The Washington times., 1909-06-18
By ROBERT CARLTON BROWN
"THE BURDEN OF PROOF

I discovery. state" was one of the
standing prison Jokes and 1t struck
the men as very humorous that
rubber band should have been packed
in with the tobacco.
The joke lasted for the whole day
and next morning it appeared in the
paper N various forms.
The incident furnished PHI with
an opportunity to answer Bobs mes
He drew fantastic picture of a
of tobacco. which looked like a POM
padour of hair, Phil drew in hatr-pins,
a fine-tOOth comb, and several other
/ Impossible objects supposed to nave
been found in the package or cheap
tobacco.
This time he did his work better
and in the sketch contrived to con-
ceal the following message In short
hand signs;
Below you will find picture OF
the file. ! have saved up a lot OF
needles. heated them, and driven them
through the teeth in the pocket com o.
The points are concealed, but with one
rub they will cone TO the SURFACE ana
YOU have a perfect file that VIII cut
the bars. Idea is to distract guard 5
attention break through the sawed
bars, jump through the window ana
climb chimney on low shed by the
wall"
1t was a long message, but his
shorthand characters took up lIttle
space, and ii was easy TO MAKE lnelh
represent grains of me cut TOBACCO
Bob received the paper, read lne mes
sage and replied in drawing that ne
sent in to Phil that afternoon.
"OId Eben died when ] was alone Win
him. / was accused OF Killing MIN, ahd
railroaded through by the same state S
attorney that fixed you. 1900. =
81 want to get out to find out about a
viii that Eben told me Of before he
died. If you'll help me can ten
story that viii free you.
From his own case Phil could easily
see how Bob had been sentenced on
circumstantial evidence, and ne be
lieved IN his cousins innocence, ailnoEgn
he felt from the mention OF the wlii
that Bob was keeping great zeal ''ach
PIN had no chance to answer that
day, as the third man went through the
little doorway to the electric chair and
dull quietness settled over the place.
But the next morning he managed 20
conceal in one of the pictures drawn by
/ Tommy the following line:
What has become of Alicey
The answer came the following day.
Alice refused TO marry me az Iss'
minute On account or trlat Tor MUIR
der of Eben. If l get out she viii
marry me. I'm sure She's given you
up for good. BOB
sition plainly If the young fellow
could get out he would get the VIII that
Eben had told about and evidence to
clear himself, then he would marry
Z
Daring contrasted his own chances II
/ he were to break out of jail and man
/ age to escape. He would be able TO do
/ nothing He would have no money, no
/ friends: even Alice would be unable 70
marry him. for Phil could never clear
himself without the aid Of both Brad
shaw and Bob. and neither Of them
| seemed disposed to help him IN any
way.
/ 1t was, indeed, a dismal outlook.
| Then Phil began 70 think of Alice's
/ suggested sacrifice. II she were 70
/ marry Bob her father would be able
! TO spend his old age happily.
1 He began carefully TO weigh the two
| cases Finally IL seemed to him that
/ his own position was so hopeless that
4 there was no use of his thinking OF
| attempting to escape.
| IF NJ helped Bob to get out, by Civ
/ ing him the Sic that he had made, his
| younger cousin might be thankful
/ enough to reciprocate in some way.
/ But il was all 50 uncertain. Still Phil
/ had a vague feeling that It would be
| better all around of ne were 10 help
/ Boo out and remain Ia prison himself
to run his chances.