The Lemmon herald. (Lemmon, Perkins County, S.D.) 1912-1917, 1912-11-15
.la!m what 7 hive claimed tina

nI!sIakt l.ait ot iuyers were each
claiming ~ IT. guilty. and solely
guilty. pf ,'rinie. Which was the In
uoceni which the guilty oDei ! had
nothing Il, whi b to decide though,
Of the experts should submit this
new feature of he ease tO Them ::
What would il avail: A prepouder
ance of their evidence had proved JEFF
ferson guilt, They could not bp ex
pe,.ted to go back Oh their former evi
dence by declaring that Miss Went.
worth committed the forgery. l
could get other experts who had no,
yet been brought into the case. but IT
they declared that Miss Wentworth
had done the writing II would only
prove expert testimony TO be worth
less.
Here | paused In my cogitations, for
was struck With an idea .I might
produce Miss Wentworth's confession
In court 1t wonId probably be regard
ed ruse to save her lover But sup
pose could get experts to testify that
her handwriting had In 1t the charar
teristics of the forged signature
could at least save my client The
same evening | acted on this thought
and. though | had difficulty In tnding
even one expert who had not been
called In the case. he had as good re
pute for skill IN his profession az any
Of the others To my surprise he told
me there was 10 doubt that Miss
Wentworth was the guilty party.
That settled my course for the IN
ture. The next day when the court
opened | produced the second ronfes
sion and the affidavit OF the expert in
chirography that in his opinion the
confessors had forged the signature t.
the will In question
There was a great deaf Of confusion,
In what followed in court The legal
aspect Of the case had entirely chang
ed. Two different persons had con
fessed TO have written II signature that
could only have been written by one
After consultation with their client the
PLAINTIFFS lawyers took the ground that
the second will was Invalid because
there was confession on the part OF
the beneficiary under 1t that he had
forged 1t. Therefore, the property go
ing to Anna Blake under the former
will. she had no interest In further
criminal prosecution They asked for
an adjournment OF the court and pro
posed to me that II my client would
sign away all claim to his uncle's prop
erty they would drop the prosecution
against him and so far as they were
concerned would not prosecute Miss
Wentworth
declined the proposition on th.
ground that it was impossible to prove
either Of the lovers guilty. But they
feeling confident that the chancery
court would give their client the prop
erty under the earlier will. dropped the
matter. and jefferson went forth free
man.
My own solution of the problem In
volved In the two confessions was
that Jefferson, being disappointed in
tnheriting the property. signitied that
the marriage could not take place
This threw in the way OF Miss Went
worth temptation that she could not
resist She concocted later will. but
her lover in order to save her from the
consequences of her crime when crimi
nal proceedings were commenced con
fessed himself guilty Nevertheless
was not certain as to this or anything
concerning the parties or the affair In
which they were concerned, That Ell
ther one or the other or both were
guilty | did not doubt. but this opinion
was rather based on the evidence than
on the bearing or appearance or either
of them. | could not throw off an i'm
preston that jefferson was a fine fe!
low and Miss Wentworth was lovely
girl And had not each attempted to
relieve the other OF the burden by a
confession?
The matter of the Inheritance was
still In the chancery court when one
day | received a letter from man In
Australia. had that day received an
invitation to the wedding Of Arnold
Jefferson and Dora Wentworth put
the letter In my pocket and said moth
ing about 1t till attended the wed
ding, which took place In little
church with no attendants except my
self. Indeed, II had not been expected
that even would accept When the
clergyman who performed the cere
mony came to the words with all my
worldly goods | thee endow" and the
groom bad repeated them | called a
halt and produced the letter l had re
ceived from Australia. It read as fol
lows:
Have seen In an American newspa per
reference to the case against Arnold JEFF
ferson ! was an intimate friend Of the
late William Jefferson and was one OF the
| witnesses to a will he made a few weeks
before his death | return to America
soon on business and will call upon you
not long after you receive this.
SILAS ORMSBY
Never shall | forget the look that
passed between the bride and groom
Each had believed the other guilty Of
the forgery. but each had forgiven the
other on account Of the sacrifice In.
volved In the act. A few rapidly spo
ken words passed between them, there