The Tomahawk., 1925-09-17

"oo 40 uihChCht pooSlbic thut
Of Mrs. Hatch. According to their
statement, which the ingenuity Of op-
posing counsel tried In vain to break
or shake, they had not reached Hatch's
house when they met him In the road.
In country where every man knows
and values coed horse they had at
once noticed the fine mount Of Hatch,
and had engaged him In a converse
ton which ultimated in horse race,
with twenty dollars up, between Hatch
and Judd.
"Tll give you good beating" shout
ed Hatch, as Morrison started them
down strip of level highway. But
his fine-loOking horse was just q bit
too fat to go up against Judd's wiry
broncho, and he was beaten by a short
length. Seeing which, Hatch hit his
horse upon the head with the quirt,
causing him to rear and fall upon his
rider.
That was the whole story the men
had to tell-succinct, completes but not
convincing. Over and over. on cross
examination it was repeated by both
men like we'll learned lesson. Look.
ing and listening, l make up my mind
that this evidence was false; ergo, the
woman's was true.
After the arguments of counsel and
the verbal fireworks of the imported
lawyer, who never made arguments
but always and everywhere stump
speeches, the learned judge charged
us ut great length to find the defend
ants guilty If they were guilty, and not
| guilty If they were innocent, and we
| were locked up.
In the jury room Judd, Of course,
was acquitted on the first ballot. The
feeling was strong, but not unanimous,
| against Morrison. He had friend or
two who were stout in his defense.
| They urged that Morrison might kill
a man on occasion-had done so per-
haps-but never from behind.
There was much argument and no
agreement until, late In the evening,
contrary to every rule Of law and In
contempt Of court, some new evidence
was submitted to the jury. 1t came In
the form Of note to me from my
friend the doctor, showed under the
door Of the jury room behind the
bailiff's back. 1t read as follows:
| George:-At noon today Dr. Mars
ton and myself operated on Job
Hatch. It was only one chance in
| hundred that the man would
| stand 1t, but as he could not possi-
bly, recover without 1t, we took that
| chance, and lost. He died within an
| hour. After trepanning he spoke
| number Of words indicating excite
ment. The only connected sentence
was: I'll give you good beating"
| I thought you ought to know.
WILL.
Those were exactly the words testi-
fed as used by Hatch at the alleged
horse race and the note, thrown into
the scale Of conflicting opinion in the
jury, turned the balance In favor of
Morrison, and he also was acquitted.
In another part of the West, years
later, made long wagon journey
with Morrison. I came to know, his
brave nature well, and proved his
worth on many occasions One night,
under the summer stars, when the
campfires burned low, said to him
without prelude:
ben, who killed Job HatchT"
After a silence, "His wife,"
Are you sure2'
II saw it. I went out there to ar
rest him and he was beating his wife.
AS rode up she grabbed the gun
from his holster and hit him. 1t was
chance blow, but the woman was
frenzied and it felled him like an OK.
He got about what he deserved and
told the woman that I'd see her
through. OF course, any jury would
have cleared. her on the facts, but she
had been a girl we'll connected and
said she'd rather die than have her peo-
pie know. So I did what I did"
But" cried, what was the occa-
casion for her bad faith? Why did
she try to fasten the deed on your
After another pause and the light.
ing Of another pipe Ben replied slow
ly: Il don't know. l have tried to
follow a good many trails into a WON.
ans mind, but they are always blind
trails. They lead nowhere. My guess
Is that she tried to do me up because
went there to arrest her husband for
thief. No sooner was he gone than
she began to idealize him, and she was
as fierce against me in his defense as
she had been against him in her own.
That's my guess, but all I absolutely
know is that she seemed very CRATE.
full to me for my promise to shield her
And two days after I got the worst
jolt of my life when was locked up
to answer her charges"
you must have known before the
trial came on" said I, "what the WON
an meant to testify. Why not then
have given the court the facts2 Why
did you stand by her in spite of her.
selfr" -..e. "
No answer.
wanted to get from him an avowsl
that he thought he had done a brave
i