Amador ledger., 1904-07-15
A CASE OF
CONSCIENCE
GOriginal.l

to hurt you. I'd rather put bullet
into myself than into YOU
"Pll try, Bill, to be satisfied to do my
time, but sometimes 1 feel that If
don't get out O. here I'll go crazy"
BE patient; you've only got year
and half more, counting time off for
good behavior, and that'll soon pass"
The convict turned away with a dis
satisfied exclamation; the keeper lock-
ed him in his cell and returned to his
Office
Just three months from that time
Jim Burt, after visit from his wife,
who smuggled him a steel saw, cut
two bars out of his window, let him
self down by means of his bedclothes,
lodged the guard and got away. When
the escape was reported to the keeper
he heaved a sigh and, arming himself,
started in pursuit.
Il must get Jim or kill him. he
said. Everybody knows that he and
l were schoolmates, and everybody
will believe that 1 connived at his es-
cape"
Connolly's determination to capture or
shoot his old friend-a cast iron con-
science. He considered it his duty to
safely keep every prisoner, and if any
one of them escaped to get him, dead
or alive. He could make no exception,
and in the case of his former friend he
must make greater effort. He divid-
ed the pursuing force into sections
sending them in different directions,
keeping one route for himself, a route
he felt sure Jim Burt would take. Tom
Hathaway, who had been one of a trio
of friends when they were boys, Bill
Connolly and Jim Burt being the 9th
ers, lived in a retired spot between
two mountains, q convenient place to
hide, and Bill knew that Tom would
hide their old friend Bill.
One with a less sturdy conscience
would have looked elsewhere for the
fugitive except in the place where he
felt sure he was to be found, but Con
molly could no more lie to himself than
to those by whom he was paid to do
his duty. He went alone to Hatha-
ways, hoping that he might the better
prevail upon Jim to return with him
voluntarily.
1t was a cold winter day when the
keeper approached Hathaway's place
Connolly shivered at the thought of
Burt's being obliged to lie in conceal
ment in the cold.
At Hathaway's he was told by Mrs
Hot fho "a
home) that Burt had not been there
But he had, and she had given him her
husbands overcoat.
Connolly knew of cleft in the rocks
a short distance up the road and felt
sure he would find his man there. He
walked till he came to an opening in
the bushes through which a path led to
the little cove, then took the path and
advanced. When he came within few
hundred yards of the hiding place q
voice called:
HALT"
"Come out, jim"
'Never alive, Billy"
"You know my duty"
mo, don't, Billy. suppose you do.
"I'm obliged to take you back with
me. You know how it would grieve me
to take you back in box"
Eyes, do, Billy; and you know how
1t would grieve me to shoot my old
friend. You see, I've got a position
here behind these rocks to do all the
damage, or rather you can't see, for
I'm too we'll covered"
I-lII
only my duty. duty that 1 can't fail
to perform without dishonor."
II don't exactly see it in that light
You have your old friends word that
he is not guilty of the crime for which
he is punished. The master you serve,
the state, has made a mistake. What
you want to do is to make big effort
to satisfy the public without really try
ing to do anything"
That's not my way of doing a
thing I'm bound to do. I'm not to de-
eide on your guilt or innocence. A
| jury has done that If they hit your
case wrong, that's your misfortune"
"And If you are my jailer trying to
take me and kill you in self defense
IuHL your misfortune.
There was long silence at the end
of which Connolly said, in a tone he
might have used to a stranger:
Prisoner, come out and surrender or
I'll open fire on you"
To which, after short silence, Burt
replied:
"Keeper, I'll not take advantage of
man who regards 1t his duty to kill
me. If I must fight you, I'll fight you
| in the open.''
He sprang over a rock and advanced,
ering and receiving his antagonists
fire as he advanced. He had emptied
three chambers of his revolver and
Connolly had emptied FIVE of his when
both fell some thirty feet apart and
lay without motion.
Late that night Hathaway returned
to his home and learned that both his
| old friends had been there. Burt had
told Mrs. Hathaway where he was 60
ing and asked her to tell her husband
to come and consult upon some plan
| for further action. Hathaway hurried
| away. The moonlight lay on the white
snow as he left the road and struck
into the path that led to the rocks. He
walked rapidly till he came to the
bodies of Burt and Connolly lying side
by side. He placed his hand first on
Burts then on Connolly's heart. Burt's
was still; Connolly's was beating fee
bly,. The overcoat that Mrs. Hathaway
had loaned Burt had been thrown over
Connolly. Burt, knowing that he had