The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1913-08-28
ONE CAN NEVER TELL
BY HAROLD DAY.

BE We agoin' to swear away the
life of your own son-our son, Mary?"
The old mans voice quavered and
sunk into whine.
I'm goin' to tell the TRUTH" re-
piled the old woman with a weary
smile. "He threw it away himself
and killed his brother-my baby.
saw him do it, and I'm goin' to tell
the truth and let him be punished"
But Toms your boy too, Mary
your Oldest" persisted the old man.
Whats he ever done to show it,"
cried the woman fiercely. He struck
me-yes, struck me with his own
hand; not once, but twenty times.
Aye. and he struck you too, Nat. I
seen him do it more'n once. What
comfort has he ever been to us?
What pride have we in him, what
hope for his future? No, no, Nat, we
might as well give up and call our
lives failure. He's been bad boy,
his own brother, and won't do any
thin to save him"
But he was in Ticker when he did
It," pleaded the old man. you know
Tom was not very bad except when
he was in Ticker. And he wasn't him.
self when he did it. And he feels as
sorry as anybody for it now. Not
the gallows! All! Mary. not the gal
lows!" and he slipped from his chair
onto his knees and sobbed before her.
where's Peter?" demanded the
woman, drawing back her skirts,
which the man attempted to cling
pathetically to. Where's my Pete,
who never did a wrong to anybody,
and who always was bullied and
licked by Tom? l won't save him. l
tell you won't"
The day of the trial came, and the
prosecuting attorney arose, calm and
confident, as he addressed the jury.
Here was an easy case, and it prom
ised to be brief. He would get a
quick conviction and the accompany
ing glory and would hurry along other
cases and show dispatch of business
which would reflect great credit upon
his Office. The conviction was sure.
because the boys mother was to go
on the stand to testify against him.
1t had been brutal murder, too
the killing of Peter Harter by his
brother Tom. AS nearly as could be
found out he had been stabbed with
out warning simply because he expos
tulated with his brother for brutal
language used to the old mother.
1t would be a good thing for the
community, moreover, to get rid Of
Tom Harter. He always had been a
bad egg, and menace to peaceable,
!aw-abiding citizens.
"This case, gentlemen, is fortunate
ly so plain that it will be necessary
to detain you but few moments. In
fact, I think one witness will deter
mine the entire matter. Let Mary
Harter be sworn"
~~aAs~ the woman took aher-seat in> the
witness box an almost imperceptible
but heart-breaking moan came from
the white lips of the old man, whose
side she left. It caught her ear, and
she turned her eyes upon him. AS
she looked, his drawn face and terror
stricken eyes faded from her sight in
sort of mist through which she saw
the face of her young lover of forty
years ago. She saw him beside her
at the altar on that day of days when
all the future was bright and all the
sky rose-colored.
And out of the mist came the out
lines of the cradle in which she had
rocked her first-born-the cradle Nat
had built with his own hands.
Then she heard as in a dream the
SNUG voice of the prosecuting attor-
ney:
Nov, Mrs. Harter, tell the jury
your name and relationship to the
prisoner and the victim of this brutal
murder, and in your own words tell
if you saw the deed committed and
just how it happened"
Turning bewildered eyes on the law.
yer, the court and the jury, the wo-
man gave her name and address.
Then gazing straight at her husband
through tearfilled eyes, she said, with
perfect deliberation nd emphasis:
Tom and Pete had some words
about some money and Pete got mad
and said: "I'll kill you, you low,
goUd-for-nothin' blaggard; that's what
III do and he struck him with a
chair md drove him back into the cor
ner. Tom was tryin' to defend hun
self, and he saw he was goin' to get
his head broke, and there was MUIR
der in Pete's eyes, and Tom reached
out for the knife that was on the
table and struck at Pete. And II
killed him. And that was all there
was to it."
During this testimony the prisoner
and his father had leaped to their
feet, the former with amazement de.
picted on his face, the latter with
tears starting to his eyes, while the
prosecuting attorney sat back with
mouth wide open, so thoroughly. par.
alyzed that he never protested as the
old woman. at the end of her testi-
mony. arose and stepped down from
the witness chair.
She never looked at the prisoner,
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