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I f The Pardon of Thomas Whalen By B R A N D W H I T L O C K AfffOK or -not tbhtuh i a prsnucT," men ihmhiie VAjarrT." "W ItfPT AVCKAGE." "THE TURK Of IBB BALAKOE." ETC. ETC Ooprii(l» b7 TtM Bobbt-MenlU Compear HE private secretary turned reluctantly from his open window beside which the trees bathed their, young leaves in the sparkling sunshine of the June morning to con­ front the throng that awaited audience with the governor. The throng was larger than usual, for the State convention was to be held .on the morrow. Every county in the state was represented in the ^fcrowd that trampled the red carpet. Crushed the leather chairs and blew smobo of campaign cigars into solemn faces of former governors ^../-Standing in their massive gilt frames ./•/With their hands on ponderous law Jxwks. In one corner a woman hud Wi - |iledt pinching a handkerchief to her t* pl %ls When Leonard Oilman, the private Secretary, saw her he knew it at once Jtor a pardon case, and paid no further attention to her. Big countrymen in Sunday clothes, who wore the red ;i>adges of delegates, slapped him on 'the back, city ward-heelers of ch^ck- ared lives and garments called him **Len." '• There was an odor of perspiration "In the room, distinguishable even in the heavy fumes of tobacco. The real leaders, of course, William Handy and the others, were over at the executive mansion, with the governor, complet­ ing the final arrangements for his re-„ nomination. The governor held tha -Convention in the hollow of his hand. The woman huddled in her corner ntil eleven o'clock, and then Gilman. happening into her quarter of the foom, asked her what she wanted, lis­ tening with official respect for her re- *!y. It was an old story to him. When ihe told him he smiled a strange smile And turned away. At noon the gover­ nor ran the gauntlet of the waiting trowd and gained the sanctuary of his private office. Onbe there, breathing a jftigh of relief, he stood for a moment In one of the tall windows looking out Upon the smooth lawns stretching laz­ ily In the sun, and rolling away to the elms surrounding the state house. He ItPRf; & tall wan anil strong. If he had physical fault, it was that he carried head too low, denoting Mm a think- £..• ;;Vifcr, but if his gaze was fixed upon the ©arth, his thoughts were In the stars. 2|| ; Presently he shook his splendid head --Vigorously, wrapped his long coat de- l ./•• jterminedly about him, and settled him-' ?/<' }#elf at his desk. Gilman entered, bearing a pile of !';• • (papers demanding the governor's per­ il ; 'sonal attention, but the morning con- &T tference was very brief on this day. ;As Gilman turned to go, the governor &/ said: x . jr^/v' "I desire to be alone today. I have % , ;.that speech of acceptance to write. If * 4:^;- Handy comes, send him in, but no one OJlman laid his hand upon the door- ;knqlv and the governor aaked: civ *, one of importance out there, la there?" £ y ' "No,** said Oilman. "There's a worn- an--what do you think she wants?" . "A pardon, of course." ̂ "Yes, but for whom? You'd never ;t̂ V;.vjguess in a thousand years." Oilman was smiling. "Then tell me." ||?// "Tom Whalen!* laughed ̂i, «t the humor of it. & •/./• The governor's features relaxed with & a smile, but quickly his brow con- p!: . : stracted again, and he said: |||>-. "Well--poor things--I pity them. I could wash my hands In women's fei-'t-teara every week." fc11' "Well," said Oilman, opening the |>'..-J jdoor, "I told her .she could see you. slide her out."! • | The governor bent to his deak, but V/.A % Just as the door waa closing he called: i'i ,i/' "Ob, Oilman!" /„ Gilman stopped. fei " "Don't do that--tell her m aee her jp|; flatter a while." £ ; l Oilman, as he returned to his desk, smiled and shook his head at the gov- ernor*a weakness. '«/••// Thomas Whalen was a life convict In the penitentiary. The crime waa ||^V;; committed on the night of the election at which John Chatham had been qho- sen chief executive of his state. Wha- ( V len was a boss in the nineteenth ward pi 4 ' . and a Chatham man. The campaign bad developed such bitterness that tj| 'J/' Whalen found it necessary to name ' himself a Judge of election In the fourth precinct of his ward. Many times during the day blue patrol •wagons had rolled into the precinct. The polling place of the fourth pre­ cinct was a small barber shop in Fif­ teenth street. During the evening, as the ballots were being counted, it had become apparent that an altercation waa In progress behind the yellow blinds. It was abruptly terminated T>y a shot. The lights in the shop were extinguished at the same moment. A man