The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-09-29
THE EVENING STOR
One Chance in a Hundred for Life.


It was the old story of a murder.
eircumstantial evidence. a legal duel
between the state attorney and coun-
/ sci for the defense, with a defeat for
the latter and an innocent man SEN
fenced to death.
How a few days before the sentence
| was to have been carried out he got
out of Jail was never. certainly known,
| though it was admitted at the prison
| that his wife was admitted to see him,
and when she went away a keeper re-
marked that she looked taller than
when she went in, and another, seeing
| her get on to trolley car. noticed
that she wore heavy boots The rest
| of the story goes that the wife was
| found locked in the prisoners cell
alone.
He had been hiding during the day
and had heard them beating the bush
all about him. Several times he be-
| lieved that in a few minutes he would
be dragged from his hiding place But
while men are much more intelligent
than dogs there are cases where dogs
may throw men into a contrast of stu
pidity. His pufsuers could not smell
him.
Night came. and under its friendly
cover he left a region where he was
known to be and must certainly be
discovered on the morrow, if not dur
ing the night. Crawling under bushes
between two men set to watch for him,
he stole through their line and ran
with all thet strength he had LETT after
two days fast till he came to a farm
house. There, knowing that he must
have food for strength to struggle fur
| Their, he went boldly in, asked for
supper and at his fill. Then he start
ed on with one, and only one. advan-
tage-strength. But his chances were
growing lees.
Suddenly he stumbled into depres-
sion and fell. His hands struck
Sr1 n iron ha re
a railroad. He got I'D and walked on
| the track. soon coming to point
where he could see a station a few
hundred yards from him. It was
| lighted, and a single man walked back
and forth on the platform The fugi-
tive watched him, suspecting that he
was there to prevent his ESCAPE by
train. If he could only get aboard
without the man seeing him he would
have further and better chance
than before to escape. A way train
came along and stopped at the station,
but it was closely watched. and he
| did not dare try to get on. The
watcher went through it, and when it
had gone left the station. Doubtless
there could be no other train for some
| time.
TWO hours passed. A man drove up
| to the station in a buggy and dragged
| a big bag to a post beside the track
| a short distance from the station and
attached it to a beam projecting from
1
/ in position to be caught by an express
| train.
There is no such, nourisher of ideas
as self preservation. All that man is
today may lie traced to his one in
stinct. The hunted man knew that by
and by an express train would pass,
an iron hook on the mail car would
be adjusted and catch the bag around
the center and it would be caught and
| swung into the car.
| flo iT1fn
brain, Can / be swung on to the tram
| with this bag ?'' He calculated the
chances, and concluded that they were
about as follows: Death, ninety;
| thrown beside the track manned, nine;
taken in alive and recovering from
wounds, one.
/ While he was celebrating there came
| from distance the bark of d dog, fol-
lowed by another and another till their
| number was lost in a confusion of bay
| ing.
His pursuers had secured blood
hounds and his capture was now GER
| tain.
Hark-the distant rattle of a train.
It must be the express. The mans
mind is made I'D. He will take the
one chance in a hundred.
| When his wife had taken his place
in prison she had brought him rope
and a knife. These were all the ar
ticles he had asked for and he had had
as yet no use for them. Taking the
| rope from his pocket, he went to the
post, stood on platform beneath it
| and began to lash himself to the bag
| He first tied a part of the rope around
i the bottom of the bag. then dashed his
body under his arms to the upper part
of the bag and, lastly, wormed his feet
! into the rope about the bottom. This
| left his middle free.
| The barking of the dogs and the
rattle of the train came nearer. though
| from different directions. 1t WAS the
| train alone in which he was interested
with the bag, which, finally settling,
brought his face to the track. With
out this his one chance would have
been lost AS the train Numbered
near he bent his body like a bow
When the hook struck the bag it
struck out his consciousness. When
he regained his senses he was lying
on the floor of the mail car with sew
eraI trainmen standing oyer him. His
pursuers would not have known him,
for his face was drenched in blood.
All he knew was that he was alive,
aboard the car and there was hope.
When he reached the city the train
men offered to call an ambulance for
him, but he said he felt strong enough
to get home alone. He got upon his
| feet and, resisting with all his will a
disposition to faint, staggered out of
the car. When he had passed the gate
without being stopped he seemed to
gather new vigor, walked briskly out
of the station and boarded a trolley.
He has never been heard from by
the police but his friends aver that
he and his wife are living under an
assumed name in foreign land.
CHARLOTTE SHERWOOD.
GLOBE SIGHTS