Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1911-10-20
A SINGULAR
CASE
By MARGARET BARR
Copyright by American Press Asso-,
citation. 1911.


Ellen Graham and l had. been school
mates. We had separated after school
days. and had neither seen nor heard
anything of her till one. morning. taking
newspaper. had read an item with
the heading Jumped His Bail"
l read that Edward jerks. a well
known confidence man. had been ar.
rested some tune 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 wAe
Woyed In the best social circles Miss
Ellen Graham, to marry him, a pra-
vote wedding had taken place q few
days before the day set for the groom's
trial. and the couple had gone on
wedding journey. .sTAis," remarked
the. facetious reporter. twas certainly
preferable to court ceremonies. fol-
lowed by a toNrReE to the peAtteN-
tiary."
There .waa a mystery. and l am a
woman, The consequence was inevi.
table I put ON my walking costume
and went ont 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 was
a friend Of Miss Graham aud I should
be obliged II he would tell me how
she had come to demean herself by
marrying a confidence man. The law
yer smiled, invited me to be seated and
told me the following arrange happen,
ing;
some 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 expiana-
ton was given him. When he took
up his clothes to put them on he was
astonished to sec that they were en-
tirely different from those he had tax
en- of. His protest that they were not
his own produced no effect upon bis
captors, and he was ordered to put on
the clothes, which lifted him indiffer.
emily. One Of the men rined 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 a
view to arranging for their wedding.
sent for her father to come to the Jail
at 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 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 fail.
"Jenks sent for me and told me the
story az far as I have told 1t to you.
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 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 l go to his fancee 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 1 saw no hope Of
Clearing him. I was convinced that he |
lad been made victim of some ras.
,ality. but couldn't explain It. Both |
he and Miss Graham were In so deplor-
lble a condition of mind that fear.
ID one or both would break down un-
Ter the strain. dreaded the wear and
ear OF trial for both Of them. and |
iidn't see how I could get jerks OF.
lt least not without spending months
n hunting up evidence. and then how
$ any one going to tell how Jury
will decide any question?
"A few days before the trial I pro-
'osed plan that was a great relief
o both the lovers. Marry I said, go
broad on your wedding trip
They jumped at the suggestion,
we're married secretly and under as.
umed names sailed for Europe. jerks
eft the money to reimburse the for
eiture Of his bail
- long while afterward learned
he explanation. The night jerks stop
ed at the hotel where he was arrest
a hunted crook Of the same name
inferred the house and saw his own
anne on the register. He took a room,
ut went to jerks room. turned the
ey with pair of tweezers and left
la II L. |