Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-15
PART y
ii AWAKENING
CHAPTER l


III tAS DAAN
The convict gang had a pleasant
place to work today. Their road
building had taken them some miles
from the scattered outskirts OF
s Walla Walla, among fields green
with growing barley.
The convicts themselves were in a
genial mood, easily moved 10 wlds
tgrins; and with a single exception
sthey looked much like n other
road gang Curiously enough, when
ever the warden's thought dwelt up
on the inmates of his prison, there
was always one wind-tanned. vivid
face, n brawny, towering form
that seemed to demand individual
consideration. The man who was
listed on the records as Ben Kinney
was distinctly an individual.
That's the %queerest case we ever
had here at Walla Walla,' Sprigley
told his fellow guard, as they
watched the mans pick swing in
the air. Sometimes I wonder
whether he ought to be here or not
Look at that face-he hasn't any
more of a criminal face that 1 have"
The other guard. Howard, scanned
his companions face with mock
care.
Now let me tell you how they
happened to catch him. Maybe you
heard-he and Dago Frank were in
the act of breaking into the West
ern-Danish Bank. They were in the
alley, in the act of jimmying a win
dow, n all at once Kinney
Strengthened up Is if something had
hit him and let the jimmy fall with
a thump to the pavement. He put
his hands to his head, like a man
with a headache. And the next in
slant a cop came running from the
mouth of the alley.
kinney was heeled, but he didn't
even pull his gun. Now let me tell
you another queer thing. You know,
the chief has started a system here
to keep track of all the prisoners
He has them all fill out a card. Well,
when this nan Kinney turned in his
card, he had written Ben on it, but
the rest was absolutely blank.
"Mr. Mitchell thought at first that
the maj couldn't write. 1t turned
out, though, that he can write-an
intelligent hand, and spell good too.
Then Mitchell decided he was just
sulking, but I'm confident l know
the answer. The reason he didn't
I'LL out that card was because he
couldn't remember.
'He couldn't remember where or
when he was born, or who were his
folks, or where he had come from,
or how he had spent his life. Am
nesia-that's what the doctors call
it-amnesia following some sort OF
mental trouble. In the end you'll
see that I'm right"
There had been quite a northern
migration lately, these late spring
days. The last of the waterfowl had
passed by now, but the northern
was not yet done.
Ben thought about them as birds
OF passage, and the thought amused
him. And at the sight of a small.
stopped figure advancing toward
him up the railroad ~right-of-way lie
paused, leaning on his pick.
Because Ben had paused, for the
first time in an hour, his two guards
Looked up to see what had attracted
his attention. They saw what
to them a white haired old
of sixty years OF more;
but at first they were wholly at a
loss to explain Ben's fascinated look
Of growing interest.
AS he paused to scrutinize the
convict gang neither insolence nor
fear, one of which was certainly to
10 IARCSS%ht OCNdiAAS IA 49,
face.
Both guards were held ana
amazed by the apparent fact that a.
the first scrutiny of the mans out
line, his carriage and his droli
wrinkled face, the prisoner Kinney
was moved and stirred as if con-
by the risen dead.
The old man himself hailed, re-
turning Kinney's stare. kidneys
mind seemed to be reaching. crop
ing for some astonishing truth that
eiuded him.
The old man ran, in great strides,
toward MIN. My God, aren't you
Ben Darby? ;" he demanded.
The convict answered him as
from a great distance. his voice cool
and calm and with an infinite GER
tainty. "Of course" he said. "Of
course Tn Darby
For the moment that chance
meeting thrilled all the spectators
with the sense Of monumental
drama. The convicts stared; How
ard, the second guard, started alb
surdly, rather guilty, when the old