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SMART’S GARAGE

GASOLINE
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H. L. SMART, Proprietor
TERRACE, B.C.

BATTERIES CHARGED
FREE AIR

ACETYLENE WELDING — CYLINDER REBORING AND GRINDING

“man in black” had passed her and, despite
his beard, she’d recognized him as Kref-
chenko by his eyes.

Gevertz, under oath, changed his testi-
mony completely. On the night prior to the
murder he'd met Krefchenko. Jack had
ordered him to have his car in readiness at
noon on the following day to “take a dark
man into the country.” Flashing a wicked-
looking automatic, the prisoner had warned
him he’d be watching and would “get him”
if he failed to appear. One man only had
boarded the car, a man with a false beard —
and that man was Krefchenko. The story
he'd told previously had been concocted by
Krefchenko, and he'd repeated it for fear
of being murdered. Out on the Morden
road Krefchenko had hidden his black coat
behind a clump of willows.

Entering the witness box, Const. McKay
displayed the black coat which he’d found
in the vicinity of the spot already mentioned.
Next he produced an itinerant actor who
swore that the coat was one which he'd
loaned Krefchenko on November 17th.

The evidence had already taken a month
to be reviewed. Convinced that J. D.
Suffield’s masterly defense would save him
from the gallows, Krefchenko entered the
dock with a/smile as the jury returned after
a two hours’ session.

“Murder in the first degree,” came the
grim words of the foreman, and a minute
later Krefchenko, pale and visibly shaken,
heard from the lips of Chief Justice Mathers

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the sentence that spelled his doom: death
by hanging at seven on the morning of
July 9th.

To the very last the drama associated with
the Krefchenko case continued to hold the
attention of the public. As execution day
approached rumours spread abroad that the
underworld was planning a desperate armed
attempt to snatch their hero from the gal-
lows. Hard on the heels of this came a
“black hand” note to the Chief Justice.
Written in blood, it threatened death to all
concerned in the execution of Krefchenko,
and warned that a society of two thousand
members had been organized to effect his
release. A special armed cordon was thrown
around the outer walls of the gaol, and the
death watch increased within.

Ny Se

A GOOD TURN-OUT
A familiar sight in the Smithers district is Prov.
Constable W. A. A. West and his splendid
police horse. Const. West has been stationed

in Smithers for the past three years.

On July 9th, in the grey light of early
morning, Krefchenko commenced his last
walk towards the gallows. Climbing the
thirteen steps he shook his long hair from
his eyes and smiled the sickly smile of one
utterly dazed. A guard stepped forward
and snubbed a strap about his legs. The
hangman flipped the black cloth over the
victim’s head. Then, leaping backward, he
pulled the lever, and Western Canada’s
bad man hurtled downward to pay the debt
he owed society. :

Note: The names of Lon Gevertz, Jacob Walsh
and Tom Brace, used. in this story, are fictitious,
for obvious reasons.

—Copyright by Philip H. Godsell, F.R.G.S.,

1944. :

IN the reign of George II a Bill was intro-
duced to the effect that: All women of
whatever age, rank or profession, whether
maid or widow, who shall after this Act
impose upon and seduce into matrimony any
of His Majesty’s subjects by means of
scents, paints, cosmetics, artificial teeth, false
hair, bolstered hips, high-heeled shoes, or
iron stays, shall incur the penalties against
witchcraft, and the marriage be declared
null and void.

MAGISTRATE: “It’s very unusual for a
sober man to climb a lamp-post.””

Prisoner: “That's what I thought: a
record, perhaps. —The Humorist.

J. H. SMITH
GENERAL MERCHANT

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British Columbia, Canada

Page Thirty-eight

THE SHOULDER STRAP