He could not have been near Jenison Hall at the time of the
shooting. Uncle Frank produced a letter from Isaac, received that very
day from New York, in which he said that he was going to Europe as the
body-servant of a New York gentleman who had helped him to secure an
education.
"They locked me in the cellar and put a guard over me until the
sheriff could come up in the morning. Christine, there wasn't a single
chance for me to prove my innocence. I knew that Uncle Frank and Isaac
Perry had arranged the whole devilish plot--how nicely they arranged
it, too! It worked out even better than they expected, for I
unwittingly damned myself. I never can tell you of my feelings when
the whole thing became clear to me. I must leave that to your
imagination. I was as innocent as a babe, and yet, in the eyes of
every one, as guilty as ever any murderer has been in this world. My
only chance to escape certain hanging lay in escape. It was after
three o'clock in the morning when I began to think of flight. I made
up my mind that I could never hope for acquittal. I thought only of
getting away from them and then devoting my whole life to finding the
proof of my innocence.
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