Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-09-25

room met lawyer coming out. |
Something in my appearance attracted I
his attention. knew very we'll what I
it was. for from childhood had been !
used TO exciting the attention OF all I
who saw me. Ii WAS not |. lat a head
of hair of Il peculiar redpess. Words
describe only Dior; they seldom sus
gest an especial variety OF color. Mine
was of variety that few persons had
ever seen before. The lawyer stopped
me with the words Zone moment" and
stood LOOKING III me. turning something
over in his mind. Presently he said:
Your name. please
gave it.
Come in here"
He led me into an Office and said some
thing TO man at desk. who Tiled in
Il blank and read me subpoena.
was ordered to he present that after
noon in the courtroom as a witness.
When appeared ! found that was
wanted in a trial for .murdeg What
astonished me was that the accused.
who was a very respectable looking
man, possessed a head of hair the same
color as my ewn.
| was placed beside him. and wO-
man who was giving testimony WIS
called upon to say which of the two.
myself or the accused. was the man
she had seen kill her husband. She
looked us both over with puzzled ex
preston and finally pointed to me.
The incident produced quite Il sensa
ton in court and naturally filed me
with CONSERVATION. The lawyer at once
called for the discharge of the prisoner,
which was granted. AS for ME, | was
required to prove where ! had been at
the time OF the murder, and ! had no
difficulty in substantiating the fact that
was not within n thousand miles OF
where the deed was done.
The only feature about the man
whose acquittal / had secured that
fixed itself On my memory was his
hair. He was between thirty-ive and
forty. while was not more than twen-
ty. Being in limbo. he had no oppor-
tunity to thank me for having saved
him from the gallows. where he would
| have gone had it not been for the Sim
| ilarity of our hair. but / noticed him
! looking at me with great interest. l
! did not live in the place where he had
| been tried and left il as soon as had
proved an alibi. So did not see any
| thing more Of him.
! Twelve years passed. years that had
not brought me success ! was thirty
two and had not Il ceut In the world.
| Neither had wife or children or
home. think 1t was the color of my
! hair that told against me. On apply
ing for Il position the person to- whom
| | went would look at my head and
simultaneously reply. There are no
vacancies just now" And wherever |
applied | received the same reception.
The consequence was that from TWEEN
ty to thirty-twO | was most of the time
out of employment.
But the end of this period brought q
change. One afternoon just before the
closing hours of business entered Il
mercantile house and asked TO see the
head of the concern. 4 gentleman
with coal black hair. in which there
was. despite his City years. not n sin
gle gray strand. sat at ii desk in II pri
vate office SO great was the contrast
between his and my own top adorn'
ment that was sure l would receive
n curt refusal and was about to turn
away when he lifted his eyes and saw
me. His gaze was first fixed on my
head. then was directed TO my coun
renance. There was nothing for me tc
do hIvf M
usual request.
I'm hunting a job" l said. I've
been hunting one for months. Indeed
I'm so run down financially that I'm
ready to work for song"
! received 10 reply for awhile. The
man sat staring at me with strange
look in his eyes. and | suspected that
he was thinking of something else
Without waiting for his answer | was
turning away when he stopped me.
What can you do?'' he asked.
ANY ordinary work"
"Your name?"
gave ii to him. and. taking up 6
check book, he wrote a check for ST
payable TO my order and handed 1t t
me- | looked at it dumfounded
II haven't earned anything yet"
stammered.
"You look tired and hungry" wal
the reply. Report here tomorrow
morning and ron shall have job"
was so used to attributing my mis-
fortunes 10 the color of my hair tina
| now laid my good luck to the SAM
cause. | had an idea that the man'
action had something to do with thu
contrast between the glossiness of hi
raven locks and the disagreeable red
ness OF mine Probably his hal
brought him good fortune as mine hal
fought ME misfortune and made hin
sorry for me. At any rate, this wa
the only Interpretation could pu
upon it.
found it very easy TO cash hi
check and spent part of 1t In buyin
a good dinner. The next morning
reported myself to Mr. Marston-suc
was his name-and after u brief cor
versatin1. during which he question:
me with view to learning what lin
Of work ! would prefer. he said thu