Page:06-24-1920 -The Story of the Jones County Calf Case.pdf/13

 same day, I think, that the court set aside the first indictment and ordered it resubmitted and it was resubmitted and a second indictment was found, Colonel Preston, who, as it seemed to me, used to have some misgivings as to whether Bob was guilty or innocent, said to me, in substance: "How big is Bob's bond?" And I told him it was fifteen hundred dollars. He said, "Who is on it?" And I told him old George Fall, Bob's father-in-law. "Well," he says, "now, Charley, of course Bob is innocent, but I guess you better tell him that he better jump his bond and leave the country." It was a terrible shock to me. I was filled with vinegar in place of knowledge, and I believed just as religiously then as I believe now that Bob was innocent, and for a great lawyer like Colonel Preston to tell me I better tell Bob to jump his bond, was somewhat of a shock to me. But I was under orders, and so that night I took Bob out for a walk. It was in Anamosa, and we walked down into the woods where the penitentiary now stands. It was not there then. And after going around by Robin Hood's barn, I finally told Bob that the Colonel and I, (and I put the emphasis on "we"), that we thought that he had better under all of the circumstances, (while he was perfectly innocent, you understand, perfectly innocent) that under all the circumstances, he better jump his bond and leave the country.

I shall never forget it, gentlemen, as long as my head is hot, what old Bob said and did, and how he looked when I told him. We were walking side by side. Bob stopped, and I stopped. He took me by the shoulder, and turned me facing him. He looked to me as high as the second joint of a liberty pole. He looked like an infuriated lion, and he says, "Boy, I never stole the John Foreman calves, and, by God, I will go to the penitentiary off my door step before I will ever jump my bond!" And from that day, during all the years that followed, and up to this day, I have never doubted that he told me the truth.

We would try this malicious prosecution case, and we would always get a verdict from the jury, but the trial courts would—you know what. Bob was a bankrupt, and had been then for many years. He would go home and work like a nigger