Evening star., 1911-06-11
MASON'S BIG SENSATION

such scientific evidence had made any head
way with the criminal tribunals. He pro-
cured affidavits to show where he had spent
that mysterious interval of "rest" which had
been represented by the prosecution as an
effort to keep out of sight till the storm had
blown over; and tried to show that during
that period he had been seen in Chicago in
company with man answering to the de-
scription of his alleged victim; but the
Judges preferred to agree with the District
Attorney that these proofs were "trumped
up.
Then we applied to the Governor for
pardon; but failed, as neither the District
Attorney nor the trial Judge would take any
interest in it. Even a brief stay was refused,
though presented a sworn statement from
Mason-you will find it on file at the State
Capitol-of which the general tenor was like
this:
My acquaintance with Frank Strom began
somewhat more than a year ago. soon after he
came to this city to live. In addition to his
regular livelihood as wharfhand, he OCCASION
ally procured bodies for the dissecting tables at
the medical college. Where or how he got them
l never could learn; but | stumbled upon the
fact when | accidentally caught him. on very
dark night, bringing one ashore from rowboat
on the river. Fearing exposure. he pledged HIM
self to abandon the hideous trade. and if
give material that could use in a newspaper
story under some such title as Confessions of
a Resurrectionist.
With this promise still unfulfed he dis
appeared one night. and few weeks later a
body was found in the river which the police
authorities united in insisting was his; but which
1strongly suspected was body that had come
to him for the college. but he had decided to
get nd OF. This theory was corrooorated by
letter received from him. saying that he had
gone to Chicago. where he was living under an
assumed name. and was trying to turn over new
leaf. An old jack knife which he had borrowed
from me soon after our first meeting, he said he
had broken; but on the night he left town he
had thrown it into flower bed in the front yard
OF my boarding house, and had been intending
ever since TO flnd some way of sending me new
one if this had become useless.
happened to have been reading lately SAKE s
poem, The Editors Crime" and, with our
Coroners inquest for an incentive. began to
wonder how far the machinery of the criminal
law would really go on circumstantia1 evidence
purely. In a daredevil moment resolved to
put this to the test, and accordingly sent to
police headquarters the anonymous letter which
lured the detectives into following my trail
When things were ripe. | too disappeared sud
denly. and stayed away long enough to en-
courage the suspicious already entertained
against me. For two or three davs of that time
l was in Chicago, laying out program with
Strom, who, If | should be arrested. was to re-
turn to town in disguise when my trial was in
progress, and. at the most dramatic juncture
push his way into the courtroom and appear at
my side in his true character
On the second day of the trial / received a
line from him saying that he would start that
night. Since that moment | have heard nothing
from him, and. though have had every Granny
of Chicago searched. not trace of him can be
found
As my permits to visit Mason became less
frequent, observed change for the worse