Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1911-09-06
A SINGULAR
CASE
By MARGARET BARR
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1871.

| hatSs- we hdu separated aIter SCHOOL
days. and l had neither seen nor heard
anything of her till one morning taking
newspaper. ! had read an item with
the heading Jumped His Bail
1 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 a 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 Il
wedding journey. This" remarked
the facetious reporter. "was certainty
preferable TO court ceremonies. fol
lowed 10y journey to the peniten-
tiary."
There was n mystery. and | am
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. l noted
his name as given I'm the article and
called on him. telling him that l was
friend of Miss Graham and should
be obliged If he would tell me how
she had come to demean herself 10y
marrying a confidence man. The law
yer smiled. invited me To be seated and
49,
ing:
Zone day Edward jerks. who was Il
| resident OF another city. came to town
late at night during u political conven-
ton and finding all the better class
Of hotels full was obliged TO seek =
nights lodging at n cheap house. lie
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- of. 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 indifrer
emily. One OF the men rifed the peck
cts and took out several letters ad-
dressed to Edward jerks. Then the
prisoner was nandcG@ed. marched to
the police station and locked up.
The next morning jerks. who was
engaged 10 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
at once. When Mr.. Graham saw his
sOn-in-law 10 he 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 Mt n 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 OF. his heel aud left the Jail
Jerks sent for me and told me the
story as far as l have told 1t to you
1 told him that the first thing to do
was 10 get bail. This was done. jerks
went to a clothing store. where he
bought new outfit and came to my of
flee. / can tell gentleman from Il
crook very easily, and | knew tha,
some mistake had been made in jerks
case. But before we attempted to
solve the mystery my client insisted
that 1 go to his fiancee and Undue
her to come and meet him In my Office
She did so. and the two were brour ht
together In his room. jerks was no
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. | was convinced that he
had been made victim of some ras-
cality, but couldn't explain II. Both
he and Miss Graham were I'm so deplor-
able condition of mind that | fear
ed one or both would break down I'M.
der the strain. | dreaded the wear and
tear Of triaI for both of them. and !
1 didn't see how | could get jerks off
at least not without spending months
5 I'm hunting up evidence. and then how
| IS any one going to tell how n jury
e Will decide any question?
"a few days before the trial | pro
posed plan that WAS great relief
To both the lovers. Marry | said. &c
. abroad on your wedding trip
"They jumped at the suggestion
. were married secretly and under as