burst from the door and fled. When the police arrived, they found a dead election judge faoe downward on the table. His name had been Brokoskl. The bullet had passed en­ tirely through his body, and reddened, with his blood the ballots that gushed from the overturned box. The win­ dow at his back had been completely shattered by the ball as it flew out In­ to the alley. TMIe was a large bullet, a thirty-eight caliber. The police found a revolver gleaming in the light of the dark lanterns they flashed down the alley. It was a thirty-eight caliber With one empty chamber. It was evi­ dent that the murderer had discarded It in his flight. A lieutenant of police at the Market Place police station eas ily Identified the gun as one he had given to povoral weeks previ­ ously. The judges and jelerke had rushed after Whalen. The shock, the sudden failure of light, the horror of the dead man in the dark had jangled their nerves. They were too excited to give a clear account of the affair. They knew that Whalen and Brokoskl, alttlng on opposite sides of the table. had been quarreling. They had heard the shot, had been blinded by the flash, and had seen Whalen bolt. Brokoskl had fallen heavily upon the table* and died with an oath upon his lips. Gilman never forgot that wild night. He had spent it with the governor at the headquarters of the state central committee. In the dawn, when the east waa yellowing, and sparrows be­ gan to scuffle and splutter on the eaves of the federal building looming dour Just over the way, the news of the murder and frauds had come to them. The governor's face, white with excitement and fatigue, had suddenly darkened. Had it been the shadow cast by the passing of a great ambi­ tion? x At the close of the long day the woman, beckoned by Gilman Into the governor's presence, lingered on the threshold of the chamber. The room was full of shadows. The figure of the governor, standing in the tall window, shut out the waning light, and was sil­ houetted, big and black, against the twilight aky. He did not hear the woman enter. She coughed to attract his attention. This did not arouse him from his reverie, and after a moment's timid hesitation, she said: "May I come In?" The governor turned. "Be seated, madam," he said. "I shall be quite frank with you. I am acquainted with this case, and do not believe it to be one Justifying executive clemency." When ahe spoke her voice waa trem­ ulous. "Will you hear my story?" "You may proceed," the governor re­ plied. He had pushed the papers aside and was drumming lightly with his long, white fingers on his desk. The woman nervously pleated her handkerchief, fearing to begin. "You must excuse me," she said presently, "I can not tell my story very well. I do not come here for mercy or any­ thing like that. It la only a matter of justice." Had It not been for the gloom, she might have seen a smile steal over the face of the dark figure at the desk. Once plunged into her narrative, her words flowed rapidly, until--suddenly she ceased to speak. "That was five years ago." she said, her voice dropping to a sadly reminis­ cent whisper. "We were to have been married that spring, but--I would rath­ er not tell the rest." The woman probably felt her cheeks flush with warmth. The governor could hear her quick breathing. In a minute he aaid kind­ ly: - 4 "Well?" The woman hesitated an instant, and then fairly blurted out the rest of her tale. The governor, through the darkness, saw the woman lean, pant­ ing. toward him. Convulsively she pressed her hands to her face. She collapsed in tears. When her sobs became more regular, though tflll la­ bored, the governor said: _ "And Whalen--he kne6r this?* "He must have known." "Then" why did he not tellf The woman hung her head and said, In a low voice: "I was mistaken, air. Tha other woman lied." "Ah, I see." The governor turned and looked "out of the windows. The old-fashioned iron lamps on t&e broad steps that led up to the state house were blinking In the dark trees, and the arc light swinging in the street swayed the shadows of. their foliage back and forth on the white walks. A flash of heat lightning quivered over the purple outlines of the elms. The governor sat for a long time in somber silence. The woman could hear the ticking of his wateh. Pres­ ently he drew it from his pocket and struck a match. "It is growing late," he said. "The tale you tell is a very remarkable tale. My time Is so fully occupied that it will be impossible for me to devote any thought to It Just new. If you will leave your address with my sec­ retary I shall communicate with you. Meanwhile--do not talk." When the private secretary had con­ ducted the