Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1932-01-21
Gagged
Rylcy Cooper
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seems to match mp with the fellow
who got away. Dark hair, medium
sized"
Lots OF people are dark and me-
dunn sized" Joe half rose with a
final burst Of desperate appeal. Be
sides, | wasn't on any truck. II you'll
let me tell my story"
Wed be delighted If you would.
SPORT" said the captain caustically.
But you seem to think you're dealing
with bunch OF children
Again Joe Barry was led back to
his cell. bordering duly. Hate was
In his heart; he had been duped,
tricked, his honest story twisted into
a confession OF crime, the true ex-
tent Of which he did not know. But
his hatred. strangely enough. was
clarified sufficiently to exempt these
men who turned this night to one OF
terror They were merely instru-
ments Joe all but forgot them in the
soaring memory Of the personality
who had engineered this. Martin!
He knew no other name for him.
Alone in his cell, bent on the Slated
bunk, black hair stringing over his
sweat-caked fingers as he bent his
head to his hands, Joe Barry strove
to tear the tangled events OF the last
two days apart and weld them anew
into something that would possess
perspective.
Something had happened near Orr's
Mills, which had to do with that over
turned truck. something with which
this man Martin had been connected.
Now Joe remembered the careful ques-
tioning which had been carried on In
the car under the guIsc OF mere casual
interest; the extraction OF incidents,
where Joe had been, whom he had
seen, what he had done, what he knew
about that wrecked truck; In fact, his
every action from the time he had
left New York until he had returned.
Out Of that, Barry saw now, man
had gained the knowledge that here
was some one who had been near the
scene Of crime and whose every ac-
ton. instead of proving an allhi for
him, would aid to conviction. Martin
must have wanted such a nerson--to
take the place of guilty man. So he
had engineered an acceptance OF a
proposition to go to prison. to so con-
duet ones actions as TO cause sus-
picion. But Joe knew now that these
suspicious were not merely the ones
which Martin had designated That
machine gun, those two automatlcs,
and that money which Pete Maxwell
had extracted from the pocket OF his
old clothing were evidence enough OF
serious things impending.
Joe shuddered from the possible
charge which rose constantly before
him. The hours passed. Then the
turnkey came in to take him to the
patrol that was to conduct him, with
other prisoners, to police headquarters
for the morning Lineup"
When the patrol stopped on Center
street, Joe hardly noticed his sur
ronndings. Another place OF confine-
ment, another stopping place In this
shifting journey to market place of
human frailties.
He entered the building, with the
other scuffling occupants of the patrol.
A man in uniform sat In sort OF en-
closed throne In the big rotunda; 1t
might have been an Office building In
formation desk. Then came an office
with the methodica taking OF names.
After that, a hallway, fianked by Of
fee doors with the names of inter-
bureaus upon them; after
that, the line dived into narrow
stairway. under guard. Then they
took his name again, In little cage,
where another fat man fondled vari-
ous keys from a rack which hung
above his desk. Once more he was
n CELL noticing vaguely that he pos
sessed a mate, and staring as vaguely |
about him.
More hours went by. Then the |
turnkey came and got him; Pete Max
we'll was waiting in the grilled cage
outside the holdover proper to take
linn to the photographers.
The endless detail, the constant
moving about. from cage to
age, handcuff to handcuff. Then Max
veil opened door and put Joe Barry
INTO still another cage, a big one this
line. with some twenty other men. q
cage which reached nearly to the
eiling, and opening upon a wide room.
tilted mostly with tables and photo
,raphic apparatus.
Inside the cage. some men sat, some
'aced, up and down, up and down,
ands behind them. faces to the floor.
It first there were only few, then
theirs came from the benches. and
till more; pacing. turning swiftly.
nd moving back again.
There came n clicking sound, blue
ghts. running In long tubes. burst
alto glare, changing the compilations
I those who entered their range to a
1ottled. jaundiced hue. Pete Max
7ell motioned. Joe Barry went dazed-
? forth. Some one caught his right
and and pressed II to a steel plate
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