Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1908-10-02
A QUES STIO N
OF IDEN TITY
BY Harold Garter.

the rail and waited for the exordium
of the Judge. In that supreme mo-
ment l felt that / alone dominated
the courtroom. Every face among the
spectators was turned on mine in hor-
ror. The senile old foreman was pull
ing his beard, and 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 l had
crept by night into the bedroom of the
millionaire sheep owner and blown
him into eternity with bomb As
for my defense of mistaken identity,
that was too contemplate to require
notice The cowardly cattlemen's or
ganization which had, he did not
doubt inspired and hired me, might,
for the moment, have escaped Justice.
But the law, though slow, was sure;
1t would track down their leaders as
1t had tracked me down. / could have
no hope of reprieve, and he recon-
mended 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 Imprisonment
began the 81 riff evinced compassion
ate pity toward me as he sat beside
me in my cell that night.
my boy" he began, why not con-
fess and make your peace? Jim, you
amt never had no case, boy. Jim
amt your name. you say? You amt
Jim Crawford, but Frank Sandford,
and happened along about the time
the explosion occurred. Lad, didn't
they find the giant powder in your
bedroom? Isn't there 80 and more
people in this town identified you?
Your own brother came all the way
from Omaha to disown you, and then
had to admit you. You've been iden-
titled by your own photographs and
thumb prints and measurements in
the st. Louis penitentiary, and that's
surer than the gospels, 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 breath was in my
body, would l admit that l was the
desperate they claimed me to be. Per
haps l, too, had l 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 Mu.
riel, the sheriff's daughter. She &C
companied her father the following
morning when he brought me my
breakfast, and gave me great bunch
of roses.
Frank, DEAR" she whispered, as the
old man turned away from my cell
door, II trust and believe In you.
know you're not Jim Crawford, but
my love. And I'll save you, Frank.
I'll save you"
l surmised from what direction the
help would come, and my next inter-
view with Muriel confirmed my sus-
picions.
Frank, dearest" she whispered,
your friends are going to make jail
delivery at midnight And when
you're In the east again and safe from
all danger you must send me word
somehow and will come to you.
And I'll wait patiently for months and
months, or years, If need be; for l
know you are innocent, Frank, and l
shall love you always"
1t was night of horror such as l
have never known. The suspense, al
ways the SUSPENSE; the silent night.
broken by pistol shots, the battering
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 rescu-
ers, masked men, brandishing their
guns like torches, bursting into the
corridor to free me with the keys
which they had taken from the old
sheriff, who stood in their midst, help
lessly protesting-all this was like the
phantasmagora of a dream until at
length, coming to my senses, found
myself seated upon the swiftest horse
in Cobweb, leading mare packed
with necessities of life wherewith to
cross the desert
l thrust my feet exultantly inside
the stirrups of wood; pressed my
knees against my horses fianks and
gathered the snaffie reins between my
fingers. :. Then, casting one glance
backward, / saw Muriels dark 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 hopelessness.
/ could not go to freedom with a lie
in my heart such as / could have car
ried to the gibbet. l leaned over my
ll.l.a..r. aIhlnnarnd n har.