Baxter Springs news., 1919-02-21
IN session in MalletviIle."

The court room was filed with
spectators. They had learned the ma
ture of the killing Of q thief and were
about equally divided as to whether
Osborn would be hanged or not.
The Judge was on the bench when
Belle and Ellen, followed by Sheriff
Wood and Osborn, entered.
One could see from the twinkle Of
merriment that played across the
Judges features that something had
happened to relieve him Of his usual
sober and dignfed demeanor. And
that was true.
"The sheriff will now impanel jury
from the spectators" said the Judge.
And the sheriff in duty bound to
favor Belle because of her previous
threat to expose his corrupt election,
drew the jury from those who had
been vociferous as to Osborn's guilt.
In the absence Of an eye witness to
the crime, Osborn pleaded mot
guilty" took the witness chair and
submitted to q terrific grueling by
Belle.
The arguments over, the Judge gave
sealed instructions to the jury which
retired and came back after the first
ballot with this verdict:
1--WE, the jury, find the defendant
guilty and recommend that he be
hanged until he is dead-dead-dead." )"
Osborn's tongue. lolled out as he
fell across the attorneys table, and
pandemonium reigned supreme with
the spectators.
Zeke Sutton, donned in the Judges
twill grey suit, innocent enough that
it belonged to the Judge, or that he
was in the presence of his erstwhile
Baxter lover, made his entry into the
court room to learn the nature OF a
murder trial he had heard about and
passed down the aisle toward the at
torneys.
Momentarily forgetting the effect
the verdict of the jury would have on
Osborn, Belle discovered Zeke Sutton
and reconized him as her former girl
hood lover in Baxter Springs. At the
same time Judge McClain had discov-
cred the appearance of n we'll dressed
man in the isle and recognized the
suit he wore Us belonging to him and
turning to Ellen excitedly pointed his
finger to the man and cried out:
"There's my suit, Ellen"
Belle, Ellen and the Judge made a
hasty flight for Sutton, Belle to en-
brace him in love and the Judge and
Ellen to obtain the suit Sutton wore,
for this suit was a stylish frock al
fair and was used only on rare oc-
casions by the Judge in performing
marriage ceremonies.
Belle had reached Sutton and they
were in the throes Of q love scene
when the Judge and Ellen grabbed
Sutton to take possession of the suit
and in the rough-and-tumble scuffle
Belle labored under the delusion that
the Judge and Ellen recognized SUIT
ton and that there would be happy
reunion love affair. In the mixup,
while the Judge and Zeke were on the
floor, Belle and Ellen were holding
onto the Judge which gave Zeke a
chance to make his run for liberty,
and he made the run. The Judge was
securely in the grasp of both Belle
and Ellen and in freeing himself to
pursue the man who had on his suit,
he made his escape in his pajamas.
Outside the court house, Zeb Hop
kins, the town marshal, was leisurely
making his 'rounds.
Zeke appeared from the court house
in his fastest gait and abruptly turn
ed into an alley when the Judge
cleared the doorway and gave chase.
As usual, the town marshal knew
nothing of the disturbance. He leis-
urely turned the corner running in the
same direction with the alley down
which Zeke had flown.
The holiness of the chase put Zeke
to cover to evade the approaching
Judge who passed on and unfortun-
ately met up with a collision with
Zeb, the town marshal, at the inter
section of the alley and street.
Zeke saw that his escape to his old
haunts in the Ozark range had beer
cut off by a street accident. While
pondering, the court house scene Of
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