Evening journal., 1912-05-20
A SINGULAR
CASE
By MARGARET BARR
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1871.

hlhlco. we udu ocpdIdLtQ hllcI SCHOOL
days, and had neither seen nor heard
anything of her till one morning. taking
a newspaper. had read an item with
the heading Jumped His Bail"
/ 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-
yate wedding had taken place a few
days before the day set for the groom's
trial, and the couple had gone on
wedding journey. This" remarked
the facetious reporter, 'was certainly
preferable TO court ceremonies. fol-
lowed by "a journey to the peniten-
tiary.-
Theres~vas a mystery, and am a
woman The consequence was inevi-
table. put ON my walking costume
and went out 30 satisfy my curiosity.
felt assured that the person most
likely to give me the inside of the
case, was gthescrook's lawyer. ] noted
his mama as given in the article and
called on him, telling him that I was
friend OF Miss Graham and / should
be obliged If he would tell me how
she had come to demean herself by
marrying a confidence man. The law
yer smiled dnvited, met be seated and
told me the Following strange happen
ing:
zone day Onward jerks, who WAS q
resident OF another city, came TO town
late at night during a political conven-
tion and finding all the better class
OF hotels full was obliged to seek a
nights lodging at cheap house. He
went 30 bed. and an hour later was
awakened by a knock at his door.
Opening itin walked several men. one
OF whom ordered him TO put on his
clothes and come along. No explana,
tion was given him. When he took
up his clothes 10 put them on he was
astonished to see that they were en-.
tirely different from those he had tax
en- on. His protest that they were not
his own produced no effect upon his
captors, and he wns ordered to put on
the clothes, which fitted him indiffer-
entity One OF the men riied the pock.
cts and took out several letters ad-
dressed to Edward jerks. Then the
prisoner was handcudfed, marched to
the police station and locked up.
The neut morning jerks. who was
engaged to Afias Graham and whom
he had cone to town to see with a
view 10 arranging for their wedding.
sent for her father to come to the jail
at once. When Mr.. Graham saw his
son%nrlaw to be andtlearned that the
police hadslong been docking for him
he wRs profoundly affected. Hi.
daughter had met jerks while travel
ing abroad. and the acquaintance be
tween the two families had been short
jerks putting up at a cheap hotel, hi:
apparel, the letters found In hi:
pocket. which plainly proved that he
was working certain confidence games
was too mnch for the old mans faith
|
"JentSvFent for me ana told me the
story as far as have told It to you,
told him that the first thing to dc
was 10 get bah. Thisswas done. Jenks
went 10 q clothing store. where he
bought a new outfit and came to my OF
fee can tell a gentleman from O
crook very easily, and I knew that
some mistake had been made In jerks
case. But before we attempted tc
solve the mystery my client insisted
that / go TO his 1ancee and induce
her b come and meet him in my ONCE
She did so. and the two were brought
! Together m this room. jerks was MOI
! long m convincing her that some
strange coincidence had happened tc
= him, and she was much affected at his
position. she went home thinking that
she could bring her father to her owr
views, but she failed. She was for
hidden to see jerks again.
The evidence against the accused
was 20. strong that l saw no hope Of
clearing him. WAS convinced that h,
had been made a victim OF some ras
p cality. but couldn't explain it, Botl
4 he and Miss Graham were in so deplor
p able a condition OF mind that 1 fear
: ed one or both would break down un
4 der the strain. dreaded the wear anl
tear Of trial for both OF them, and
didn't see how i could get jerks of
at least not without spending month";
= in hunting up evidence. and then how
i Is any one going % tell how a jur!
: wfn decide any question:
"A few days before the trial pro
; posed a plan that was a great relic
TO both the lovers. Marry said, q
abroad on your wedding trip
''They Jumped at the suggestion
were married secretly and under as
Eumed names sailed for Europe. Jenk
left the money TO reimburse the for
J feiture Of hts bail.
"A long while afterward I learne'
the explanation. The night jerks stor
ped at the hotel where he was arrest
y ed a hunted crook Of the same nam
y entered the house and saw his owl
y name on the register He took room
i but went 10 jerks room. turned tn
,e key with a pair of tweezers and lef
10 bis clothes IN Jenks room. takin
r Jenks. Then he telephoned the polio
< that they would find the man the
y wanted at the - hotel"
Oh As soon as the bride and groor
= could be found I called on my oil
friend and heard the story from ne