Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-02-01

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decent and useful citizen, why pull him
down? After all, the world hadn't lost
much in Lucas
He decided to sleep over it, and by
morning he found himself not only dis1n-
clined to the business, but firmly resolved
to let it drop
He shaved and dressed his resolution
still holding 1t had, indeed, almost
conscious glow of virture, for he was MAX
ing one Of those inglorious and unsung
sacrifices which ought to bring man
credit in the next world, because they cer-
tainly get him nowhere in this. He was
quite affahe to the colored waiter who
served his breakfast in the bachelor apart
ment house, and increased his weekly tip to
dollar and half. Then he sat down
and opened the Times-Republican, skim
ming over it, after his habit, for his own
space, and frowning over bunch of ex-
clamat1on and Interrogation points unwit-
tingly set behind the name of the mayor
On the second page, however, he stopped,
coffee cup in air.
lis Judson Clark Alive? Wife of For
mer Ranch Manager Makes Confession"
woman named Margaret Donaldson,
1t appeared, fatally injured by an auto
mobile near the town of Norada, Wyoming,
had made confession on her death-bed.
In it she stated that, afraid to die without
striving her soul, she had sent for the
sherlff of Dallas county and had made
the following confession: 800
That following the tragedy at the Clark
ranch, her husband, John Donaldson, since
dead, had Immediately, following the i'm
quest, where he testified, started out into
the mountains in the hope of finding
Clark alive, as he knew of a deserted
rangers cabin where Clark sometimes
camped when hunting. 1t was his inten-
ton to search for Clark at this cabin and
effect his escape He carried with him
food and brandy.
That, owing to the blizzard, he was very
nearly frozen, that he was obliged to
abandon his horse, shooting it before he
did so, and that close to death himself,
he finally reached the cabin and there
found Judson Clark the fugitive, who was
very i'll. IL
She further testified that her husband
cared for Clark for four days, Clark be-
ing 6elirious at the time, and that on the
fifth day on foot he started back for the
Clark ranch, having left Clark locked in
the cabin. On the following night he took
three horses, two sadded, and one packed
with food and supplies, and accompanied
| by herself they went back to the cabin in
the mountains, where she remained to care
for Clark, while her husband returned to
the ranch to prevent suspicion.
/ That looking out of her window, she per-
ce1ved a man outside in the snow coming
to the cabin, and that she had thought it
one of the searching party. That her first
Instinct had been to lock him out but that
she had finally admitted him, and that
thereafter he had remained and had helped
ner to care for the sick man.
T T UNFORTUNATELY for the rest of the mar.
| ratiVe, it appeared that the injured
woman had here lapsed into coma,
and had subsequently died, carrying her
further knowledge with her
rant I,
field of infinite tsurmise In all probable.
lty Judson Clark was still alive, living under
some assumed identity, free of punishment,
outWardly respectable. Three years before he
nad been adjudged legally dead, and the es.
tate divided under bond of the legatee
Close to a hundred million dollars had gone
to charities, and Judson Clark, wherever he
was, would be Dependent. on his own efforts
for existence. He could have summoned. all
the legal talent in the country to his defense
but instead he had chosen to disappear
The whole situation turned on the deposi.
ZION OF Mrs Donaldson, now dead. The local
| authorities at Norada maintained that the
woman mad not been sane for several years
On the other hand the cabin to which she re-
ferred was well known, and no search of it
had been made at the time. Clark's horse had
been found not ten miles from the town. and
the cabin was buried in snow twenty miles
farther away. If Clark had made that JOUR-
ney on foot he had accomplished the impos-
sibIe
Certain facts, according to the local cor
respondent, bore out Margaret Donaldson,s
confession. Inquiry showed that she was sup
posed to have spent the winter following judi
son Clark's crime with relatives in Omaha.
She had returned to the ranch the following
spring,
detailed description of Judson Clark and
a photograph of him accompanied the story.
Bassett reread the article carefully. If he had
needed confirmation of his suspicious it Law in
his hand. But the situation had changed over
night. There would be search of Clark
now, as wide as the knowledge of his disap-
pearance. Local police authorities would
turn him up in every city from Maine to the
Pacific coast Even Europe would be on the
lookout, and South America.
But it was not the police he feared so much
as the press Not all of the papers but some
of them, would go after that story and send
their best men on it. If offered, not so
much chance of solution, as an opportunity
to revive the old dramatic story He could
see, when he, closed his eyes, the local pho-
tographers climbing to that cabin and later
sending it's pictures broadcast, and divers
gentlemen of the press, eager to pit their
wits against ten years of time and the ability
OF once conspicuous man to hide from the
law, packing their suitcases for Norada.
NO, he couldn't stop now. He would go on.
like the others, and with this advantage that
he was morally certain that he could lay his
hands on Clark at any time. But he would
have to prove his case, connect it, Who, for
instance, was the ether man in the cabin? He
must have known who the boy was who lay
in the rough bunk, delirious That made him,
like the Donaldsons accessory after the fact. X
and criminally liable Small chance of his
coming out with any confession. Yet he was
the connecting link. Must be.
His mind was busy as he packed his SUITE
Already h q a fOrp0tfprI hic cOAr