woman from the room the governor went to his window. The voices of the June night floated up to him, but he no longer heard their mu­ sic. For the second time, at the name of Whalen, and even in the darkness, there swept over his face the shadow of the passing of a great ambition. The convention met' The secretary never got down to 8 in calling the roll of counties, and the governor was re­ nominated by acclamation. But never in all the exciting scenes of those two days, in the black moment of suspense before the roll-call began, in the white inBtant of agony pending the poll of tl^p Richland county delegation, in the golden hour of triumph, when he stood pale and bending before the mad ap­ plause rolling up to him in mighty billows, did he forget the name of Thomas Whalen, or did the face of that woman pass from him. They followed hftn persistently, £hey glim­ mered in his dreams. There was no escape from their pursuit. After a week in which he found no ease, with the determination that char­ acterized him when once aroused, he undertook a judicial investigation of the case. He obtained a transcript of record, and read It as carefully as if he ha4 been retained in the case and sought error upon which to carry It to the supreme court. In the familiar work he found for % time relief. Gilman, meanwhile, had forgotten the incident of the woman's visit The idea of pardoning Tom Whalen waa too preposterous to merit serious con* slderation. But, when the governor told him to go to the penitentiary and interview Whalen, and then to the city and the locality of the crime for the purpose of learning all he could about Brokoski's death, he damned himself for having mentioned the fact of the woman's presence on tobacoo-clogged, perspiring morning. And aa he left the capitol he resolved that his visit should be astonishingly barren of resulta. Inside the warden's private office at the penitentiary he saw4 Whalen. The man had found the; convict's friend, consumption, and Gilman hardly knew him. When the private secretary^ told him of the application for his pardon, Whalen only smiled. Oilman found him strangely reticent, and after an effort to induce him to talk said: "Whalen, really now, did you kill Brokoskl?" The striped convict picked at the cap he held in his lap. A bitter amlle wrinkled his pale, moist face. "Suspected again, eh7" he said, with­ out looking up. Finally Whalen tired of the exami­ nation. He breathed with difficulty, but that may have been due to his dis­ ease. At laat he raised his shaven tiead. "Mr. Oilman," he said, "I see what you're getting at I have told you I did not commit the crime for which I am here. For that matter, any of the three thousand other prisoners within these walls and wearing these clothes will tell you the same thing. I don't know whether you believe me or not It doesn't make much difference. It doeen't matter what becomes of me any more. I ain't long for this world. So Just let It drop--what's the use of opening It up again?" "But you haven't answered my ques­ tion," said Gilman, Interested in spite of himself, for a great fear was grow­ ing up within him; "you have not told me who did kill Brokoskl." The convict lifted his eyelids slow­ ly, and fastened his vision upon his Interlocutor. And then he said very deliberately and distinctly: "No, Mr. Oilman, and I never will!" Oilman left the penitentiary with more than Ita gloom upon him. He declined the warden's effusive invita­ tion to stay to dinner. He wanted to get away. He could not forget the shine in Whalen's eyes. And the fear within possessed him. When he reached the city, after din­ ing at the chop house where his old friends foregathered, he went out to Fifteenth street Costello had sold his barber shop, and the plaoe had be­ come a saloon. The saloon was quiet that night Oilman drank with the bartender, and, of course, talked about the Brokoskl killing. The bartended had made a study of that case, and discussed It with the curled lip of the specialist "They didn't do a t'lng to Tom but lng his forearms on hie kneee, 1m garded the flopr between hla feet "lias It ever struck yon aa peculiar," he said, "that the bullet waa not In­ troduced in evidence?" "No," said the governor, "not very." The private secretary paused. When he had done hd laughed. The gover­ nor was seriously silent for many min­ utes, and then he said: "Leonard, I want you to tell me your theory of this whole business." Oilman sat up. "Well," he aaid, "had it never occurred to you that it would have been significant to deter­ mine where that bullet lodged as show­ ing its direction? It bored a hole clear through Brokoskl, but at which end had it entered?" "I