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Show O'Brien Claims He Was Simply Kind to Animal Tea and Coffee Merchant From Vancouver Given Liberty. A TALK of having; played the'V00 Samaritan, only to get himself arrested and jailed for three months, was told to a jury in the district court yesterday by James O'Brien, on trial charged with grand larceny. Though the state put on witnesses wit-nesses who contradicted the story flatly, flat-ly, O'Brien won out on the question of credulity and was found not guilty. He was discharged. O'Brien is a tea and coffe merchant from Vancouver. He was arrested June 13 last while driving up State street with a horse and buggy which had been reported to the police as stolen. He protested pro-tested to the police that he had found the horse wandering aimlessly down State street and had climbed into the buggy with the sole intention in mind of driving to the police station. In the lower court the story was discounted dis-counted and he was bound over to the district court. He has been in the county coun-ty jail ever since, awaiting trial. " Witnesses were put on by the state who identified O'Brien as the man who untied the horse from in front of a moving mov-ing picture theater and drove away with it. The horse was reported by the owner to have been stolen from in front of the theater. O'Brien admitted on the stand that he had been drinking a good deal on the night in" question, but denied ever having hav-ing spen tc outfit until he found it on lower State street, apparently astray. After two hours' deliberation the jury found him not guilty. |