The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-01-19

you know, John, after all, don't
know such devil of lot about this
thing myself. / got mixed up in it.
by accident. I happened to see the
governor on another matter; and
when / had finished my business, he
told me he had received good
many letters asking him to pardon
the men that were in jail for the
Circle Lake robbery. Many of these
letters were from lawyers, in which
they said that, after they had read
the evidence. they doubted If the men
were guilty. Also, one of these reform
societies has got mixed up in tie
thing. The governor had read the
evidence brought out at the trial, and
he believed himself that the men
might not be guilty Of the robbery.
Then he asked me If you were in the
city; and, when / said Yes, he sug-
gested that ask You to look into the
affair. If you, after having fnvesti-
gated the matter, think the men are
innocent. then he win pardon them.
He said, also, that there was some
sort of a fund from which he could
pay your fee."
BARLEY gave me curious look,
then turned to Rogers. "That parts
all right, Rogers Only haven't the
faintest idea what You are talking
about. OF course. know where Circle
Lake is. It's near Saratoga. A
friend of mine has a summer place
there. But beyond that, / have no
idea what you are driving at Why
not start at the beginning and tell me
what this crime WASP"
With grin the chief started at the
beginning of the story
'Of course, you know who Robert
Slyke ISL"
BARLEY nodded; but, seeing that l
did not recognize the name. he turned
to me.
"Pelt, don't you remember the Wall
Street broker who announced at
Billy Sunday meeting that he had
been converted, and that he was 60
ing to give back to his clients the
money they had lost in his Officer"
Both BARLEY and Rogers laughed.
and the latter commented. HE never
gave it back"
"No," said BARLEY, she never did.
That conversion did not stick. Slyke
is a strange sort Of a chap. His
friends are few and there nave been
wild rumors as to where he got his
money. He has dabbled bit in spir-
itualism, and has been fooled by sew
eral mediums.
Rogers nodded in agreement.
THAT'S the chap. He has place at
Circle Lake. He has lived there for
the last two years all the year round.
No one knows exactly why he left the
city. but 1t is said that he has lost
lot of money in stocks"
He paused, then continued, "It was
Slyke who had the robbery. Early
one morning, about a year ago, his
step-daughter came to his room and
said there were burglars downstairs.
He jumped from his bed, and, without
any weapon, rushed down the stairs.
while the girl stayed on the top step.
From then on, it becomes mixed up"
MIXED up" asked Barley
Eyes. Just what took place and
how many men were in the room at
the time, was a point of dispute at
the trial. The girl says she is sure
that is, almost sure-there were two
men in the room. On the other hand,
Slyke says there was orly one;
though, he added, there might have
been second man whom he did not
see. There was bit of struggle,
and the men jumped out of ain open
window and got away"
BARLEY, who had listened carefully.
asked, "They did not get anything?"
mo. not thing. The safe in the
room was unopened"
Are these men," asked BARLEY,
"the ones that are serving the seven
years sentence?'
Rogers paused long enough to light
another cigar, and throw back his
ceiling before he replied, THAT'S the
big question"
He was silent for a moment, then
continued:
after the burr ars got out of the
window, Slyke Cd ed up the city po-
lice and also the state police. When
the city police arrived at the house
they made no arrests. But early that
same morning the state police picked
up two men about six miles away on
the other side of Saratoga. They
were both well-known characters who
had been in trouble before. One of
the men had slight bruise on his
head. Slyke claimed that in the
struggle he hit one of the robbers
with a cane. Both men refused to
say where they had been during the
night. The strange thing about it
was that they We're taken to their
own homes before being locked up
When they were searched, the police
found nothing on them whatever"