Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1911-10-20
A SINGULAR
CASE
By MARGARET BARR
Copyright by American Press Assoc
citation. 1911.

ii citation, 1911. ii
Ellen Graham and had been school
mates. We had separated after school
days. and had neither seen nor heard
anything Of her till one morning, taking
newspaper, l had read an item with
the heading Jumped His Bail"
| read that Edward jerks, well
known confidence man. had been ar
rested some time before. charged with
innumerable swindles. He had pro-
cured bail, the case had been called for
trial, and the bail had been forfeited.
A singular feature Of the case was that
jerks had found young woman who
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 journey to the peniten-
tiary."
There was mystery, and l am a
woman. The consequence was inevi-
table. l put on my walking costume
and went out to satisfy my curiosity.
felt assured that the person most
likely to give me the inside of the
case was the crooks lawyer. noted
his name as given in the article and
called on him, telling him that l was
friend of Miss Graham and I 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:
Zone day Edward jerks, who was a
resident of another city, came to town
late at night during political conven-
ton and finding all the better class
Of hotels full was obliged to seek a
nights lodging at cheap house. He
went to bed, and an hour later was
awakened by 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 his clothes to put them on he was
astonished to see that they were en-
tirely different from those he 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 pock-
cts and took out several letters ad-
dressed to Edward jerks. Then the
prisoner was handcufEed, marched to
the police station and locked up.
1.-THE next morning jerks, who was
engaged to Miss Graham and whom
he had come to town to see with a
view to arranging for their wedding,
sent for her father to come to the Jail
at once. When Mr.. Graham saw his
son-fn-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
told him that the first thing to dc
was to get bail. This was done. jerks
went to a clothing store, where he
bought new outfit and came to my Of
dee. can tell gentleman from 8
crook very easily, and l knew that
some mistake had been made in jerks
case. But before we attempted te
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 che 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.
1.-THE evidence against the accused
was so strong that saw no hope OF
clearing him. I was convinced that he
had been made a victim of some ras.
cality, but couldn't explain it. Both
he and Miss Graham were in SO deplor.
able condition Of mind that l 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 l
didn't see how could get jerks off.
at least not without spending months
in hunting up evidence, and then how
is any one going to tell how a jury
will decide any question:
"A few days before the trial I pro-
posed plan that was great relief
to both the lovers. Marry I 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.
"a long while afterward I 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
name on the register. He took room.
but went to jerks room, turned the
key with a pair of tweezers and left
| ~ =.