A STRANGE STORY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 8278, 20 October 1905, Page 7

A STRANGE STORY.

The American correspondent of the Otago Daily Times sends tho following singular narrative to his paper.— The rather remarkable stcry has come to light in New York City of a student in a large American university who deliberately confessed a burglary which he did not commit, and accepted a three-year sentence in order to protect the name of a married woman. The facts were made public through the statement of a New York attorney, who said :—" A handsome widow came down to my office and asked to be shown into the library, where no one but myself could sec her. She then told me the following extraordinary story. I t cannot tell you her name, but you ceitainly would know it if I did. She comes from'one of the best old families of New York. Her late husband owned

several large factories in 'New Jersey. She handsome, does not look more than *¥■ twenty-live, though she probably is, and has a child. She told me that a young man,

while not prominent in a business way, but who had good social standing, had at one Jfeie been calling upon her. Her husband jjks not aware of the fact that friendship existed between them. -Neither wanted the husband to know it. The husband did not know the man. The husband came homo unexpectedly, and his appearance created considerable confusion, in the midst of which the man rose lo the situation. He assumed a rough manner wh?n asked by the husband whathe was doing there. He said that he was a burglar, that he had forced an entrance to the apartment, and that hi was willing to take his medicine. He gave an assumed name. A hurried call for the police was sent over the telephone by the husband, and the man made no attempt lo escape. All this happened before the wife could say or do anything. She was in such a quandary that she'did not know what to do, so she blindly followed the lead of the supposed burglar. There was prompt response by the police, and the man was marched round to the police station. He was arrainged the next day in the Police Court. He pleaded guilty to the charge of attempted burglary. The husband was complainant and the woman chief witness against him. No time was lost in placing the matter before the Grand Jury, which found an indictment against him. He was arraigned in the Court of General Sessions, where he again pleaded The secret of his identity was not Ijßnsclosed in any of the proceedings, and his name is not known to the prison authorities to-day. At'his own request judgment was pronounced by the court without the loss of a minute. He was sentenced to three years in Sing Sing Prison. Without a woal he turned, went back to his cell in the tombs, packed up a few belongings, and that night wore a striped suit in Sing Sing Prison. His friends wondered what had become of Mm, and thought he had gone on a vacation trip without saying anything to them about it. Later they' wondered that nothing had been heard of him. The woman now wished the young man to be saved from the disgrace an;l punishment under which he is suffering, and came to ask me to try to get a pardon

from Governor Iliggins. The woman was much agitated. S:ie is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and it will be necessary to be cautious." Asked further as to details, the lawyer replied that he could not

give them. He said it was a curious coincidence that a student disappeared from one of the colleges just at the time this young man was tried. " The worst of the matter is," said the lawyer, " that the woman has been subjected to heavy blackmail, and she declares she never has had a night's sleep since. When I tell you she had to pay no less than 56,000 dol." to some old servant of hers, who knew something about the facts, .yon will understand how serious the busittpss is." It is stated that the woman will lu\ing suit against a band of blackmailers headed by a lawyer and a woman, who have succeeded in extorting money from her.