The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-08-21
What a
Girl Did:
BY EVERETT P. CLARKE.

VI ~ AoA
vesting there were three other hands
employed by him. We took our meals
at the farmhouse. but slept in an out
house, in which each man had a room
to himself. l was especially pleased
at not being obliged to sleep with an
other. for l didn't like any of the
hands. and II of them looked to me
like a jailbird. ......" l..
One morning l got up. as usual, long
before the sun. My room faced the
west. and there was but one window
in it; consequently it was half dark
when l dressed. l 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 l didn't mind the rest. When
breakfast was ready we all went into
the farmhouse. and while we We're sit
ting at the table several men-they
We're policemen in plain clothes-came
in and arrested every one of us farm
hands and ordered us to take off our
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 l took them off l saw that, they
were not mine. Evidently a substitu-
ton had been made during the night.
l vas seized with a terrible dread. for
it 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
l 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 u arrest and $500
that he had drawn from the bank. in
tending to pay off a mortgage. gone.
I 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. l
told Eliza of my fears. and she turned
pale. l saw her fix her gaze on each
of the other prisoners in turn. and
when she had gone the rounds she
whispered to me:
Its Brown"
Brown was the man whom l have
mentioned rs looking like a jailbird
After Eliza's hitting on him ! watched
him closely myself for a few minutes
and saw under a very quiet exterior a
restless eye. Eliza saw that was very
much broken up by this effort to fix
a murder on me and said sympathetic
cally. Don't worry; it will come out
all right"
She had scarcely spoken the words
when the two policemen who had gone
out with the shoes came back and right
up to me-. paying no attention to the
others. ,.:...
"A job has been put up on me-" |
said. Those shoes are not mine"
. My remarks had no especial effect
on. them. SO far as l could e {. They
told me l was under arrest for the
murder of Ezra Benton and told the
others they would be held as witnesses.
As we were marched of ] saw Eliza
making for the clubhouse. where we
had slept. A faint hope sprang up
within me that she was going to look
for some evidence to clear me, but this
| knew was not to be expected.
There was not much doing in the
courts. and my trial came on without
delay. Farmer Grimshaw kindly EN-.
ployed a lawyer to defend me, and my
advocate had a long talk with me in
which he questioned me closely about
the substitution Of the shoes for mine.
for the only proof against me was
that the shoes taken of my feet by the
police fitted exactly in the tracks made
in the soft earth-it had rained the
day before the murder-between the
clubhouse and Farmer Benton's. A
worn place in the sole Of one shoe and
the heel of the other showed plainly in
the indentation. Unless We could prove
that the shoes were not mine it would
go hard with me. and that would be
a pretty hard matter. to prove. The
shoes found on Brown we're very much
smaller than mine.
When the case came to trial the
police. who had made the discovery
of the tracks and the shoes that had
made them, and my lawyer were all
put to shame by a girl. Eliza Grim
shaw had done a bit of detective work
that saved me.
While the trial was on Eliza gave her
secret to my defender. and he at once
put her on the stand. He drew from
her that she was familiar with the
soil between the clubhouse and the
home Of the murdered man: that on
the morning of the arrest she had ex-
amined dirt left on the floor Of the