Then the police captain of the precinct sends for you. You go prepared to be cast into prison. Not so; while the “Journal,” “World,” and “Herald” have been clearing up the mystery of this “inside job,” the police have made an arrest. The prisoner is a well-known burglar. On that night and at the time your house was entered he was seen loitering outside, but just at present he won’t talk. You know that he either robbed you himself, or watched while a confederate did. Do you want your wife’s property? Do you want your character back again? Do you want to get “hunk”? Remember, whoever entered your house came prepared to kill. Perhaps you are a father, and know your conscientious duty towards that eldest son of yours, your own flesh and blood, when he has misbehaved and is sulky. Do you birch him? Do you trounce him, or do you stop to argue? Is it more brutal to inflict corporal punishment upon a man than upon a child? But you don’t stop now to debate that question. You fling yourself upon your knees, and with tears implore that you be allowed to assist at—“the third degree.” You even offer all the worldly goods you have left for the privilege of plying that garden hose yourself—just once, where it will do the most good. Stop, sir, the law forbids! After a couple of howls the peevishness of your new acquaintance vanishes. He speaks. In a few hours your property is restored, and you are distributing cigars and buying wine for the reporters, in the hope that they will stop lying about you. Your wife condescends to speak to you for the first time in days. If upon his trial the rogue should plead that an illegal confession had been wrung from him, and the police should deny it, would you go to court and corroborate the thief, or would you “lie like a gentleman”? The question is, Is the “third degree” ever used to compel a confession from an innocent person, or to satisfy a grudge? In either case the abuse, not the use, is to be condemned. Are theories made up without evidence, and some poor victim made to fit the case by means of torture? Was “Frenchy” really innocent and in prison all those years? If not, why was he pardoned a few months ago? Was McAuliffe beaten to death to satisfy a grudge, or for fear of future revelations? It is not my business to find out. I have been informed that at the last election the people selected some one else to do that; and if in theorizing upon these subjects to myself I have come to no conclusion which I care to give here, I am sure I do the “Finest” no injustice, for they have theorized on my case for nearly four years, and have come to no conclusion at all.