Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-09-08
DAILY STORY
TO SAVE HER GOOD NAME.
lOriginal.1

Not long after 1 began TIC practice
law I was assigned by the court to de-
fend q man for having entered rich
mans house and stolen a ladys watch.
The moment 1 laid eyes on him | was
astonished. He was not only we'll
dressed, but bore the marks of u born
gentleman. The name he gave was
Alfred Stark, but l did not suppose
that was his real name. / took him
aside to interview him as to the line
of defense, and to my further surprise
he told me there was to be no de-
Tense. He intended to plead guilty
that Is. unless l saw some technically
by which he might go free without en-
tering upon a trial. l saw none; the
man pleaded guilty and was sent to
the penitentiary for ten years.
1t was about five years later when
had achieved some success In my
profession, that a card was handed
me at my office bearing the name of
Mrs. Clarence Il. Bostwick. When the
visitor was shown into my private of
fee l saw a young woman dressed in
mourning and wearing a widows cap.
She could not have been more than
twenty-five years old, and, though still
possessing beauty, ii had been marred
evidently by suffering. When we were
alone she asked me:
do you remember man you We're
appointed some years ago to defend on
charge of entering a gentleman's
house and stealing a lady's watchT'
Perfectly"
Would you know him by his pic
ture?"
She drew from a shopping bag she
carried on her arm a photograph and
held 1t up before me.
That's the man." / said.
"Supposing that l can furnish proof
of his innocence. Could you secure his
freedom?"
only by inducing the governor to
pardon him"
She then gave me the facts in the
case which 1 took down In legal form
and that afternoon | went by train to
the capital and having obtained an in
terview with the governor, said to him:
Seven years ago Howard Read met
and won Jeanette Pitman. They
were both very young and since Read
had his way to make he went west for
the purpose. At parting the two plight
ed what they called an everlasting
troth, not to be broken even after one
or the other died. For two years they
correspondent and at the end of that
time Miss PitmaI wrote her lover that
her father and mother were bringing
TO bear upon her n pressure to force her
to marry a rich old man. Soon after
that she wrote that she had yielded.
Il
ed for the east. This the parents OF
Miss Pltman knew he would do and
had all the arrangements for the wed
ding made before they permitted the
letter announcing the fact to go through
the mails. Indeed their daughter was
married the day ii was mailed. Read,
crazed by his misfortune, went to the
new home of the girl he had lost re-
solved to see her. not stopping to think
of the futility or the probable conse
quenceS Of such a course. The young
wife was weak enough to see him.
While they were together the hus-
bands step was heard without. For
moment ii looked as If the lady would
be irrevOcably compromised, but she
was saved by the presence of mind OF
Howard Read. whom the old man had
never seen. Snatching her watch Read
told the wife to leave the room by one
door a moment before the husband en-
tered by another. Read, caught with
watch belonging TO the lady of the
house. made no resistance and was ar
rested, giving the name of Alfred
Stark
THE lady CIrs. Bostwick) was pros
trated. She gave as a reason a nat
ural terror at burglar having been
caught in the house. When she was
told that the man would be sent
to prison for a term of years her
nerves seemed to collapse entirely, and
her husband could only reassure her
by promising not to prosecute the bur-
glar. He did not prosecute. The
state did it in his place, but this he
did not tell his wife, and she supposed
her lover had gone free.
Clarence Bostwick lived Eve years
after his marriage. At his death his
widow, who had completely lost track
of Howard Read, began an investigat
ton as TO his whereabouts. To her
surprise she found that short time
after her meeting with him a man had
been sent to prison for robbing her
husband. Securing the name and adj
dress Of the attorney who had had