Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-01-19

were filed. One or two of the com.
 panies were skeptical and contested
 payment. Suit was entered, and the
 case was finally carried to the civil
 court of appeak at Galveston, Texas
 About five months ago, the clerk ,ol
 the civil court of appeals received "a
 letter from man in Los Angeles finquiring as to the outcome ofrthc
 suit. The clerk was suspicious. He
 sent the letter to the Lufl<in officials
 Investigation led to the arrest and
 confession of the former station
 agent. He is now in Lufkin awaiting
 trialeon a charge of arson.
 Three years ago. a young fellow
 naHed Mason beat to death at Texar-
 kama g man named Thagard, The
 motive was robbery and the crime was a particularly ,heinous one be- Fcause Thaggard was Mason's friend and. was taking the young fellow to lsrend the night at g the Thaggard lhome. Mason was sentenced to life imprisonment. He escaped from the Huntsville prison, but was re-captur- IaG shortly afterward in Iowa. Again he escaped. Last week he was lccat- cd, and placed under arrest in Monte video, Uruguay, South America. He will be brought back to Texas for penal servitude.
 While there are instances of crimi- nals evading arrest, they are so few as to be very conspicuous. If the authorities are diligent and persever- ing there's hardly one chance in one thousand that a. law-breaker can escape paying the penalty. More lcrirninals escape through the weak ness or blindness of juriss than through failure to be brought to ttrial. t@% "
 Criminologists assert it is absolute Fly impossible for the perpetrator of crime to hide all traces of his con- nection4 with the crime. The tracks are there, they say, if those follow ing them are keen enough to detect. CT course the more astute the cri- Eminal thefbetter he hides his tracks, and the more difficult is the chase. But there are numerous cases on the records of our own courts to show fthat this is correct.
 The difficulty.is that none can pro- ject a chain of events in accord with natural sequence. That is because nlan can only control himself, and Is inNpoynt, to influence anything out of hls .kphsrey The poiu, can be we'll illustrated by citing an incident in crime occurring here Sunday night: A wagon load of cctton seed was stolen from farm south of the city, The theft was reported to the officers and they went to the place where tho cotton was removed. The officers looked about, ascertained that no wagon had been sent out of the yard, and took the trail of wagon track that led them four miles away to the same quantity of seed as was stolen. This is simple example because it was simple mind that conceived the crime. The criminal in this instance doubtless calculated that the snow woud continue to fall and the tracks oi his wagon would be obliterated; or, perhaps, he did not consider thc snow at all. Either way he erred, because there was snow and the p-n- c'pitation ceased at the wrong time.
 And that's the great trouble about succeeding at crime. There's always mistake that lands the criminal e- hind the bars.
 Honesty is the best podicy. It is the best policy because it is the right way to live, and when one lives right he can enjoy life and sleep well at night he's net worried with an aocus- ing conscience or in perpetual fear of being found out It is the best policy, also. because it keeps one out cf prison
 To break the law is losing gaEe. The laws arm is long, and it's mem- Cry tenacious.
 But suppose you are cXCaediGs sly clever, and toCld sulcec. where all others have failed?
 You will die some day.
 What them