Chance and necessity had thrown him often
among such men and women; but never had he been of
them. The police of more than one city knew Bridge--
they knew him, though, as a character and not as a
criminal. A dozen times he had been arraigned upon
suspicion; but as many times had he been released with
a clean bill of morals until of late Bridge had become al-
most immune from arrest. The police who knew him
knew that he was straight and they knew, too, that he
would give no information against another man. For
this they admired him as did the majority of the crim-
inals with whom he had come in contact during his
rovings.
The present crisis, however, appeared most unprom-
ising to Bridge. Grave crimes had been committed in
Oakdale, and here was Bridge conniving in the escape
of at least two people who might readily be under po-
lice suspicion. It was difficult for the man to bring him-
self to believe that either the youth or the girl was in
any way actually responsible for either of the murders;
yet it appeared that the latter had been present when a
murder was committed and now by attempting to elude
the police had become an accessory after the fact, since
she possessed knowledge of the identity of the actual
murderer; while the boy, by his own admission, had
committed a burglary.
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