Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1911-12-08
A SINGULAR
CASE
By MARGARET BARR
Copyright by American Press Assoc
citation. 1911.


I anything of her till one morning, takin,
newspaper, had read an item Will
'ne heading Jumped His Ball..
l. read that Edward Jenks NO,
known confidence man. had been mr.
rested some time before. charged wifi
innumerable swindies. He had nro
cured bail, the case had been called 70,
trial. and the bail had been forfeited
A singular feature of the case was tina,
jerks had found young woman VIII,
moved In the best social circles Miss
Ellen Graham, to marry him. A pri
vate wedding had taken place few
days before the day set for the groom's
trial. and the couple had gone on a
wedding journey. This" remarked
the facetious reporter, was certainly
preferable to court ceremonies. fol.
lowed by a journey to the peniten.
tiary."
lnere was a mystery, and | am a
woman. The consequence was ineyi.
table. l put on my walking costume
ana went out to satisfy my curiosity.
! l felt assured that the person most
likely to give me the inside of the
case was the crooks lawyer. | noted
MS name as given in the article and
called on him, telling him that | was
O. friend of Miss Graham and should
be obliged If he would tell me how
| she had come to demean herself by
marrying confidence man. The law
yer smiled, invited me to be seated and
told me the following strange happen
ing:
One day Edward jerks, who was a
resident Of another city. came to town
late at night during a political conven-
ton and finding all the better class
OF hotels full was obliged to seek
nights lodging at cheap house. He
went to bed, and an hour later was
awakened by a knock at his door.
Opening 1t in walked several men, one
Of whom ordered him TO put on his
clothes and come along. No explana-
ton was given him. When he took
up bis clothes to put them on he was
aston1shed to see that they were en-
tirely different from those be had tax
en- off. His protest that they were not
his own produced no effect upon his
captors. and he was ordered to put on
the clothes, which fitted him indiffer-
emily One of the men rifled the peck
cts and took out several letters ad.
dressed to Edward jerks Then the
prisoner was handcuffed. marched to
the police station and locked up.
The next morning jerks, who was
engaged to Miss Graham and whom
he had come to town to see with
view to arranging for their wedding.
sent for her father to come to the Jail
| ut once. When Mr.. Graham saw his
| son-in-law to be and learned that the
police had long been looking for him.
he was profoundly affected. His
daughter had met jerks while travel
ing abroad, and the acquaintance be-
tween the two families had been short.
jerks putting up at a cheap hotel. his
apparel. the letters found in his
pocket. which plainly proved that he
was working certain confidence games.
was too much for the old mans faith
He turned on his heel and left the Jail
''Jenks sent for me and told me the
story as far as | have told it to you
l told him that the first thing TO do
was to get bail. This was done. jerks
went TO a clothing store. where he
bought new outfit and came to my Of
fee l can tell a gentleman from a
crook very easily, and knew that
some mistake had been made In jerks
case. But before we attempted to
solve the mystery my client insisted
that | go to his fiancee and induce
her to come and meet him in my office.
She did so. and the two were brought
together in this room. jerks was not
long in convincing her that some
strange coincidence had happened to
him. and she was much affected at his
position She went home thinking that
she could bring her father TO her own
views, but she failed. She was for
hidden to see jerks again.
THE evidence against the accused
was so strong that saw no hope of
clearing him. l was convinced that he |
had been made victim of some ras-
cality, but | couldn't explain it. Both |
he and Miss Graham were in so deplor-
able Il condition of mind that | fear |
ed one or both would break down I'M |
der the strain. dreaded the wear and |
tear of trial for both Of them. and |
didn't see how / could get jerks off. |
at least not without spending montha
in hunting up evidence. and then how |
is any one going TO tell how jury
will decide any question?
"A few days before the trial pro- I
posed plan that was a great relief |
to both the lovers. Marry | said. go |
abroad on your wedding trip
They jumped at the suggestion.
were married secretly and under as
sumed names sailed for Europe. jerks
left the money to reimburse the for
fixture of his bail.
~ long while afterward j learned
the explanation. The night jerks stop
ped at the hotel where he was arrest
ed hunted crook Of the same name
entered the house and saw his own
.ame on the register. He took room.
Int went to jerks room. turned the
key with a pair Of tweezers and left
his clothes in jerks room. taking
yenks. Then be telephoned the police
that they would 1nd the man they