The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-07-14

take the job unless went along too.
So he handed me an ingenue role with
about; ten sides and twenty-five beans
as salary Mary's was to be featured
in the play which had the giddy moni-
ker Of a Woman's Pledge"
May it please the court" broke in
the prosecutor, getting lazily to his feet.
"all this is no doubt very interesting
delightful. in fact; and might prove of
great help to US if we had stage aspi-
ratons. But" with sudden change
Of tone) 1--WE are here to decide the
guilt or innocence of Mary Page, whom
the State declares to have murdered
James Pollock. l fail to see. your Hon.
or, where the somewhat rambling fable
in slang which the witness is telling
has any bearing upon this case"
'Your Honor. and gentlemen of the
jury" Langdon's voice rose before the
words of the prosecutor had died away.
''the story which the witness is telling
has everything to do with the question
of the murder of James Pollock. It.
will show how again and again he
forced his attentions upon Miss Page,
and of the horror in which she held
him; and of the almost inevitable men
tai collapse that followed his brutal ef-
forts to make her marry him. If have
allowed the witness to tell the story IN
her own way, it is simply that l wish
to bring before you the picture of these
two young girls, so brave and hopeful,
and hard working. whose positions and
good character were attacked by James
Pollock
For moment the judge hesitated,
and the court held its breath-aggres-
sive. even antagonistic at the mere
thought Of losing the gay little witness
who was looking from the judge to
Langdon with such. childishly startled
eyes. Then his Honor said slowly:
81 cannot sustain your objection to
the testimony as irrelevant, sir. con-
slider all that has bearing upon the
curious relations existing between Mr..
Pollock and Miss Page as of paramount
Importance At the same time" ne
added, turning to Langdon, Il would
suggest that you instruct your witness
to confne her testimony to mere state
ments OF fact
The entire courtroom, not excepting
the jury. heaved & sigh of relief, and
Langdon's face showed flush of tri-
umDh as he asked:
"How long did your engagement in
a Woman's Pledge last, Miss Bar
TONI
"Six weeks. but we only got salary
for four
Where did the tour end?"
1T didn't end. 1t blew up in a one
tank rube town called Prindleville. 1t
was one of those towns that have the
railroad station on one side of Main
Street, the hotel and 'Opry' house at
the other and the rest of the buildings
scattered about wherever they happen
ed to drop"
Again a gust of laughter lifted
through the dingy room. but Lang
don frowned and shook his head at
Amy.
Never mind descriptions" he said
more sharply than he had spoken so
far. Amy. far from being awed by
his sternness. pouted at him with a
gay little moue and went on with her
story in her own fashion.
eve were all feeling pretty grouchy
when we hit Prindleville. because the
ghost hadn't walked for month, and
nobody knew whether we'd ever get
back to New York or not
did you give the performance that
night?" broke in Langdon impa-
tiently.
''Well, we started to, but it never got
beyond the ticket-taking stage, for the
sheriff blew in with a badge as big as
a saucer and said that he'd been OF
dered to hold all our trunks and props
for unpaid board bills in the last four
towns, and that meant that we were
stranded with Broadway doing the
Sheridan act many miles away. We
went back to the hotel and said what
we thought Of the producer and tried
to borrow carfare from the hotel pro-
prietor. That was when we saw James
Pollock again. He arrived in town by
the last train, and walked into the lob-
by while we were there. He came
over and said he was going through
the town on a business trip, and see
ing Mary's name on an eight sheet
you know-big poster-he had jumped
off on impulse. He said he was awful
ly sorry that the tour had ended so
unfortunately, and begged her to let
him arrange for our return to New
York"
Did Miss Page accept?'
"No. She refused absolutely. She
she looked as if she would scream if
he touched her. She held onto my arm
so tight it made a black-and-blue spot,
and you could see the pulse in her
throat jumping the way it does be-
fore woman dissolves into Mysteries
The proprietor of the place was
decent old Rube with a fatherly eye