Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-02-18

OF the court stand. She would serve
her term and the suspense would De
ended
would not agree to this. l OBJ
tanned a new trial. which could not be
brought TO pass for several months
but the Judge was willing 10 accept
bail. and ! furnished the necessary
amount myself. SO that nay clients
liberty until the case was finally closed
was not in question.
One morning the president or the
bank on which the forged check had
been drawn sent for me. went at
once to see him. he took me into his
private office and said To me:
This case of yours in the matter OF
the state against Mrs. Rebecca Irwin
is a very singular one. Do you know
that your client is not guiltyF
II believe il. but l can't prove It
And this fact is driving me mad.
You don't need to prove it. We
have the proof here in the bank"
What do you meanT'
Listen. From the first we have had
a detective working on the case. When
Mrs Irwin confessed 1 told him that
there was no further use for his serv-
ices. He replied that the case would
prove to be a mystery and that he had
got hold Of cIew which might lead
to its solution. OF course 1 told him
TO so ahead He claimed that Mrs
Irwin's confession, turning suspicion
from the real culprit. would aid him
Ghe detective) greatly in prosecuting
his Investigations.
wen. he has Just made n report
1t is this: One OF our clerks named
Dixon, yOungster OF twenty, is the
forger He has been intimate with
Julian Irwin, aged sixteen, the son OF
the self accused woman"
"whatg' 1 interrupted. "She never
told me she had a SON."
Young Irwin was one day scribbling
on some blank checks. Dixon got hold
of one of those checks, the body of
which was filed In, the name of the
drawer Of the check and the person to
whom it was made payable alone be-
ing wanting. Dixon filed in the name
and made the Endorsement and a long
while afterward asked Irwin as a IA
vor TO draw the money.
when Irwin, though innocent, found
himself implicated in the matter he
went to his mother and told her the
circumstances. An attorney was con-
suited, who told the mother and son
that II Dixon was prosecuted Irwin
must stand trial for forgery, with the
probability of conviction, for Dixon
would doubtless try to throw the
whole responsibility on the boy he had
made his tool"
81 see it all. But go on"
ITO hush the matter up, thus saving
her son from blighted life, his moth
er confessed herself a forger."
"God bless herr / exclaimed. SShe
tried to conceal her nobility from me,
but failed"
THE experts were all at sea-" re-
marked the president
Mine were not. They pronounced
the writing in the body different from
that of the signatures"
my client has not yet been informed
of this discovery" 1 asked presently.
mo. You are the only person thus
far, besides myself, to know It,"
Getting from him the address OF
young TWILL L cdiIeu Cdtrldse anu
drove TO where he was employed and
told him l wished him to go with me
to bis mother. He did so. and l an
nounced to both that there was no ne
cessity for further mystery, since the
case had been worked out to a I'm
ish. Their first act after the announce
ment was to spring into each others
arms. Mrs. Irwin had persuaded her
son to make no opposition to her
course, assuring him that she would
never have to go to prison.
And so it was that fell in love with
a confessed forger and married a no
BILE woman. The case which comes
so near to me has given me a realiza-
ton of the imperfection of human JUS
tice. While 1, IN open court, was work