The Washington times., 1920-06-27

ROBERT M. IaylOr, the youth VINO killed
Viola Carpenter had asserted that his act
was the result of an accident She had
confirmed this. 1t is probable that he
never could been convicted of having de-
Iiberately killed her. Yet there are lesser
degrees of punishment which Robert Taylor
could have suffered and which the law
might have inflicted If he had not married
the girl who had clung to him during those
two years Of her sorrow.
Here is a mystery which may never be
revealed. Taylor has been released; the
law has accepted his explanation. What
happened during the five days between the
accident" and her death has not been en-
tered upon any police blotter nor is 1t likely
to be- Detectve-Sergeant Harry Power,
the big, tender-hearted policeman whose
wedding ring 1t was that the dead girl
clutched so firmly, says this
What happened then was for the Re-
cording Angel to set down. II anybody
wants to read they'll find it in the Book Of
Life-if they get chance to look at 1t
when they have gone up for judgment"
Here is the story-a page Of poignant
tragedy in real life. But it is far far
more than that 1t teaches us that we
may find the purest hearts beneath the
most soled exteriors. the most delicate
sentiments in the toughest OF men. 1t
brings home the immortal truth spoken
1000 years ago: Judge not lest ye also
be judged"
Three years ago Viola Carpenter lived
on her grandfathers big farm in Seely.
vile. He was her guardian-her father
was dead. She was then scarce seventeen
and the old mans idol. Her two brothers
had gone to the war. They were fighting
on the side Of France. Her grandfather,
although ninety years old, was sturdy and
well. He had won great honors in our Civil
War, and II had been stories of valor and
courage that had prompted the two boys
to take up arms on the side Of France.
The same warlike strain was In the girl;
and it was fed by the white-haired veter.
ans stories even as 1t had been fed in her
brothers. Daily she pleaded with the old
man for permission to 60 to France to give
what help she could. Steadfastly he re.
fused
"You are all I have" he said. ct have
done my share for the cause Of liberty.
Your two brothers are fighting, and your
place is here with me-"
But when the United States entered the
war, his viewpoint changed. There came
try and yet not be separated too far from
her grandfather.
She was offered a fairly responsible
position with a firm at Akron, Ohio, which
was then manufacturing balloons for the
United States Government. It was really
war work, and this time her grandfather
consented to let her go. At the factory In
Akron she met Taylor, a nice-looking,
gentlemanly youth not many years her
senior. She asked him why he was not in
the trenches, as her brothers we're. He
told her that he had tried to go, but that
he had been rejected as unfit for active
service. He deplored this greatly, but he
was doing all he could, he said, for his
country. She sympathised with him. And
soon her pity grew into love.
There came a night when he proposed
marriage to her Happily she accepted
him. They could not be welded at once,
Taylor told her, because the work that he
was doing through patriotism would not
permit him to support two. She had only