The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1911-06-30

She was never permitted to so out
alone and felt assured that any letter
she received or sent was opened be.
fore reaching or leaving her. She
might possibly run away. but she
knew not where to go. Suspecting that
this surveillance had something to do
with property she had inherited from
her father, she had desired to get into
communication with an attorney in or.
der to learn something about that
property and the terms Of the will.
All was now pretty clear to me. By
the terms Of the instrument Miss
Markley was to be her niece's guard.
ian till she was eighteen years Of age,
when the girl was to be free to act
for herself and to receive her property.
But IL the heiress at the time should
be incapacitated by illness, be feeble
minded or in any way unified to care
for her estate. she should remain un-
der her aunt's guardianship and the
property pass to Miss Marley for life.
after which other disposition should
be made Of 1t. The heiress would
come Of age in a few weeks.
1t was evident to me that Miss
M~arkley's object was to keep her ward
in the background till after she was
eighteen. and she was doubtless hatch
ing q plan to prove her feeble minded.
1t was my part to concoct a plan to
outwit this scheme. My weakness lay
in the fact that at the slightest demon
stration on my part Miss Benham
would likely be spirited away. that till
she came of age her aunt was her legal
guardian and that l had nothing to
show that l had been retained as the
young lady's counsel. Besides this. l
had never seen her and had no evil
dence that she was Of sound mind.
Should I apply to the courts my inter-
ference would at nee become public
property. and no Judge would order
Miss Benham brought before him on
such scant evidence as I might furnish.
I could do nothing that was legal;
therefore l must break the law, at the
same time getting such advantage as
would protect both me and my client.
Realizing the fact that possession Is
nine points in the law" ! resolved to
transfer the keeping Of Miss Benham
to some other person than her aunt.
This must either be done by kidnapping
her or giving her an opportunity to
come of her own accord under the care
Of q new keeper.
Having opened communication with
her surreptitiously, It was to be expect
ed that she would look for q meaning
in anything l would send her. l dare
not bride any Of the servants in the
! employ of her aunt. for 1t was to be
supposed that she controlled them. Il
concluded to Use a method Of the same
kind az the first l had tried. sent
her a magazine marked Sample
| Copy" Under certain words that EN-
bodied my message l pricked pin
holes. l felt more confidence in her
noticing this device than the first.
though 1t was not as plain. I told her
what was necessary for her to do and
why, advising her to send me word
when it would be possible for her to
leave her aunt that l might meet her
and take her to a place where she
would be out of her aunt's reach and
secure the benefit Of the law. l also
suggested a method of reply. On a
certain day and hour she was to drop
from a window n or more papers
with figures denoting, first. the day
of the month; second, the hour Zone to
twenty-four) that she expected to be
able to leave the house. The letter IF"
xas to stand for 'front.' ana "sR" for
rear. The letters "a" "B" and 70"
would denote the story from which
she would leave or must be taken.
1t was between light and dark OF
the day appointed for her to drop the
paper that l strolled by the house.
She must have been watching for me
for l saw something white dutter
from an upper window. kept my
eyes fixed on 1t and when 1t reached
the sidewalk picked it up. On 1t was
". 23-24. K. r." which knew
meant the eighth day of the month
between II and II O'Clock at night.
from q second story rear room. This.
Of course. threw upon me the respon.
sibility Of providing a means Of de
scent from an upper story. besides q
method of flight. Had the paper. fallen
into the hands Of II watcher there would
have been nothing Ineligible In 1t.
l made an examination Of the rear
of the house aud found that there
was an alley there. The yard was in
closed in a high fence, the door Of
which was kept locked. | provided u
ladder long enough to reach the sec,
ond story and q circular saw in order
to b~urglarize the door.
On the appointed night. repairing tn
the alley. l cut a hole in the door and
removed the. lock. Then I watched
till about half past II c .ock, when
there was the dash at Il ertain win.
dow q the second story. probably OF
an electric hand light. Understanding
this to be q signal. l raised the ladder.
The window was noiselessly opened,
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