Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1919-02-14
coed to forget all about 1t. That. is.
everybody but Hartridge.

eee0 10 forget al aDout IL. Inat iss
everybody but Hartridge.
Somehow the district attorney
couldn't get the picture of Jefferson
a. he stood talking at the table In the
courtroom out of his mind. II the lit
tie man had been mslodramatic: II he
had pointed an accusing finger" or
something Of that sort. It might have
been different. Hsrtridgs began to
brood over the matter. He wondered
IL what Jefferson had said could come
true. Could Il be possible he would
never. get Jefferson out. OF his mind?
1t seemed absurd.
He tried to throw on his Obsession.
but, somehow. it refused TO leave him.
He began to loose fesh and take on
an abstract air. After elk months, he
was SO self-centsred that he had lost
all Of his friends. His acquaintance
shrugged their shoulders ct the sight
of him. and said something about, his
looking badly" and needing 2 rest"
None Of them knew the real cause Of
Hartridge's Crouch.
But the way that Jeherson's proDh,
ecy worked out has yet TO- be told.
Succeeding events allowed. that when:
stu waters run dsep.i they may run
very, very deep, 49,
Fate. the gambler. playsd at high
stakes with lHartridys and Jefferson
and both, men lost their al. Two
yeaTz after Jefferlon went. to prison.
| an absurd but unimpeachable grand
jury was investigating the official acts
of the district attorney The prosecu.
tor fought the case for q year. but
finally. grayhaired.. bent In body. and
broken in spirit like an old man. he.
followed Jefferson to the narrow cell
and barred windows OF the, State peni,
Tertiary. He was sentenced for three
years for malfeasance In ONCE. ssa
Hartridge stood in the prison Office.
az the clerk entered his name In the
prison record. and looked thru the
window at the world he was leaving
temporarily. Il seemed twisted and
grotesQue. In his mind he saw the
career he had mapped out for himself
saw it in heap Of tumbled ruins.
Bitterness gnawed at his heart. He
attributed his fall to JefYerson--Jeffers
son, the harmless and inoffensive His
downward course seemed, when he re-,
viewed II, to have begun At the end,
Of JefYerson's trial. II was curious,
he thought. but Jefferson had been his
Nemesis.
They led him away. as they would
any other common convict. to be
washed and barbered. and clothed in
q worn suit of prison stripes. such as
the lower grade Of prisoners wear.
and newcomers are given. until they
prove themselves worthy Of the pri-
son gray.
After that, with several hundred
men. each with a different number on
his breast. he was herded into big
hall, and sat down at long table be-
tween burly negro and little. wi
zened, .shaky old man to a meal OF
beans and bread and water. The food
Disguised him, and he pushed 1t away.
but the big negro next to him grinned.
and surreptitiously transferred the
beans to his own plate.
After q while. Hartridge allowed
himself to look about. His eyes fell
first on a quiet little man who sat at
the opposite side Of the table. 1t was
Jefferson. This same Jefferson he had
seen two years before. standing in
dingy, dusty courtroom in a shaft of
sunlight, talking about the burden
that would rest on the district attor-
ney's back; the same little retiring,
bringing. self-conscious, slightly, ner'
vous Jefferson.
He stared. expecting. every moment
Jefferson would look up and recognize
him, but when the little mans eyes
finally sought Hartridge's face, they
contained only curiosity and a mild
sympathy.
At supper the same thing happened,
and Hartridge felt convinced that the
change in his own appearance had
fooled the little man. He felt thankful
for that.
That night Hartridge was assigned
cell next to Jefferson's. It was
dark, cold-looking tube with stone
walls separating it from similar walls
on either side and in the rear. The
cell was on the ground floor. and there
were two tiers Of cells above It.
Inside Hartridge found a bed fas-
tened by hinges to the stone side wall.
and a table. The narrow door was OF
bars OF steel, and opened on bare
space about fifteen feet wide, which
went entirely around the cell block.
On the other side of this space was
the prison wall, with It's long, narrow.
barred windows higher than his head
from the floor.
BY crowding against the cell door.
and looking up thru one Of the win
dows, Hartridge found he could catch
a glimpse of the heavens and three or
four stars twinkling down at him.
Later, he discovered that by standing
, close against the bars of his door, he
could converse with Jefferson in the
next cell. In this way, the two men