Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-06-06
DAILY SHORT STORY
Mixed i'm a Murder Case.
[Original.l

idence," said the peddler. Its too on
sartin."
He was sitting in the country store, |
while his pack rested on the doorstep. |
The storekeepeFs was posting his ac-
counts behind a adesk, and a lOunger
was sitting on the counter with his
legs dangling.
What makes We think sou asked
the lounger.
WAL, 1 got ketched in a case of that
kind onct. 1t was this Away. l was
movin' along a road in the country.
stOppin' at the farms to sell my stuff,
when one evenin' about dusk all of
student l saw a man come out OF
house draggin' d woman. She had on
red dress and q Sunbonnet that had
tumbled over her face. The man had
his arm around her waist and was
pullin' her along, she maxim no resist
ance whatever. 1 made up my mind
that she had tainted or was dead, 1
didn't know which. 1 watched the fell
Ter. he not KNOWN any one was lookin'
at him, till he got behind clump of
trees and l couldn't see him no more.
see the end of the business, but l reck
oned l might git mixed up in a murder
case and have TO spend months waitin'
to be called fer witness without max
in nothin', so jist went right on like
a sensible man and never paid no at
tention to the matter.
This was in the fall of the year, and
l didn't get over that ground ag'in till
the next spring, about the time the
snow was meltin'. Then l heerd that
a woman had disappeared mysterious
ly, and no one knowed what had be-
come of her. 1t didn't take me long to
put what I'd seen and the disappearin'
OF this woman together and make
fust class murder case outen It. But l
wasn't no fool to go mixin' myself up
in 1t, and l held my tongue.
"Then one day l was a-readin'
newspaper and saw an account of the
trial of a young gal fer the pOisonin' of
her mother. The trial was goin' on at
the county seat near where I'd seen
the man draggin' the woman, or the
body, through the cOrntield. l was
jist startin' through that region and
concluded I'd stop at the courthouse
and learn somethin' about the case. l
jist wanted to satisfy my curiosity.
"Waal, q few days later l laid down
my pack at the door of the courthouse
and went inside. The prisoner was Il
good loolin' country gal and in peck
of trouble. I listened awhile to the
evidence and heerd n witness describe
the gals mother, who had mysteriOuSly
disappeared. When she came to the
dresses the woman used to wear she
mentioned red one. IF I'd had any
doubt before that the woman I'd seen
dragged through the cOrniield was the
one who'd disappeared it all left me
now, though ! admit more n one
| woman kin have 4 red dress. But the
case was goin' dead ag'in the gal, who
set there right where l could look at
her. seem how pale she was and how
dispairin' she got as the evidence piled
up ag'in her and the prOsccutin' attOr-
ney pictured what an unnatural crea-
tur' she was. l KEEP a-thinkin' all the
time what misfortun' it was to git
mixed up IN the case, but the gal was
| sufferin so and looked SO purity ]
couldn't hold in. l concluded TO set
the court right. reckoned sure that
the man 1 seen draggin' the body in
the red dress was the murderer and
the girl was innocent. l elbOwed my
way down to the gals lawyer, called
him to the rail and told him what I'd
seen. 1 hadn't time to git it all out
before he had me on the witness stand,
and told 1t to the jury.
well, there was an adjournment,
and constables was sent out TO search
the place described. While they was
gone everybody waited, and the gal sat
lcokin' at me gratefully. At the same
time she was mighty anxious. 1 looked
Mt her hopeful, as much as to say.
Don't you worry, they'll find yer moth
er's body sure, then the man l seen
draggin' it'll be in your place, and
you'll go scot free
I'm about an hour the party come
back. carryin' somethin' on a couple of
lpoles with croSspieces. AS they come
into court 1 caught sight of a dress that
had been red, but the weather had
taken the brightness outen it. There
was a sunbonnet damned down on the
face.
"'What did you findf asked the
Judge, lookin' at the thing over his
specs
"'Skeer crow said one of the consta-
bles. Farmer Shock had it In his corn
field last summer. and when the corn
was got in he carried it down to the
fence and left it there. It's all straw
except the clothes
II colored up to the roots of my hair,
but didn't have so much need to do so
as you'd reckon. The case ag'in the
gal had been all clrcumstantial, and
her lawyer, taking advantage of what
I'd told him and the findin' of the
skeer crow, made a powerful speech
ag'in relyin' on SIGH evidence and got
the gal off. Three months after that
her mother was found alive in another
state. havin' wandered away outen her
mind"