The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-08-22
A QUESTION OF IDENTITY.

Inherently; | braced myself against
the rail and waited for the exordium
of the judge. In that supreme mo-
ment felt that | alone dominated
the court room. Every face among
the spectators was turned on mine
In horror. The senile old foreman
was pulling his beard, ana his lips
moved; knew that he was uttering
a prayer
Then the Judge commenced his
speech. | had been justly convicted
OF dastardly crime, he said; / had
crept by night into the bedchamber
of a millionaire sheep-owner and
blown him into eternity with bomb.
AS for my defense of mistaken iden-
tity, that was too contemplate to
require notice. The cowardly cattle
mems organization which had, he did
not doubt, inspired and hired me,
might for the moment, have escap-
ed justice. But the law, though
slow, was sure; It would track down
! their leaders as It had tracked me
down. | could have no hope of a
reprieve, and he recommended me to
! spend what short time remained to
me In making my peace with God.
Men under sentence of death seem,
| even to their jailers, to have atoned
already for their crimes and sins.
! For the first time since my imprison-
ment began the sheriff evinced COM
passionate pity toward me as he sat
beside me in my cell that night.
MY boy" he began, why not
confess and make your peace? Jim,
| you amt never had no case, boy.
Jim amt your name, you say? You
amt Jim Crawford, but Frank Sand
ford, and happened along about the
J time the explosion occurred. Lad,
| didn't they find the giant powder in
| your bedroom? Isn't there 30 and
more people In this town identified
| youl Your own brother came all the
way from Omaha to disown you, and
then had to admit you. You've been
| identified by your own photographs
and thumb prints and measurements
in the st. Louis penitentiary, and
/ AllthN bhltl IMAM lllt NOHptlot JIM
An your own dog identified you In
the court room. Jim, lad I've never
had to swing a man but he owned
up to me before he died. I'd hate
to send you into eternity with lie
on your lips"
The good old man ambled away at
last shaking his head over my OBJ
stinacy. Well, | was prepared to
die, but never, while the truth was
in my body, would | admit that
was the desperate they claimed me
to be. Perhaps |, too, had | been In
the jury box, would have convicted.
Yet there was one person who still
believed in me through all, since the
first day of my incarceration, and
that was Muriel, the sheriffs daugh-
ter. She accompanied her father the
following morning when he brought
me my breakfast, and gave me a
great bunch of roses.
Frank, dear" she whispered az
the old man turned away from my
cell door. II trust and believe in
you. know you're not Jim Craw-
ford, but my love. And I'll save you,
Frank, I'll save you"
| surmised from what direction
the held would come, and my next
interview with Annie confirmed my
suspicious.
Frank, dearest" she whispered,
your friends are going TO make a
jail delivery at midnight And when
you're in the east again and safe
word somehow and | will come to
you. And I'll wait patiently for
months and months or years If need
be; for know you are innocent,
Frank and | shall love you always" "
1t was a night of horror such as
! had never known. The suspense,
always the suspense; the silent night,
broken by pistol shots; the batter
ing of logs against the prison doors;
the cries that resounded through the
stone halls like rifle fire; the long,
eternal agony of doubt-and then my
rescuers masked men, brandshing
their guns like torches, bursting
along the corridor to free me with
the keys which they had taken from
the old sheriff, who stood in their
midst helplessly protesting-all this
was like the phantasmagora of a
I dream until at length, coming to my
senses, | found myself seated upon
the swiftest horse in Cobweb, lead
ing mare packed with the neces-
stiles of life wherewith to cross the
desert
thrust my feet exultantly inside
the stirrups of wood; | pressed my
knees against my horses fanks and
gathered the snaffie reins between
my fingers. Then casting one glance
backward. | saw Muriels eyes fixed
upon mine in love such as had not
before come to me-
She had trusted me as few women
had done. / could not leave her to
eat out her heart through the months
and years of doubts and hopeless
ness. could not go to freedom with
lie in my heart such as | could
have carried to the gibbet. ! leaned
over my saddle-bags and whispered