Daily Arizona silver belt., 1908-02-19
Was It a Dream ?
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great interest in, and to which most people are indifferent
 Michael Keenan, one of the most desperate of burglars, having just been discharged from state prison after serving u ten years term, was prowl- ing at midnight on the outskirts of town looking for an opportunity to re- plenish his exchequer. He surveyed several houses from their back yards to make a selection for burglary when he espied figure walking in rear of house that fronted on another street. Keenan laid low and watched. Was the person bent on the same purpose as himself? He soon discovered that the figure was man and was walking to and fro, keeping an eye on an upper rear window of the house he was be- hind. Keenan found loose fence picket and with 1t stealthlly approached the figure. There was thud, mur- dered man. rlfed pockets and body thrown in an open bunker of the house the figure had been watching. Then Keenan went off with gold watch and chain and hundred dol lars in money.
 Not long after the murder Keenan. who was in a distant city, saw it stated in a newspaper that Hugh Gregory, the owner of the house in the bunk CT of which the body had been found, had been arrested for murder. The article also stated that Gregory was past fifty. the murdered man under twenty-five. The young man was Ev- crct Sturgis and visitor at Gregory's house. The chain of evidence connect ing Gregory with the murder was not given. Those sly fellows-the police were too smart to give anything away before the proper time.
 It was this matter of the police that interested Keenan. They had once proved him guilty of a crime he had not committed. and Ee was curious to know how their ingenuity would work in proving a man guilty of crime that he QSeenan) had committed. So he laid low, living on the proceeds of the murder and taking no great risks to get more. He was absorbed in what was called the Sturges murder case Some of the papers sneered at the police, accusing them of endeavor- ing to find in Gregory a victim in whom to hide their stupidity. When Keenan read this he chuckled. He be- iieved that was their object
 Then came reports of the trial, which the real murderer read eagerly So convincing were the arguments of the prosecuting attorney that Keenan al- most believed. himself innocent of the murder and Gregory the guilty one. But when the prisoners counsel took up the case he could see no possible chance of the prisoners conviction. One thing puzzled him-all the reports stated that Gregory looked and acted like a guilty man.
 The next statement Keenan read fill ed him with wonder. Gregory had been convicted, and soon after his con viction he had confessed. Sturges had been a suitor for his daughters hand. Gregory had bitterly opposed him. On the night of the murder Gregory had gone to bed, to awake at midnight with an unexplainable conviction that Sturges was proving near the house for the purpose of cloping with the girl. Gregory for some time thought he had dreamed that he saw Sturges walking without, but so strong was the conviction that this was really so that he got up, dressed, went down stairs. took stout cane from the hall, went out. found Sturges and struck him blow, from which he sank down. He had no remembrance of putting the body in the bunker and supposed Sur ges must have dragged himself there and died.
 When Keenan read this confession he gave long low whistle of astonish- ment. Then he began to wonder If he had not been dreaming himself and Gregory had not, after all. killed Stur- ges. However, he still had Sturges' watch, which he had not dared to sell or pawn, and it was convincing proof that he was the murderer. He pug zled for weeks what he had better do. He had no idea of giving himself up to save an innocent man, but he hated the police and burned 10 show up what he considered their inefficiency.
 One night Keenan cracked crib and made a fine haul of ready cash. Then he laid a plan. He bought second class ticket on q steamer bound for Chile. Just before the steamer sailed he expressed a small package to the judge before whom Gregory was tried and at the same time mailed the judge letter. In half an hour after doing this he was out on the Atlantic ocean. This is the letter he wrote the judge
 Derc Juge.--The police is lot O blokes. got out from behind the bars wan day, and that nlte was lookin' fur a crib to crack spotted q man watchin. l killed him and took the swag and dragged him into the bunker. I'm givin' you by ex- press the watch of the man l killed. The man convicted must a been dreamin. I'm off for turin parts. Yures,
 MIKE KEENAN,.
 The watch was identified as having belonged to Sturges, and Keenan, in name, was traced to the prison from which he had been discharged. Gregory was finally set at liberty, and his fam