The daily Alaskan., 1905-02-01
Mixed Tn a
 Murder Case
toriginal.l

l sarun.'
 He was sitting in the country store, while his pack rested on the doorstep. The storekeeper was posting his ac- counts behind a desk, and a lounger was sitting on the counter with his legs dangling.
 What makes ye think soT' asked the lounger.
 "waal, got ketched in a case of that kind onct It was this away. was moyin' along a road in the country, stoppin' at the farms NS sell my stun, when enc evenin' about dusk all of a suddent I saw a man come out of a house draggin' a woman She had on q red dress and -sunbonnet that had tumbled over her face. The man had his arm around her waist and was pulfin' her along, she maxim no resist ance whatever. I made up my mind that she had tainted or was dead, l didn't know which. watched the fel- Ter. be not knowin' any one was lookin' at him, til he got behind a clump of trees and couldn't see him no more.
 'I was tempted to steal along and see the end of the business, but reck- oned might git mixed up in a murder case and have to spend months waitiS' to be called fer a witness without ma6- n' nothin'. so jist went right on like q sensible man and never paid no at tsntion to the matter.
 "This was in the fall of the year, and I didn't get over that ground ag'in till the next spring. about the time the snow was meltin'. Then I heerd that a woman had disappeared mysterious ly. and no one knOwed what had be- come of her. It 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 1t. But l wasn't no fool Co go mixin' myself up in 1t. and I held my tongue.
 Then one day I was a-readin' a 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 cOrnield. l was list startin' through that region and concluded I'd stop at the courthouse and learn somethin' about the case. l list wanted to satiSfT my curiosity.
 "Waal. a few days later I laid down my pack at the door of the courthouse and went Inside. The prisoner was a good IoOkin' country gal and in peck of trouble. l listened awhile to the evidence and heerd a witness describe the gals mother. who had mystcriOuSiy disappeared When she came to the dresses the woman used Co wear she mentioned a red one. Elf I'd had any doubt before that the woman I'd seen dragged through the cornfeld was the one who'd disappeared it all left me now, though I admit more n one woman kin have a red dress. But the case was goin' dead ag'in the gal, who set there right where l could look at her, seeiu' how pale she was and how dispairiu' she got as the evidence piled up ag'in her and the prOseCutin' attor- ney pictured what an ounatural crea- tur' she was. l kep' a-thinkin' all the time what a misfortun' it was to git mixed up in the case, but the gal was sufrerin' so and looked so purity l couldn't hold in. I concluded to set the court right. I reckoned sure that the man l seen draggin' the body in the red dress was the murderer and the girl was innocent. 1 elbOwed my way down to the gals lawyer, called him to the rail and told him what I'd seen. l 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 l described. While they was Eone everybody waited. and the gal sat Iookin' at me gratefully. At the same tine she was mighty anxious. l looked at her hopeful as much as to say, Don't you worry, they'll find yer moth CTS body sure. then the man l seen drsggin' it'll be in your place, and you'n go scot free
 "In about an hour the party come back, carryin' somethin' on a couple of poles with crosspieces. As they come into court caught sight of dress that had been red, but the weather had taken the brightness outen 1t. There was a sunbonnet jammed down on the faee
 -'what did you fndT asked the judge, lookin' at the thing over his specs
 "'Skeer crow said one of the consta- bles. Farmer Shock had 1t in his corn neld last summer, and when the corn was got in be carried 1t down to the fence and left 1t there. It's all straw except the clothes
 q colored up to the roots of my hair, but 1 didn't have so much need to do so as you'd reckon. The case ag'in the gal had been all circumstantial, and her lawyer. taking advantage of what I'd told him and the indin' of the Skeer crow, made a powerful speech ag'in relyin' on sich evidence and got the gal of. Three months after that her mother was found alive in another state. havin' wandered away outen her mind"
 ''The gal must "a been mighty thankful to yer" said the man on the counter. "fer maxim fool of yerself."