presume the medical testimony settled that," replied the governor. He seemed to find a species of relief in this thought "Yes." Gilman aaid, "bat the medi­ cal testimony was bad. It consisted of the conclusions of a young doctor who examined Brokoski's body aft£r it had grown cold. He accepted Wha­ len's guilt as an established fact. He assumed that the bullet entered at the breast There was then nothing to do but to trace its course through the tissues of the body. If his views were correct, the ball would have lodged somewhere behind Brokoskl." "But it flew out into the alley," ar­ gued the governor, "and shattered the window In doing so." "True," assented Gilman, "and yet you assume all the while that Whalen fired the shot. Of course the circum­ stances attending the tragedy, the oc­ casion, the quarrel, .^Whalen's flight, and the finding of his gun, lent atrong color to that presumption." "But the shattered window," the governor interpolated. r "Yea, and the shattered window. Now," he continued, "a surgeon, ex­ perienced In gunshot wounds, might have been able to distinguish in such a wound as Brokoski's the point of the missile's entrance from the point of exit. Of course it is not certain. The youth the police called did not think such an Inquiry important, whereas It was vital. • pistol fired point-blank at a man would blacken his breast with powder. The velocity of the ball, fired at such range might have been sufficient to knock the man over backward, instead of allowing him to fall upon his face as he did. Then, there's the window. It was shat­ tered, the police said, by the ball. Even the glass in the upper sash was broken. The frame on the outside was black­ ened by powder, the stains even now yiiieMJOtVf i! - M % ifv,?';;,1' II. ,'NpAV .TO.S : t ̂ rwIcoMtin? t'row the hooks Into 1m all right, all right. It was a case of him in the stripes from the start. Say, them law­ yer guys and fly-cops'd frost you." Then carefully locating the actors in the tragedy, he reproduced it vividly before Gilman's eyes. Brokoskl had faced the wall where the hole was. Whalen's back had been to it Bro­ koskl had sat with his back to the window. The barkeeper plunged his red hands into a drawer, rattled a corkscrew, a knife, a revolver and a jigger, and then drew out a small piece of lead. It waa a thirty-eight caliber bullet. "That's the boy that done Brokoskl," he said. "Where did' you get it?" asked Oil­ man, with the mild awe a curio excites in men. The bartender pointed to a ragged hole in the wainscoting. "Dug it out o' there with the ice­ pick. I'm a Sherlock, see? Sure," he sneered, "it might 'a' bounced off the Polock's breast" The man ^wiped his towel over the bar in disgust. Then seriouslf: "On the dead, Mr. Oilman. If Tom had his rights, he'd sent back to the ward to die." Gilman was troubled. He returned in the morning and examined the premises carefully. At two-twenty that afternoon ho was on the Limited, flying back to the capital. That evening he was sitting with the governor in the library of the executive mansion. The' windows were open and the odor of lilacs was borne in from the summer night A negro who had served half a dozen gover- hors, shuffled into the room, bearing a tray. "That's excellent whisky," observed the private secretary. "That was excellent whisky, Oil­ man," said the governor, "before you were born." The private secretary was rolling a cigarette. He rolled it with unusual deliberation, licking the rice paper many times before trusting himself to pasta it down. The governor bit the end'from a black ctgar. A blazing match paaaed between them. Then Gilman told of his Interview with Whalen. He did not display much spirit In the telling. When he had done, he flecked the aah Crom hla cigarette in a thoughtful way. ReaV being visible. Now, a bullet flying the distance it must have traversed be-, tween Whalen'B hand and the window, would, in all probability, simply have perforated the glass with a round, clean hole. But the weapon having been fired in close proximity, the con­ cussion shattered the whole window." After a silence Gilman resumed:, "Now, then, assume that the bullet entered Brokoski's back and emerged from his breast. The conclusion de­ duced from the circumstances I have suggested is impregnable when that bullet Is located lh a position in front of Brokoskl." During the recital the governor lay in his deep chair, his arms across hia breast, hiB finger-tips together. He re­ garded Gilman through half-closed eyes. A thoughtful observer would have said that he had heard the essen­ tial elements of the tale before. When he spoke, after a silence which had begun to annoy the private