Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-08-13

LOuAO OO uo0uCCus 1 hORC0 that CO1AnAOA
sense on the part of those By whom I
would be judged would save me. But
the case went to trial nevertheless.
It is astonishing how In such cases
80 much may be made of SO little.
Parker's wife before she married : ar
ker had been a fame Of mine, but he
had known all about 1t, and we had
often spoken OF 1t during his wife's
lifetime. The prosecuting attorney got
hold OF this intimacy and built up on
It a theory OF motive for the murder,
handling it SO plausibly that 1t had a
marked effect not only on the jury, but
on the spectators and those who fol-
lowed the trial in the newspapers.
He pictured the volcano OF jealousy
that had smouldered in my breast till
the opportunity came, when l could
strike for revenge. So graphic, so pic
turesque was his description OF my
condition that he almost convinced me.
The pistol found under Parker's pill
low should have confirmed my evil
dence, for l was put on the stand In
my own defense, but the prosecuting
attorney claimed that l had placed 1t
there for that express purpose. He
eve attempted to prove that the pis-
toll had belonged to me and brought
forth a witness who swore that he had
seen 1t in my possession. This vas q
clincher on his theory and naturally
turned many against me who had pre-
viously believed In my innocence.
However, 1t was impossible to convict
me on such evidence. At the conclu-
sion of the trial the judge virtually
directed the jury to acquit me. Never
theless they wrangled oye my case for
two days, then reported that they could
not agree. l was finally discharged with
the understanding that l would not
again be tried, but In the eyes of the
public l was a condemned murderer.
The object Of my life now became
the finding of Parker's murderer. But
where should 1 look for him? My u
sci had made inquiries that might lead
to any one who had a grudge against
Parker and had failed completely. But
there was no reason why l should not
go on hunting. 1 secured access to
Parker's papers and spent hours in
careful examination of them. Not a
word In them gave the slightest clew
to any enemy. The police had ex-
hausted the matter of evidence of any
tracks the murderer might have left
behind him at Parker's house. He had
not even left a footprint.
I hired detectives to work with me
and directed them to watch every one
who had been in any way connected
with the murdered man. These per-
sons were continually reporting clews
which turned out not to be clews and
which they invented for the purpose Of
remaining in my pay. II Parker had
ever had any difficulty with any one
he had kept it to himself. That he
feared some one was evident from his
having called upon me to remain n
night at his house and that he had told
me there was a story connected with
his having done so.
Meanwhile l lived a life Of horror
A few of my nearest friends stood by
me, but l knew that there were times
when some of them shrank from being
seen in my company. l could see that
I was being pointed out as Thompson,
the murderer. What means | possess
ed were gradually shrinking away I'M
der the expense attending my search
and the fact that l had given up every
other occupation. l became despond-
ent as to ever clearing myself and
was thinking of hiding my identity in
a foreign land when fate did for me
what 1 could not do for myself. A clew
was revealed to me.
One morning the newspapers an
nounced that Judge Morehouse had
killed a burglar in self defense in his
own house. The evening papers stated
that the man killed was not a burglar,
but one who had sought the life of the
judge through revenge. Years before,
Morehouse giving a jury instructions
on which they were obliged to convict
a criminal accused of defalcation, had
sentenced him to a term of ten years
in the ~penitentiary. The term had ex-
pired a few months before, and the
criminal had been since looking for an
opportunity to carry out a threat he had
made to kill the judge whom he con-
sidered in part the of his con-
viction.
The next development edged closely
upon my case. 1t was that the criminal
had been financial manager of the firm
in which Parker was a partner. At this
point l saw v~indication for me. Plung-
ing into an investigation, l unearthed
the fact that Parker had discovered the
d~efalcation. l did not learn that he had
taken any especial part in securing the
conviction of the defaulter, but l sur
missed that there might have been some
thing CALLING in Parker having run him
down and exposed him.
A natural theory was that the con-
yict, having been discharged from
prison, had first killed Parker, then
l.