The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-02-17
DAILY SHORT
STORY
A PROFESSIONAL DISCLOSURE

IT ''ST 60SiOiNH6 Dt0SGS0OhG
Coffee and cigars had been
reached when the host, a man
whose name commanded attention
where men Of medicine gathered,
took up the thread of conversation,
broken when dinner was served.
This story" he began. IDEALS
with twin boys, born about 40 years
ago, when I was launching into my
practice. Their mother was one of
the finest women l ever knew. Her
husband was handsome young fell
low, but in his ancestry good ana
bad were blended.
Alike as two peas, the twins
were beautiful babies, but as they
grew Jack developed a nature
warped and twisted, while Roy was
a gentle, affectionate child, devoted
tot his parents. Despite their diff
ferent dispositions, there was
sympathetic bond between them.
after trying in vain to make an
honorable man out of Jack, the
father gave up and at 81 the boy
was forced to flee from New York,
with the police close upon his
heels.
Roy, the solace of a broken fam
lily, eventually became the head of
a great banking house which his
father had founded. Jack was
never heard from by the family.
"As the family physician, knew
the skeleton in the closet. was
present at great banquet at which
Roy, then man of middle age, was
to respond to toast. He arose, but
before he could utter the opening
words he sank back into his chair,
unconscious.
II had noted that it was just
lilo o'clock. A brief examination
showed that he was suffering from
an attack of heart trouble, but was
living The attack struck me as
queer, for but a week previous |
had examined him for life insur-
ance and he was sound as a dollar.
l stayed with him that night, but
he gave absolutely no response to
my ministrations.
at was a day or two after this,
when I noticed in a paper the
shooting of Jack --, a noted
desperate, who had tried to hold
up a train in southern California.
Instantly I felt that the wounded
man was the twin brother Of my
friend and patient.
"The article, which bore the date
of my friends collapse, stated the
bandit had been shot about 1855.
81 started a quiet investigation,
and within few days heard from
the physician who was attending
the wounded man. He said the
bullet had penetrated the left side,
grazing the coronary artery and
producing partial paralysis of the
heart. The outlaw, he said, was re-
covering slowly, in all.
Nov, gentlemen, strange as it
may appear, the condition OF my
patient when l was trying tot re-
store him to consciousness was
that of a man who had been
wounded as the outlaw had been.
After receiving the letter, l
worked upon the theory that in
some manner the bullet which laid
low his twin brother had struck
down my friend. 5000 miles from
the scene of the shooting.
my ministratiOns resulted In
the quick recovery of my patient,
and, as if in confederation of my
theory, a letter from California
stating Jack was able to take exer-
else, was received, bearing the
date upon which | had permitted
my patient to take his first car
riage ride.
81 kept the information of Jack
away from Roy, knowing he would
rush to his assistance once he
learned the truth.
"But counted not upon the
fateful tie between the two. Three
months after his arrest Jack was
placed on trial and the jury dis
agreed. That night mob broke
into the Jail and strung up the out
law.
"The hanging occurred, as
nearly as I can ascertain, at 11:15
at night. At 2:30 the next morn
ing, which, calculating the differ
ence in time between New York
and San Francisco, was at the
same hour. Roy, rising from his
bed, stumbled over a footstool ana
broke his neck"