Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-09


4 panion. Finally he stopped
before him.
fOf course, you know, Judge, that
this is a most unusual thing you are
doing? 1t is not often that the judge
who sentences a man comes to me
for his pardon
The other nodded, but made no re
ply, and the governor spoke again
1T was remarked at the trial that
whenever possible your decisions
seemed to favor the defense"
The Judge sat silent moment
II tried to be fair and do my duty
Perhaps my personal interest was ap
parent. / hoped 1t was not.
Then you had a personal interest!
Would you mind telling me what this
personal interest was?"
The Judge hesitated a moment, then
said gravely: His mother is an Old
and very dear friend of mine.
"Humphr grunted his eXcellency'
with some asperity. "WeH, it seems
to me that If she were a mother
worthy of so much consideration. she
would have brought her son up differ
entity. l have not much pity for moth
ers who raise criminals"
The Judges face darkened with
something like anger, but he spoke
mildly. You don't know her, gov
ernor. She is a very lovely lady
Something in his voice caused the
other to glance at MIN SHARPLY ana d
slow flush mounted to the brow OF
the handsome, scholarly-looking man
opposite. The governors face soft
ened."
80! Sits the wind In that quarter?
I've often wondered, Tom, why you
never married again. You were SO
young when your wife died. under
stand the lady is a widow now?'
The Judge nodded, and after 81
lence the governor went on. ia IKE
to help you, Tom, but l don't just see
how l can pardon a murderer just be
cause the judge who sentenced MN
is a friend of mine and in love with
the boys mother. If l am assuming
too much, just correct me-"
Judge Tracy sat silent moment
mo, Henry. l don't expect you
can. | would not even expect you TO
do so on these grounds. though 1t
means a very great deal to me. !
came here to tell you a story, ana L
feel that you will understand 1or VINO
knows all, forgives all.
"As you remember, my library is
next to the driveway, which separates
it from the Hadley home. There is
thick and rather high prlvet hedge on
either side of the drive.
Zone evening l was sitting alone In
the dusk, as I love to do, looking out
of the window at the home or the
woman I have loved all my life. 1t
was by lying trickery that John Had
lev stole her from me, and though l
married AL, l think, made my Wlte
happy during the short time she llveo'
/ am essentially one-Woman man.
Angry voices in the driveway
getting rather
dark. but l thought / recognized one
IF the two men / could not distin-
guish all the words, but one man
seemed to be pleading, the other tan
taIizing. Finally the smaller man
struck the other, who jumped on him
and bore him to the ground. ne
smaller man was underneath and the
other was pomeling him, and l
rushed out to interfere. Just as l
reached the hedge, the under mans
groping fingers clutched big stone.
The next instant he fetched it down
on the head of the other. 1t struck
him behind the ear, and he slunlped
down horribly.
''The other extricated himself, stood
for a moment gazing in horror at MS
work, then crashed through the hedge
into the Hadley yard. He had not seen
me standing there in the dusk behlnd
the hedge.
.'You will wonder that I did not
pursue the murderer, or at least give
the alarm. I did neither. A few
minutes later / appeared at the club
and managed to be seen at several
places before l returned home.
when 1 reached my house detec-
tiyes were busy looking for clews.
They found the broken hedge, and
their investigation led to the arrest OF
young Hadley.
TT developed at the trial that Mark
Hadley had threatened the murdered
man, who was a snowbird, dope
peddler. He had caught him trying to
pass heroin to little Paul Hadley, and
instead Of turning him over to the
police had given him a severe trounc-
ing and openly vowed that if he ever
caught him at 1t again he would XIII
him.
Little Paul, when questioned, adj
nitted that on the evening OF The
murder Mark had found him with
some dope, had questioned him and
learned that he had gotten it from
'Dago Pete as the man was called.
At his trial Mark, while stoutly pro-
testing his innocence, stubbornly
maintained that he would have done
IL if some one had not beaten him
to it.
THAT is all the evidence there was,
circumstantial, but the jury brought
in a verdict of first degree"
But you! You saw the act and you
know that the evidence was not all
circumstantial. OF course, / under
stand your feelings, but you know
that 1t was just verdict"
Yes, / know that the evidence was
not circumstantial, but, Henry, the
murderer was not Mark Hadley."
The governor jumped to his feet.
mot Hadley? Then why, in Gods
name" The judge raised his hand
and it seemed to the governor that
his old friend fairly shriveled before
his eyes.
Henry, that murder was commit
ted by my own son. For a few mo-
ments there was silence in the room.
Then the governor murmured tom,
old friend / wish l could say some
thing adequate, something to make
you realize my deep sympathy
voice trailed off and was still before
the look of misery in the others face.
The Judge shook his head slowly.
''You have placed me in very diff
cult position. l should order the ar
rest of the guilty person"
At length the governor spoke again.