secretary, he said: "Well, your hypothesis la tenable. In fact, it is one of the prettleat cases I ever saw put together." Gilman stirred uneasily. "But did you learn anything as to the identity of the person, who, if your suppositions are correct, killed Brokoskl?" "That's the weak point," Oilman promptly admitted. "A sufficient mo­ tive is utterly lacking, if we eliminate partisan hatred. It was shown that Whalen killed him in an impulse of passion, and that alone saved him from the death penalty. But I feel that my reasoning is valid. The convic­ tion was strengthened by Whalen's manner and expression the other day. He never killed Brokoskl, I tell you." Gilman smote his thigh for emphasis. "Why he chooses to die in prison a silent martyr I don't know--but the woman does." The governor assumed a afttlng poa» ture. '®amn it!" exclaimed Gilman,.after a momentary silence, "if those stupid police had examined, the mud in the alley beneath the window that night, •w would fcrvvc foun.t tracks that would have changed the course of this whole business." The governor bent farther, forward, buryini: himself in an intense concen­ tration of mind. For a time intermi nable to Gilman, he sat thus. His cigar went out. The ice in his glass melted, apun' on the cryatal brim, and with a tiny splash and tinkle. The little pile of burned cigarettes, the black ends of consumed clgara, the maaa of tobacco ash deposited in a whisky glass, absorbed its tepid liquid, and stunk. The room grew chill, and the mists of the fountain which played in mournful solitude beneath the rock­ ing elms in the grounds, permeated the atmosphere. The brooding night added her terrors and her cares. Gilman took a sip of liquor, lighted a fresh cigarette, rose, and walked up and dowix the room. He thought of the election, so near at hand. He looked at' the governor bowed there be­ fore him. What was Whalen, or the woman, or anybody to him? Let the prisoner die! What was he to the governor? John Chatham's party needed him, his country needed him, his time needed him, mankind and hu­ man progress needed him. If he par­ doned Whalen, what was to become of him? The conviction of Brokoski's murderer alone could save him from such apparent stultification, here on the eve of an election at which, in the foolish phrase of modern politics, he sought vindication. Was this convic­ tion possible? The bare thought halted Gilman beside the governor. He laid a hand on his shoulder. "These abstruse propositions wouldn't stand before a Jury in a crim­ inal court," be i£ld. "Let Whalen atay." The governor lifted hla head. "But you Just now said that he wlui not Brokoski's murderer." Oilman hesitated. When he aptfket he said: "A Jury of twelve sworn men haa aaid that he la.** Two days after the private secre­ tary's return, the newspapers were full of stories concerning his move­ ments. Whalen'B picture was exploit­ ed, correspondents Bought the gover­ nor for interviews, and the Courier charged that, in his desperation, he in­ tended to pardon Whalen, that he might have, in his campaign, the as> eistance of that skilled and unscrupu­ lous manipulator. The pack of coun­ try newspapers took up the Courier's cry. Whalen's illness was either ig­ nored, or referred to as feigned, at the direction of prison authorities and the governor. And yet a certificate pigeonholed in .Oilman's desk, signed by the prison physician, stated that Thomas Whalen had pulmonary tuber­ culosis and waa in a moribund condi­ tion. In his office in the city William Handy, the chairman of the state cen­ tral committee, read these newspaper stories, and swore as he did so. That night the shrewdest and maddest pol­ itician in the state stole out of town. The next morning Gilman waa sur­ prised when the big man burst through the door marked "private," brushed by him and entered, unannounced, the governor's chambers. Before the state­ ly door swung to behind him. Oilman heard him demand: "What's all this I hear about your pardoning Tom Whalen?" The private secretary did not hear the governor's reply, for with delib­ erate step he had crossed the room and closed the door. He heard noth­ ing clearly, for Handy's voice came to avail. Once he thought he heard "mawkish sentiment," and "the action of a political imbecile," but what he mostly distinguished was muffled pro­ fanity. The young' man for the first time in his experience was delighted when his. bell buzzed Just then. When he entered upon the scene, the gover­ nor, rocking complacently in his high- backed chair, was saying: "But what if it's my duty?" "Duty be damned," shouted Hiuidy, rising to his feet, and smiting the desk with a heavy fist he had had