The Washington times., 1906-07-18
Illinois Man Appeals to
Supreme Court to
Commit Him.

With his small, bcny, corpse-like
fists chucl-ful Of yellow bills rang
ing anywhere from twenty TO one
hundred dollars in value, and letting
them slip through his fingers at a.
most every step he took. Louis A
Gourdain, Of Chicago, claiming to be
Convict $500" at Joliet, scattered
sunshine in Wholesale lots all along
his way from the time he struck
town and drove away the clouds
lowering over the Raleigh Hotel last
night till his departure this after
noon for New York in a wild but
calm endeavor to break his way into
prison in order to serve a sentence
Of honor"
Begging for Prison.
Knocking at the door of the Supreme
Court Of the United States for n certi-
ftcate Of admission to some friendly
prison proved 10 be as useless as his
many attempts IN the courts of Chicago
which have brought him widely into
public notice the past few weeks, raising
the question as 10 the mental condition
Of the man. who appears TO be as sane
as any Of the Government officials be
fore whom he earnestly pleads on bend
ed knee for a chance 10 keep his promise
to serve out his sentence.
GOurdain, who was sent up for four
and one-half years for defrauding peO-
pie in sort Of lottery concern in New
Orleans. declared today that no believed
then and still believes that his bust
ness was honest and legitimate. he
knows he meant 90 be honest, at least.
and he had no thought that his bust
ness was not Legitimate. Sincere IN
this belief. Gourdain, like picturesque
orator Of an interesting and historic
day in the chivalrous past. fought his
case, personally, and like a man,
and swore To the court If the jury
could fail 70 believe his statement, and
declared him guilty, then he would
abide by that decision, no matter If It
meant death or a life OF penal servi-
tude.
Gourdain Is Man of Honor.
a man OF honor IS Gourdaln. Gull
ty." said the jury. and without a Whim-
per the man firmly set his thin, pale
lips and walked into prison. But when
friends got him out on bail. hoping for
new trial. HIS ire has become aroused
and across the continent he has come
seeking a friendly hand in order that
his honor may not be impugned, in
order that he may keep his pledge made
10 the jury.
If I was dishonest. I did not know
It, said Gourdain. early this morn
ing. 1t was my ignorance of the
construction of the law But every
man must know his standard
Of honor, ana there is no excuse for
my breaking my word. That / shall
keep. Though my throat may become
parched like that of a pilgrim lost IN "a
borderless desert. though the walls Of
nv stomach may cave in and lie fiat
together, and though my body ana
brain may become weary for rest ana
my eyelids CrOOp for sleep. ] VIII give
In TO neither hunger. thirst, nor cray
ing for slumber till l have kept my
word.
His Long Fast Broken.
Despite this positive assertion Gour-
dain broke the fast he has kept since
he left Joliet on Monday, while at the
Capitol this morning His interview
with the clerk OF the United States su-
preme Court. in the course of which he
had been refused permission to file the
queer petition for a mandamus he had
prepared, To compel Judge Closeup
to dissolve his writ of supersenas, ap-
peared TO have discouraged him When
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