated that the colonel would
probably be the attorney to prose-
cute them. assumed considerable
Indignation over the way they had
been treated by their associate and
leader in crime, and told them that I
had lost all confidence in Franklin,
and would never again undertake any
transaction with him. Each asked
my advice as to what he should do,
and I told them that the truth was
not so bad as the case suspected
against them; advised them to tell
the truth and in this way to get even
with the man who had so shamefully
deserted them. told Old Tom and
his pal that had no idea Irving
Warde would try to prosecute them
if they made clean breast Of 1t; and
I easily persuaded the other rascal
that the truth was his safest course.
believe that is all of my story"
Fenton's testimony was the sensa-
ton of the trial, and it furnished for
many days to come the material for
instructive editorials in the press Of
the city. The cotton magnates
looked n little foolish when they
found that they had been spending
their money on a detective instead
of great capitalist, but they soon
put aside their crestfallen air in the
admiration they felt for man who
could do such clever work as Fenton
had accomplished. Soma of the Off
GERS who had been unwittingly lend
ing themselves to the concealment Of
great crime kept very quiet for a
while, and a ti1nid moral lesson was
drawn from the revelations concern
ing bossism in politics.
In the general excitement people
forgot to watch the countenance of
Franklin, upon which deathly PAL
loE had settled But the keen ewes
were full of fire. 1t was the supreme
moment of his life when, the gaze
of the court room being attracted to.
ward him, he faced it with diabolical
fury.
Az this stage Of the proceedings
those dispassionate individuals who
liked to analyze testimony expressed
the opinion that while 1t had been
well established that Franklin was q
very handy, all-round scoundrel, it
had not been proved that Herbert
Wright was innocent of his fathers
murder; or rather, there were num-
Der OF apparently damning circum-
stances connecting Wright with the
crime which had not been explained.
1t was true it had been shown very
conclusively that Franklin had con
cetved gigantic scheme of robbery
with incidental murder and other
crimes for the purpose Of getting his
hands on a great fortune. His yari-
GUS denials had been amply dis
proved. so no attempt had been made
to account for the fact that Herbert
Wright had pawned the evidences
OF his guilt the very day of his
fathers murder. How came he by
those articles? Unless he could give
reasonable explanation of that the
case against him was hardly impaired
by the fact that Franklin was vii
lain.
Before concluding his evidence with
the statement OF Herbert Wright, Mr..
Everett introduced a gunsmith who
testified that he sold Col. Franklin
such pistol as that which was in
evidence. He was then asked to com
pare the ball taken from Wright's
brain and say whether it was the
proper size, and he replied in the
affirmative.
The prisoner OF the bar now took
the stand amid dead silence. He
was pale, but self-possessed. He
spoke clearly and to the point:
ION the day before my father was
killed called upon him for help.
My wife and child were in an almost
starving condition, and I could not
get employment. It was hard
wrench to my pride to beg from him,
but did SO, and WAS roughly re.
pulsed. The following day had been
to town to make another attempt to
get work and had failed. Uncle Dick
Norris had always been very friendly
to me. SO in my extremity I con-
Guided to go to him and see Ii he
could not let me have bit Of bread
and some game, of which he usually
had supply in the house. On tho
way back was cold, hungry, cynical
H:.A' ~. - 81 n
IN