The Washington herald., 1914-04-18

and another man whose name have for
gotten. along with the colored preacher.
all swore positively that Hunt was one
of the men, and the spokesman OF the
pair. We couldn't prove an alibi All We
| had to rely upon was the swearing of
the two drivers and a strong argument
on the question of mistaken identity. and
to try TO create in the minds OF the jury
a reasonable enough doubt to get our cIi-
ent of. But the men who were so posi-
| tive as to Hunts identity were all men
of intelligence. and the jury had been out
| but short time. when it brought in a
| verdict of guilty and fixed his punishment
at three years in 10 penitentIary.
The very next day. however. after his
| conviction, the papers brought the news
OF Jesse James assassination at St
Joseph. Mo- by Ford, and finding upon
his person of Judge ROwntree's watch
and key and upon Mrs. James finger Miss
| Rowntree's diamond ring. That was
pretty conclusive evidence that Jesse
James had had a hand in the robbery
and was one of the two men.
Il Immediately began an investigation,
| with the assistance OF Judge Rowntree,
to find out the truth as to Hunts con-
nection with the robbery. | got the affi-
| davits OF the Ford boys, in which they
! recited what Jesse James and Bill Ryan.
now in the Missouri penitentiary serving
out a term Of twenty-five years for some
train robbery, ] believe. had told them:
also. an affidavit from Dick Liddell, one
Of the James gang; a statement from the
Warden of the Missouri penitentiary in
regard to something that Bill Ryan had
admitted about the stage ROBBERY, and a
letter from old man Hite. in Logan Coun-
ty. Ky, an uncle OF Jesse and Frank
James. saying that the night after the
stages were robbed. Jesse James and Bill
Ryan stayed all night at his house and
told him all about the robbery, and
showed him and his wife Judge Rown-
trees watch and Miss Rowntree's rings
one of which. the plain gold one. with
the inscription Patsy in II, Ryan gave
to his Hite's) daughter. | was in Judge
Rowntree's office in Lebanon a few days
after / received Hite's letter. when the
ring with the name Patsy in it came by
express from Hite.
The Mystery Solved.
ITO make a long story short. we found
out conclusvely that Jesse James and
Bill Ryan were the men who robbed the
stages, and that Hunt was innocent, but
as most of the evidence we had was
not OF a legal character and as that
which was legal would be very hard to
obtain, instead of applying for a new trial
for Hunt ! went to Frankfort and there
laid the whole matter before Gov. Black I.
burn. who at once pardoned our client. |
Before Hunt left Glasgow Judge Rown-
tree had his photograph taken and then
wrote to St Joseph for that of Jesse
James. When he received the latter there |
was found to be one of the most striking |
resemblances l have ever known between |
two men. Their every feature, their
manner of comblng their hair. corre-
spending to a nicely, and the most singu- |
lar of all, upon James face was a mole |
in almost the same place as the one on
Hunts cheek. AS soon as Judge Rown- |
tree saw Jesse James photograph he eX- |
claimed, 1 have always said 1 couldn't |
recognize Hunt as one of the men who |
robbed u.s. l do recognize this as one
OF them, and the one Hunt has been |
mistaken for
$50 there was an innocent man who. |
from a close resemblance to one of the |
most notorious highwaymen ever known, |
suffered Imprisonment in Jail for nearly |
two years. Where he was at the time !
the robbery was committed and why he
couldn't or wouldn't show his where
abouts we never knew. One theory al
ways has been that he was in a scrape |
somewhere else. but 1t is certain he had
nothing to do with the affair he was
charged with. The lawyers at our bar
frequently have occasion now to use, and
do use, Hunts case as an illustration
in other cases, and strong points are
made with juries to show how men even
of splendid intelligence, who are ever so
positive in their swearings, may yet be
mistaken"