The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1909-04-30
Could He Do?

Copyright, 1909, by American Press Asso.
! am = workingman who has never
received any education. There was
but n mandatory OF prominence In
the place where | worked, a very large
one, employing several thousand men
One day the concern shut down, and
was thrown out Of employment, There
was nothing for me to do but so some,
where else to look for work. | visited
several cities, at last bringing up In
Albany, N. Y.
One night while walking IN the
street a man came up to me and. say
Ing ~ want you" slipped handouts on
my wrists. He was Joined by another
man, and the two took me to the city
jail and locked me up In n cell. !
learned later that they had made a
charge Of burglary against me, OF
course | told them that | WINS NJ erin,
inal. but what good did 1t do? They
said they knew all about me and had
been waiting for me to come back to
town. l had never been In Albany be.
fore.
When the case came up In court !
was tried for robblng, with others, 4
dwelling. A man took tho witness
stand who, after looking ut me, swore
that | was one Of a gang who had
entered his house at night when the
family WAS asleep. Hearing Il noise
below, he had gone downstairs and
discovered the men putting his silver
ware In sacks. He had watched US
for some time without being seen and
had had a good look at me. He went
back upstairs to concoct some method
for tho arrest Of the gang. but they
had gone before he could do so.
The court assigned me an attorney,
but he was too we'll satisfied OF my
guilt to pay much attention to my case.
| might have made an effort to prove
my identity by applying at the factory
where | had worked, but my attorney
said that to prove that a man Of the
name I claimed had worked there
wouldn't do much good against hay
ing been identified by the man who
was robbed. | had no money with
which to fight for my liberty, 30 | was
sent to the penitentiary for ten years.
During my stay In prison of all the
horrible things ! suffered the most
awful was that ! was enduring pun
ishment which didn't belong to me.
II | had been guilty | suppose | would
not have suffered nearly SO much. |
tried to think Of methods of getting
my case taken up. but even IL | had
had an education, with the advantages
that education brings, what COULD |
have donef 1t occurred to ne that
there had been In Albany some Grim
inal known to the police who look ed
like me, The only hope | had was
that some day they would get him and
he would confess, that he had commit
ted the robbery with which | was
charged. But this would have been
al astonishing piece Of luck for me-.
and as | was q convicted man In pris-
on 1t wasn't likely that even II ! heard
of It l could take advantage of 1t.
| had been in the penitentiary about
a year when one Of the keepers spoke
to me, evidently thinking | was some
one else. / told him he was mistaken,
but he paid no attention to me. Then
another official did the same thing. /
told him that he was the second man
who had made the "a me mistake. but
be paid no more attention to what
said than the first. Some time after
this one Of these men came to me one
day and stared at me for some time.
Then | was told that one Of the pris.
oners had been mistaken for me. This
prisoner was pointed out to me, aid
though | had several times seen him
he was a new convict--the likeness be.
tween us had not occurred to me. It's
singular how other people see like
nesses which we don't zee ourselves.
But after awhile I noted that the man
was exactly nv height and build, and
bis face was shared much like mine,
| found out that he had been CON.
victed for a crime that had been COM
mitted ~ Albany. Then 7 Knew that
he was the man the police had been
lacking for when tbev arrested mo
A hone flashed within me- that here
was the means Of repainins INV free.
dom. I endea yored 10 nterest the