Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1914-09-10

II
Diverted
stone on the public road. marching An
automatic lockstep. OF sitting, a sol.
itary figure. Ia n dim cell. the nonot.
ony OF the prison life added 90 the
hererSceaaing cruelty Of his thoughts,
slowly eating away hia sanity; aud
Then, to 20 out into tho world, Ia run
across old friends agaln, with the
brand Of q jailbird ever upon him, His
fingers clutchod iieFoely at tho arm Of
bis chair. IL had all passed through
his mind In one brief ihHtant--and
again the sweetly persuasive tones Of
the lawyer;
uentlcinen, We ara not Yet 80 old
or ao hardened that We, cannot amtia
with cendescension upon tho indlacre-
lions OF the young. Surely you have
not forgotten your own college days.
Perhaps, as ! draw for you the scene
u the he-cr-- unfortunate eacapade
OF these thoughtieAn young men. some
similar scene from your own expert.
ence will rise before you and move
you 90 pity
1T In a very dark night, no moon,
only few stars. Several young men
In u huge Packard are returning from
a midnight revcl. rendered perhaps
her-er-irTesp 0nsible- get my
meaning. gentlemen, by long revealing
and much champagne.
One OF tho young fellows In In
rather low spirits because OF large
losses ut cards early In the evening
very hard luck he had had that night
and the crowd deSises a crazy
scheme OF hiding at "A corner and-er
picking somebody's pocket. And ~
they draw up In n dark side street
leading from the park, and the ons
young gentleman gets out-and waits
not many minutes befors footsteps are
heard-and you know the rest. gen
ilemen.
In the excitement OF the moment
no doubt he struck harder than was
intended-and the old gentleman was
not strong-but surely Ia jurymen Of
your discrimination the affair will not
be regarded as serious. especially a.
the old gentleman is reported out OF
danger. The law IN a punisher-not
an avenger. and when we administer
law without mercy we oppress the
peOple!"
In an unconscious way he heard the
lawyers voice going OH. but his head
teemed with surge of thoughts:
Yes. II this were the old. dogmatic.
narrow'minded system OF Law, he
agreed, an eye for an eye and tooth
for q tooth. why. be. who had done a
criminals deed The could face the cold
facts now. would have 70 pay the cor
responding penalty.
But the defendant had no fears.
That old. narrow law was out Of date.
He could trust these modern. intelli.
gent turymen to discern between a
cold-blo0ded crime and sad mistake.
How kind and broadminded they
looked; how ready To listen 10 reason
and be convinced. He thought that he
had never seen scch a benevolent face
at the judges. IL recalled n verse
from some old book. Charity suffereth
long. and is kind" Yes. that Was the
judges face exactly.
What a splendid thing this Ameri-
can system Of law Ii. thought the ac-
cused. No hanging a man by q crazy
mob. swayed for an instant by n blind
fury against some poor wretch No
tyranny Of a headstrong king. baniah-
Ing a noble 10 the Tower for a mo
mentary dislike or the within of a fav-
ortte. What a difference now-noth-
ing rash or emotional-aIl GOODNESS
and keen Judgment, justice and
mercy
How alert his every sense was! Now
his lawyer had finished the appeal,
had taken his seat amid burst Of
applause. and the jurymen adjourned
to the next room. He watched them
until the door shut
There was no look In "A single one of
the faces. OF that hard relentIessneas
that he had been used To: the very
broadness OF their comfortable backs
seemed tolerant with that charity for
a human being that was stirring all
humanity.
The Jurymen were not out Of the
room ten minutes. Tho facts of the
case were quite clear To them: they
were In hurry to get home, and this
was but a trine: the murder trial on
for tomorrow promised some excite
ment. One must have held back, Vot-
Ing against the decision Of the Others,
but the outer room and It's fun O.
breath had overcome his slight re-
luctance.
In the court room the accused sat
with his head In his hands: his
thoughts were still running riot, he
had TO exert supreme effort of will
to hold himself In the chair His
pulses were ungiing fiercely. with tho
love Of mere living. with an exhilara-
ton Of gratitude that contracted his
throat, with the sweetness OF freedom
after this tense nightmare, with a
mighty resolve for the future
Thank heaven! I'm not an old man
yet Really. I'm awfilly young" lie
almost laughed aloud In joyous real
iZation Of the long. free life still be
fore him
An expectant hush. following the
restless stir OF the room warned him
that the jury had returned. He turned
with q half smile on his lips 10 hear
the verdict Ar the little clerk asked:
Guilty or not guilty."
And the answer was
"GuiItyi"