DISCOMFITURE OF CYRUS 231 



"Stung," at which there was a roar of delight 

 and appreciation from the crowd. "Respondent 

 discharged," he continued, "and court is ad- 

 journed." 



At the close of the formalities I held an im- 

 promptu reception in the square and shook hands 

 with several hundred people. But before an hour 

 had elapsed I had issued a Capias for old Cyrus 

 in a fifty-thousand-dollar suit for malicious prose- 

 cution. 



In vain he tried to get bail ; nobody would bail 

 him, and that night for the first time in his life, 

 perhaps, he slept in jail. The April term was in 

 progress and my suit could not be entered until 

 October, and in the event of not obtaining bail 

 he would have to remain in jail until October. 



The next day he sent for me. I refused to see 

 him. The day after he sent me a written appeal. 

 I threw it in the waste-basket. The third day an 

 old acquaintance of his, and one whom he had 

 wronged, called and begged me to give him a 

 chance. I made him wait a few days. By this 

 time the old man's appeals were abject. 



At the end of a week I went to see him. He 

 had aged terribly in that week, and I could n't 

 help pitying him. But I was cold and stern and 

 firm, and before I left I had a sworn statement 

 from him of certain things that would have 

 brought him perilously near state prison, but 