folded during the conversation. The wrath which the politician had kept bottled up overnight had burst out at last. '1 am running this campaign," he cried, "and as long aa I do run it, I do not propose to tolerate such in­ credible folly aa pardoning Tom-Wha­ len." Gilman, wlde-4yed, gazed in amaze at the two men. Handy stood glaring at the governor, hia fist fastened where it had fallen. The governor's lips were tightly compressed. A sheet of scarlet swept over his dark face. Both men were strong-willed. The tensity of such a moment could not long endure. Ita contagion spread to Gilman's nerves. The governor's splendid frame seemed to dilate, and Gilman suddenly became conscious that the admiration he had always giv­ en the man had never before meas­ ured up to the fullness of John Chat­ ham's deserts. It was with relief that he saw the governor's glanoe turn from Handy to bend pn him. "Oilman," he said, "have a pardon made out for Thomas Whalen." This answer to Handy's threats waa punctuated by a flash from the gover­ nor's eyes. "And Gilman--" the governor con­ tinued. "Yes, air." "Wire that woman--what's her name?" "Barry#" "Yes--Barry--wire her to\ come. I think I shall prefer to tell her my­ self V Handy dropped, heqvy with exhaus­ tion. into his chair. He irted to speak, but had trouble with his articulation. When he mastered hla tongue, he could only blurt: "Now yyu have done It, haven't you?" "Yes," said the governor In gentle assent "I have done it" The sigh that ended this remark was one in which a heart-burdening care was dis­ sipated. It waa a aigh that resolved a vast difficulty. When the woman came the next morning. Gilman led her at qnce into the governor's presence. Before him lay a large document, lettered in pre­ posterous script, lined in red ink. The woman knew this imitation parchment to be the pardon Of Thomas Whalen. The governor rose and stood until she had seated herself, and then said, dntTTinpr th- Tinrrtor. cr :r!r**v t* him, "I have decided to graut the ap­ plication for Whalen's pardon." The woman's fingers clawed the carved arms of the chair. Oilman stared with parted lips. Fiercely he. wheeled on the woman. "Do you see what he has done? He haa given up all--he has killed him- He aaya Whalen 1* and doean*t even know upon whom to fasten suspicion! Dont you--my God, woman--cant you see?" Slowly the situation waa bora* la upon her understanding. Her mouth opened with a gasp, her eyee widened. "Why!" she said. Jerking her words from a choking throat "He knows who did it I told him. It was--me." The door latch clicked behind her. She turned ip the direction whence came the sound, and repeated, as If the interrupter contradicted her: "Yes, I did it. I killed Brokoskl.- Her strength failed her. She sobbed convulsively. "Yes--I--did--it," ahe repeated. "I --did--It" * Oilman stared in wonder. Hera, then, waa the person who had stood in the alley beneath the window that night, whose footprints would have led him to the solution of his mystery, to the end of hi3 clever chain. The prob* lem of her motive for slaying Brokoskl alone remained. He longed to &Bk her, but she had collapsed unconscious in her chair. Turning to the governor he Implored light A word informed bim of the accidental killing of Brokoskl by a Jealous woman who was trying to shoot his vle-a-vla. Then he dft- ftanded in tones reproachful: "Why did you not tell m^ thlsf* '^Because," the man quietly respond­ ed, "I do not war on women." The door whose latch had clicked had opened wide, and William Handy entered, smiling. Governor Chatham was assorting pa­ pers on his desk, as a man would whose routine work had received a trifling interruption. Handy remained on his feet. "John," he said, "John, I take off my hat to you. I admire your nerve. I recognized it years ago, that day you presided over our convention in the old seventh district--remember?-- the day you turned me down so hard. Remember?" •>" • The governor smiled. "This aint flattery," said Handy," •eating himself in a leather chair. "You're not only all I've said, you're a devil of a good fellow to boot* Handy spoke seldom. He never wrote letters, but sent word, accord­ ing to an ancient maxim uttered by one of the political fathera. But when he did speak, he spoke bluntly, in the same tone in which he would have called a man a liar. The governor raised his band to stay Handy's com­ pliments. "Yes, John," he persisted. "You're a hell of a good fellow, but," he added, "you're a damn poor politician." There was the faintest shadow of a smile on the governor's face. Handy closed his eyes until they were the merest silts. Be puffed his cigar back to life. His head was wrapped