The Washington times., 1925-11-24
Donald LOWrie S Story
Back in Prison Why?''

Z ~ tat
MOREOVER. / had believed
M Mildred incapable Of desert
ing or abandoning me during the
peak Of my trouble. imagined she
would wait until the court cases
were settled. On the other hand,
! was able to she that, should she
secure g. divorce before / was
convicted, she would escape the
stigma Of having had convict
husband and that was no small
desideratuin. All this flashed
through my mind as / opened
the document which the lawyers
clerk had handed me.
Treatment
A moment later / angfi1y tossed
the paper to the table, declaring
that ! wouldn't sign it. It had
been drawn up by Judge Scott,
and alleged cruel and inhuman
treatment" as the grounds on
which the application was based.
That isn't true!" / cried. i've
never been cruel to her or treated
her inhumanly. and she knows it.
won't make any such adn1is-
sion."
'rpt it doesn't mean anything
q mere matter of form"
urf d the clerk. II understood
evs ything was settled, that there
WI an agreement about divorce,
an I'd surely like to get the
thing through, If possible =
studied for a moment, and
had to admit that it really didn't
make much difference. / was
tempted, however, to refuse to
sign solely that I might be able
others, as / hoped, with the
statement that 1 was married,
had a family, and that to prose-
cute the cases against me would
be to bring ruin upon innocent
heads. I felt that would be a
strong argument in my program,
and ] hated to sign it away.
AT the same time was
Scott should have done this thing
at that particular time, and the
thought popped into my mind to
appear Indifferent, or as if l.
didn't care. The clerk had his
fountain pen ready.
Impulsively took it and signed
the papers. Then he produced
another paper and alphabetically
offered it to me with the remark
that I might as well make a
complete job of it all at one time"
This second paper proved to be
a quit-claim on the property in
Dallas. / knew the Texas home
stead laws fairly well, and that a
husband and wife owned home
property jointly and could not dis.
pose Of it seps rately.
"You see," said the clerk, Mrs.
Lowrie is not asking alimony, nor
costs. nor anything, and when she
secures her divorce 1t will be en-
for both of you to have
this property tangle, on your
hands. BY signing this quit-claim
you simplify matters and every
thing will be settled"
Sole Rights
(Which means that she ac-
quires sole rights in the prop
erty," I reminded him. You
might tell Scott when you go back
that 1 am expecting some more
money sent to me, and that if
he'll rush right down here I'll
give it to him. He's wonderful!
He's brilliant! feel ashamed
not to have supplied him with !
more money in this case"
signed the 'Iuit-c!aim, asked
If there was anything more /
could do, and went back to my
cell in anything but a happy
frame of mind.
The handwriting on the wall
said / was doomed-that those
upon whom was counting most
had forsaken me. That was my
viewpoint. OF course, they had
theirs. I can see now, in the
perspective of years, that / had
really forfeited all claims to con-
alteration, that they perhaps felt
there was no way to save me,
and that my wife and boy had
their lives to live. AT that time,
however, / could not see my own
side, and was very bitter.
At the end Of that week was
much encouraged on receiving
word from Cobb that he was send.
ing the So, 900. The letter advised
that the matter Of bail would be
arranged through a bonding COM