Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-26
THE ACCOMPLICE
FREDERICK TREVOR HILL.
Copyright, by
light resrve
Copyright, 1905, by Harper & Brothers.
All rights reserved.

nervously and his eyes watching every
movement of the enemy. as men behind
trenches await the moment of final assault
and hand-to-hand encounter. But he utter
ed no word Of objection to Gilbert's pre-
Hminary proofs. Even when the witness
was asked If he recognized the handwrit-
ing of certain words written in pen and ink
on the page bearing the Identifying marks,
he was allowed to answer in the af1irma-
tive. but before he could say whose hand
writing 1t was Barstow stopped him with
protesting roar. He must be allowed to
cross-exanine the witness, he declared be-
fore another word was spoken This line
of testimony had gone quite far enoughl
The defendants counsel had gone too
far, Gilbert retorted warmly. No trick of
interruption should be allowed to prevail
at such crisis.
Trick"
Barstow hurled the word at his opponent
and rapid interchange of retorts follow
ed which did not cease until Judge Dudley
Numbered the eombatants from the floor
But the clash at close quarters had arous-
ed the fighting blood of both antagonists,
and Barstow's argument became running
fight, savagely maintained until he carried
his point and gained the cover of fayora-
BILE decision.
If there was reasonable doubt of the wit
ness familiarity with the disputed writing
1t should be removed before he was allowed
to testify further, announced the judge The
defendants counsel must be allowed to
cross-examine on this point.
With glance of triumph at his opponer.
Barstow faced the witness with grim deter
mination.
How many words in the copy of the let
ter you hold before you are written with
pen and ink?" he demanded.
The witness counted them. touching each
word with his forelinger as he scanned the
page.
six" he answered.
How many words are there in the entire
letter." pursued Barstow, turning to the
iisry- a ha fz< fnv,
The witness made another calculate
about one hundred and thirty" he re-
piled.
are typewriter, are they not?"
Eyes. SIR"
''You say you recognize the handwriting
Of the six pen-and-ink words-have you ever
previously seen any of the same hand
mo, SIR"
"That Is to say. this is the first specimen
you have ever seen as it appears in let
ter-press eopyT'
Eyes, SIR"
rs the formation Of the copied words
perfect to your eyer"
'eNo-some of them are blurredn
sIndeed2 What do you mean by blurred ?''
1.-THE ink has run or spread"
'Is the formation of any letter of the six
words blotted out entirely by the spreading
of the ink?"
SAi-S6fC2u
sAnd do you mean to tell us that Won
are ready to swear, on the evidence of those
six partly obliterated words, who wrote
tham?'
The witness hesitated for an instant.
81 think know" he answered firmly.
You are not asked to trif1e with hu-
man life by guessing, sfrl You are asked
for positive knowledge! Don't beat about
the bush. mani Are you prepared. never
having seen press copy OF Miss Emory
writing. to swear she wrote those six
blurred words?"
The man turned In his chair and looked
appealingiy at the Judge.
II could not say positively who wrote
them, your honor" he admitted.
With shrug Of his shoulders, Gilbert per-
United the witness to retire, and the srec-
tators buxxed and rustied their relief.
But though the prosecutor had failed to
pferce his adversary's line he had produced
an unmistakable effect upon the Jury. /
Tor one was firmly convinced that the de-
PENDANT had made the disputed pen-and- ink
corrections In the typewriter letter, and
that the letter itself contained facts which
charged her with knowledge Of her employ
erss crime.
I stole glance at Barbara Frayue, but
turned away With 2 sinking haart a. noted
her 1uhfiant expression.
CiibSrf musf havs been conscious 81 the