Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-05-20
The Argus 7 lily Short Story
A Complicated case.-By Cuthbert Baker
Copyrighted. by Associated Literary PrsaA

| He looked away. AUD that ended the
matter. at least for the time.
Several days later a man came into
the store where worked. had some
words with my employer and then. adj
vancing toward me. eyed me sharply;
then he took printed slip from his
pocket and referred to it. evidently
comparing me with 1t. At last he took
out pair of handouts. put them on
! my wrists and led me out of the
] store. It didn't occur TO me to pro-
test or to ask any questions ! knew
| | was TO be taken back to the scene of
my former troubles to answer to the
charge of having murdered myself.
1t didn't appear to me then that i
should have any trouble in identifying
myself. l resolved to say that / had
succeeded in getting away from the
man who had intended to murder me
and had left that part OF the country
altogether. 1t didn't occur to me that
such story in the face of a charge
OF murder would appear pretty thin
The first realization of my danger that
came to me was in talking with the
official who was taking me back to
Mertford. / told him the story just
as 1 have thus far told it here. And
what was his comment? 1t was this:
Young man, if you can't make up
better yarn than that you'd better
be prepared for the worst"
This startled me. / had deemed it
misfortune TO be taken back to
Mertford on case of mistaken iden-
tity and te be put to the trouble of an
explanation, but that 1 would be liable
to conviction for numbering my own
self had appeared so monstrous that it
had not even entered my head.
IF you can't prove an altbi," added
my keeper, you're gone"
whats an aIibi?" 1 asked.
Being somewhere else at the time
the murder was committed"
"But 1 shall prove that 1 am the
man am accused of numbering"
He turned and regarded me with a
cynical smile.
See here" me said, 1--WE been mixed
up with cases like yours for twenty
years. Juries are ready to believe a
lot OF rot from a prisoner with whom
they sympathize, but my advice to
you is not TO endeavor to work of on
them any such rubbish as that"
This frightened me. / leaned back
ON the cushion of the seat as well as
my handouts would permit and gave
myself over to the most gloomy re-
Elections.
When we reached Mertford and 1
had been examined, not having any
means with which to employ counsel,
T 81 To 10 tho
Jail and heard my explanation. When
it was finished he said that he would
not think of conducting case on any
such improbable line as that and if
insisted on his doing so 1 must find
another defender.
What was 1 to do? All these people
who were used to such cases agreed
that ] must not claim that / was my
self ! l asked my lawyer whom he
thought I'd better claim to be. He
said that it didn't make any difference
what my name was. Criminals usual
" had plenty of names and used such
as were convenient under different cir
cunstances. The only point in my IA
vor, he added, was that the body of
the man 1 had murdered had not been
IOunu. ne HOulu udhe Us LuuCu VI
this as possible and expected that he
would be would be able to get me of
with a sentence of life imprisonment
instead of death.
He seemed to consider this quite a
comforting assurance. For myself
thought that. even Imprisonment for
life in the case of one who had COM
mitted murder on himself or suicide.
if it can be so construed, is rather
hard lines. However. / told my law
yer that wouldn't venture to suggest
b line of defense to one who knew the
law perfectly, and he might consider
me either dead or alive, innocent or q
murderer, as he saw fit. To this he re-
piled that there had undoubtedly been
cases where a lawyer knew his client
to be innocent, but the evidence had
been so strong against him that he has
advised him to plead guilty and throw
himself on the mercy of the court.
/ won't so into the details of the
trial My lawyer was congratulatinS |
=sg1seir that he would get me or with