ed the
burglary----"

"It wasn't burglary," corrected the captain sullenly.

Judge Brewster again consulted the papers in his hand.

"You're quite right, captain--my mistake--it was homicide, but--it was
an untrue confession."

"Yes."

"It was the same thing in the Callahan case," went on the judge, picking
up another document. "In the case of the People against
Tuthill--and--Cosgrove--Tuthill confessed and died in prison, and
Cosgrove afterward acknowledged that he and not Tuthill was the guilty
man."

"Well," growled the captain, "mistakes sometimes happen."

Judge Brewster stopped and laid down his eyeglasses.

"Ah, that is precisely the point of view we take in this matter! Now,
captain, in the present case, on the night of the confession did you
show young Mr. Jeffries the pistol with which he was supposed to have
shot Robert Underwood?"

Captain Clinton screwed up his eyes as if thinking hard. Then, turning
to his sergeant, he said:

"Yes. I think I did. Didn't I, Maloney?"

"Your word is sufficient," said the judge quickly. "Did you hold it up?"

"Think I did."

"Do you know if there was a light shining on it?" asked the judge
quickly.

At this point, Dr. Bernstein, who had been an attentive listener, bent
eagerly forward. Much depended on Captain Clinton's answer--perhaps a
man's life.

"Don't know--might have been," replied the chief carelessly.

Judge Brewster turned to Dr. Bernstein.

"Were there electric lights on the wall?"

"Yes."

"What difference does that make?" demanded the policeman.

"Quite a little," replied the judge quietly. "The barrel of the revolver
was bright--shining steel. From the moment that Howard Jeffries' eyes
rested on the shining steel barrel of that revolver he was no longer a
conscious personality. As he himself said to his wife, 'They said I did
it--and I knew I didn't, but after I looked at that shining pistol I
don't know what I said or did--everything became a blur and a blank.'
Now, I may tell you, captain, that this condition fits in every detail
the clinical experiences of nerve specialists and the medical
experiences of the psychologists. After five hours' constant
cross-questioning while in a semi-dazed condition, you impressed on him
your own ideas--you suggested to him what he should say--you extracted
from him not the thoughts that were in his own consciousness, but those
that were in yours. Is that the scientific fact, doctor?"

"Yes," repl