The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-08-17
What a
Girl Did
BY EVERETT p. CL.ARKE.


vesting there were three other hands
employed by him. We took dur meals
at the farmhouse, but slept in an out
house, in which each man had room
to himself. | was especially pleased
at not being obliged to sleep with an
other, for / didn't like any of the
hands, and one Of them looked to me
like jailbird.
One morning got UP, as usual, long
before the sun. Ny room faced the
west, and there was but one window
In it; consequently it was half dark
when / dressed. noticed as l went
out to work that my shoes didn't feel
easy on my feet, but thought very lit
tie about it. So long as they didn't
pinch me didn't mind the rest. When
breakfast was ready we all went into
the farmhouse, and while we were sit
ting at the table several men-they
were policemen in plain clothes-came
In and arrested every one of US farm
shoes. When we had done so they
chalked our initials on the sole of each
shoe, and two of them went out, while
the others remained to see that we
stayed where we were
Now, / remembered that my shoes
had not been easy on my feet. and
when took them off / saw that they
were not mine. Evidently substitu-
ton had been made during the night
I was seized with terrible dread. for
Il seemed to me that this substitution
and the arrest had some connection.
Grimshaw's daughter, Eliza. who
had from my going to work for her
father shown an especial preference
for me, was In the breakfast room,
where we. were held by the police, and
| called her to me and asked her what
It all meant. She told me that she
didn't know unless we were held on
suspicion of the murder OF Farmer
Benton, who was found dead in his
bed shortly before our arrest and $500
that he had drawn from the bank, in
tending to pay off mortgage. gone.
/ told her about the changing Of my
shoes for others, and she added that
she had heard the policemen talking
about tracks leading from the out
house where the hands slept to Ben
tons house and back.
1t was all plain to me now. Some
one of my fellow hands had done the
murder and had worn my shoes in or
der to throw the crime on me. /
told Eliza of my fears. and she turned
pale. / saw her fix her gaze on each
Of the other prisoners in turn. and
when she had gone the rounds she
10 me:
Its Brown"
Brown was the man whom / have
mentioned as looking like a jailbird.
After Eliza's hitting on him / watched
lin closely myself for few minutes
md saw under very quiet exterior a
estless eye. Eliza saw that / was very
much broken up by this effort to fix
murder on me and said sympatheti- !
ally, Don't worry; it will come out
ii right" y
She had scarcely spoken the words Q
vhen the two policemen who had gone y
ut with the shoes came back and right ii
p TO me, paying no attention to the il
theirs. t
"A job has been put up on me-" | II
aid. Those shoes are not mine" {
My remarks had no especial effect d
n them, so far as | could see. They .
Did me was under arrest for the a
lurder Of Ezra Benton and told the >
theirs they would be held as witnesses.
S we were marched off | saw Eliza
laking for the clubhouse, where we h,
ad slept A faint hope sprang up =,
ithin me that she was going TO look "
II some evidence to clear me, but this dl
knew was not to be expected. n,
There was not much doing in the h,
,urts. and my trial came on without
clay. Farmer Grimshaw kindly en- "
Dyed a lawyer to defend me. and my st
lvocate had a long talk with me in az
hich he questioned me closely about N
e substitution of the shoes for mine. e.
# the only proof against me was 81
at the shoes taken off my feet by the 70
'lice fitted exactly in the tracks made w
the soft earth--it had rained the he
" before the murder-between the
thouse and Farmer Benton's. A an
Drn place in the sole of one shoe and DO
e heel of the other showed plainly in M
e indentation. Unless we could prove
1t the shoes were not mine II would
hard with me. and that would be q;
pretty hard matter TO prove. The
pes found on Brown were very much
aller than mine.
When the case came to trial the
lice. who had made the discovery ray
the tracks and the shoes that had ia
de them, and my lawyer were all ~
TO shame by a girl. Eliza Grim ~,
wv had done bit Of detective work
t saved me. an,
While the trial was on Eliza gave her
ret TO my defender. and he at once
her on the stand He drew from
that she was familiar with the
between the clubhouse and the
ne Of the murdered man: that on alv
morning of the arrest she had ex- de-
ined dirt left on the floor OF the INT
ms 10 the clubhouse. She had found no,
elbow clay recently turned up in
lton's yard in Browns room ana siz
ore my door. but not in my room. yoJ
had collected bits Of this caked az
and nrodurad ~ the