in scarfs of smoke. "When does the grand Jury sit?" he inquired, after a time. "Not till the December term." "We can have a special one impan­ eled. I'll have Donnelly call it" The governor looked at Handy. "William," he said, "you might as well understand now, that that would be wholly useless. I am convinced of Whalen's Innocence absolutely, beyond all doubt, but it will he Impossible to get a jury to convict the one who did kill Brokoskl on such evidence" as convinced me." "But she confesses," urged Handy. "To whom?" "To you." "Exactly. But what If that confes­ sion be a privileged communication?" Handy looked up in amazement "You don't mean you wouldn't testi­ fy?" The governor's countenance lost Its legal expression, and became suddenly human. If Handy had been a thinner man he would have Jumped when t]he governor said: "Do you think I would send a an to the penitentiary to elect myself governor?" "Are you sure confessions to a gov­ ernor are privileges?" inquh-ed Handy, who was adhering to practical things. The governor's face put on its legal mask again, and he replied: "Well, the question is unsettled--** "Who presides in the criminal court this winter?" inquired Handy, "any of our fellows?" Handy's whole philoso­ phy of life was pull. The governor resumed, without answering: \ "The question has never been decid­ ed. Mr. Chief Justice Marshall, upon the trial of Aaron Burr, ruled, if I re­ member, that a subpoena duces tecum might be Issued to the president for a letter addressed to him, leaving thai question of the production of the let­ ter--" N "Oh, say, John," broke in Handy. "Burr's dead, lent he? And he wasnt a good fellow, anyway, or he'd never got in that far. Go on with your legal­ ities--I myself do not propose to go to Jail for contempt for refusing to testi­ fy." "Your ' "Yes, me." "What have yon to do with it?" . "Oh, nothing much," Bald Handy, "only I happened to be Inside that door Just now when she confessed-- and there's Gilman besides." Handy, his cigar tilted upward, smoked on voluminously and smiled through th* smoke with deep satisfaction. The governor averted his facei Lines of trouble drew themaelvea acroaa his brow. Presently he turned to the chairman. •'Handy," he said, "I may be re­ elected and I may not--probably not However that may be, I insist upon this: I want that woman, for the pres­ ent let alone. I have faith in the peo­ ple. I am willing to go to them on my record. They may or may not re­ elect me. I shall not, at any rate, have my motives impugned. I only want when the turmoil has subsided, when the subject can- be viewed with clear eyes and investigated by clear heads and clean hands, to see Justice done." "Oh." aaid Handy, "to hell with jus­ tice." "Well then," aaked the governor, "what do you say to a little mercy now ;uid theu?*: » the ̂ y" C WHEN THE m TAKES TOLL Lone Survivor of Qallant Crew Alls That the Life Savers Might Bring Through the Breakers. The vessel fought in that last 'bal&£.,.o$ hour aa it had fought all day--gam» ly, but without hope. Those wh« ; % f watched from the lee shore saw th# wheeihouse, like a smashed matcl!^^.^'!^. box ; s aw the c r a t ed , demen ted move i^ f ' • ments in the cauldron, drifting her#': 7'1 and there, but always terribly shorer^^t^P":- ward. Sea followed sea in wild con^i,; fusion, a great jungle of mad mont»/. •/ aters, foaming white at the mouthy roaring, snarling, snapping with v§»~y ^ ~ cious teeth. It was nearer now. Oniy^'-" (-1> .• • a few minutes to ttve. A great^i/'^' shaggy brute, bigger and wilder tha*^J?J&i the rest, charged It, caught it as it were on the tusks and threw it high ' where it struck, beaten at laat, wil%.^j^^§f its nose on the outer rocks. . The first rocket waa true, but a# the line fell across the deck a great green monster sprang forward and;. •. £ ?•' downward. Only two men remained! where there had been seven. The secn^-Js^. ond line fell clear, but the third land»'.VV":i).-." ^ ed, and the survivors made it fast to r a winch. The chair was half out to them when the next cruel: * charge came. It beat one of thena for, when the shining cataracts rolled" ^ , from the deck It waa a solitary figure ^ .; that clung with arms and legs to th»"^vif slippery metal. The buoy was walfr.