The Little River news., 1920-04-07
CHAPTER xI.

Fortunately for me, there had re- gently been wave of public criticism of the courts for the long delays in bringing criminal cases to trial. and the district attorney was moving with all celerity to bring my case to a con cluSiOn. An indictment against me for the murder of Daisy Lutan had been quickly found and the date had been already set for the trial--one week hence-so that the period of my incarceration and doubt as to my ulfi- mate fate seemed likely to be very brief.
 Utterly absurd as the situation was. accused of murdering woman whom 1 never had seen and hardly had heard of until I saw her lying dead in her apartments, conscious as I was of my entire innocence in the natter still, as in the solitude of my cell reviewed the case, I found myself fac ing the ordeal of trial for murder with considerable apprehension.
 
 much against me- There was abso- lutely no way in which I could refute the testimony of the two detectives that they had found the revolver with one chamber discharged in the drawer of my dresser l myself b"d seen them find it. While German Gill held that there was a possibility that they themselves had put it there, knew that neither of them had been near the dresser after I had admitted them l had the slightest ground for sus- pecting was Claire Bradford, yet Ehat motive could she have had?
 Wick undoubtedly would tkstify that he had met me at the door bf tht Lutan apartment directly after He had heard the shot. He might saEt that l appeared to be greatly excited This would be the exact tru ih. There was even the possibility 4hat he rlight swear that he had fo.,nd me coming out of Miss Lutan's apartment. Even if he did not make the statement di- aect, shrewd questioning on the pfrt of the district attorney could easily make it appear tbat I had just ldft the Lutan apartment. How could Ite possibly controvert his testimony? .yrnei:. 76 addit t6sre->->>-;.aA1s ''. .4 ma ging statements that would bs offered by Nellie Kelly. She would Swear that the evening before I had takeu her out to dinner and had been questioning her about the other ten ants in the house. Even though we Snew that she was tool of Wick and was the wife of Lefty Moore, the bur glar. unless German was able to dis cover that she herself had criminal record. it seemed utterly hopeless to attempt to confute her statements.
 It would also initiate against me that at the time of the murder l was out of job and almost without funds. They were likely, too, to bring out the fact that had been discreditably discharged from the only position l had held in New York. The only man who knew anything about the matter, Mir. Wood, the head of the firm, had heen suddenly called to France in con nection with an order for munitions. and was not expected to return for several months. The fact would weigh against me, too, that l would he unable to offer the testimony of any character witnesses. Birge and 1,oIlo. ,,,, cIo SSmotos v-ith yhOn had rOomed ever since had come to New York, were somewhere in France" with the American troops and could not possibly aid me.
 All of this was pointed out to me ny John McGregor. a young attorney whom German had employed for me. While German and had. think sue .reeded in convincing him of my inno. cence, the fact that he was continu- ally citing the difficulties in the way af our proving it made me realize that he was very dubious as to the outcome.
 The trouble was that we were absO- lutely without witnesses. Old Rufus t,aston's whereabouts still remained
 
 a mystery. If we could discover him in time, we could at least explain sat isfactorily my presence in the Grand deck and could establish that I was not the homeless. pennless vagrant they would try to prove me. The longer old Rufus remained in hiding. the stronger became my suspicion that he might be in some way involved in the plot. His action in keeping his address secret from me seemed to have been with deliberate intent.
 After some discussion G0rrh> n and I had agreed not to mention either of the Bradford girls.
 If one word about either of them slips out in court" said German, they'll be in for it. The papers will jump to it and print their pictures and all that Wed better leave them out of it."
 With this I heartily concurred. | was determined that Barbara Brad ford must be in no way involved, come what may. I knew that she her
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