^ ;i * ing for him, but he dared not mom He chose his chance well, toppled,^ " ' V across the perilous deck and got hinK ; : self into the seat Blinded and stungfe* he gripped the rope and was dragged;- through the welter of waters. Hisr-; look was the look Of a drowned maifc; and his chilled hands held the ropek^' with what seemed a death grip. 1%.' was only by force that the rescuenj -. V! could unloosen the stiffened flngeriM jJ, and carry him to the station. i, • - ^ He gave no sign for a long while* - f, and even when he b rea thed aga in a» ' hour passed before he found hit: tongue. He lay there with blank eyesi. his mouth half open, his jaw loose, nog look of comprehension on his facet,"" Not a word did he speak until, outside^ > l- in the shed, the station mascot set t&: . ba rk ing a t t he wind . . ' ^ 1 The man moved uneasily. ',.4 ! "On de ship," he said, very stowlyj; each word apart "On de ship I hal|vr 0 had von little dog" y And he wept unrestrainedly, as ^ young girl weeps.--San Francisc^i Chronicle. - When Is a Boat Not,a Boatf Harbor officials are ha a quandarjN ' over this question: "When is a boa|>v ^ not a boat?" It all comes abou^i through the popularity of the hydro*' ;,-' aeroplane, and so far there is no oniUs^'3- connected with the government serv<«. ice who seems to be abel to answer ltj The officials whose duties include thC£?..T?< enforcement of the barbor regulation# maintain that it is a boat and as sucli^v comes under the regulations governing > v \ power boats and therefore must com-,. * A ply witfi the laws by carrying the stip^'-v" Vj$ ulated equipment of signal horn, lighter life preservers, etc. On the other hand^ . w the officials of the Aero Club of AmerU^ ca as stoutly maintain that it is not a-;. #,• ' boat but an aeroplane, and for proofs J'-. point to the fact that it must hav%; < > Aero club sanction to participate Insj/ /ft competitive events and that its pilots^ V must' operate under an aviator's ll«? / cense, Just as though it had onlj^. / > wheels instead of a hull for water mar i.. neuvering. Even the tentative court' '; - of last resort, the American Powe^t Boat association, confesses itaeUf° * ^v. "stumped." ^ / -'y j Zeppelin's Adventurou^ CarJpliji ~ "Let us resolve to live long," eaid a^,. German cavalry officer, addressing^,/ , comrades who had assembled to cele-"^ ^ 'rate the seventy-fifth birthday o^,/ Count Zeppelin. "The evening shad­ ows were already gathering when thia, man surprised the world with his; work. That sometimes happens to $ man whoee morning and noon wera,^.; quiet and devoid of adventure, but his \ V r haa not been a life of that kind. In^ / the Civil war in the United States ha*/ barely eecaped with his life, in the war(/. of 1866 he plunged into the River Main^* horse and man fully accoutred, and^^8 swam the stream; in the war of 187(K / ' he risked his life by riding unaccom»| panled into the camp of the enemy,.: and as a retired general of cavalry en-f titled to rest he appeared in a newt^. role, allowed himself to be laughed at^ and then, with a great leap into the' ': air, became the most popular man in Germany." --: % Inspiration Suggested a Way Out. ' „ **1 It was the morning after, and he was telling the'fellows at the office about it. "Tom and I spent last eve­ ning with some friends and were re-, turning to our hotel at a rather late»\* /i' hour. We walked in the middle s Witt . «.-• AC the street, for we felt ao good wanted room In which to expand. a place where some work was being/ /* done there waa a pile of dirt about/?.,/; five feet long and about ten inches^" . - high. Arm in arm we made an effort^* > to step over the obstruction. *We met - • with utter failure. Try aa we might^/^ j. our feet seemed to be too heavy tc^f: lift ovet tlie obstruction. We werei/^ about to give up in despair and resign"^?u > ourselves to being marooned on that^>^ lonely street for the rest of the night^,./4 when I had one of those rare inspire- tlons that come only to men of geni-IV v*« us.. 'Tom,' I exclaimed, *we ara[T". saved; we will go around this pile of dirt' And we Star. did."--Kansas, A Explained. "Why don't you stand erect lik« that man next to you?" aBked the cap* tain of a privrfte in hla company. "Well, you see, that man hasn't got any medals like I have to pull hltt down," replied the medal winner. v Perfect Diamond Rare. ft was demonstrated at the Jewel* |/ * era' exhibition. Agricultural hall, Is-'f 'u* llngton, .which cloeed the other day^s^j*?, that thg perfect diamond is rare^/r^r writes a London (England) con-eO*"// spondent • One dealer produced a very large; diamond which he wSS prepared to sell for $300. ^ " j "If nature," he said, "had not tinged j It with that tint of yellow the stone i* J would be worth $30,000. ^ " 1 i"To those who have no knowledge"^* J n? T ..-J/** •:>'- real for $26 a diamond that ia ^ureK^>/ ,.. crystal without blemish, for It wouM^.>fn„$v! not be real.' f f ' ' "4 "Women are the beet fudges of th^^v..,^.,^ value of precious stones because theM treasure them more than men. It it| a matter M Instinct** / V/'- ;