Show A CITY E experience RIE NCE il circumstantial EVIDENCE AGAINST A YOUNG MAN 1 an eow now an innocent person may at time times he BO placed la in 0 with regard to situation dangerous Dan imn gerou geroux the law A predicament circumstantial evidence Is regarded garled re I 1 know by courts as very often the strongest possible proof yec how often in human experience peri ence has it been that circumstantial evidence was a cruelty beyond description I 1 have told the story before but as it la 13 pertinent let me rive give it in brief again some years ago in brooklyn at a boarding house table tahle a young invalid from minneapolis discussed with great earnestness nessmith with his fellow boarders in ge general but more especially with a bright new england ingland girl then a school teacher in the city of churches the insanity of hamlet it was as a bright december day and either booth or davenport Davenpor tand and I 1 think the form er was p playing hamlet in booths theater e ater in j t this his city half in fun and half ili a earnest the young man suggested tel that he be and the young lady should attend the performance that night right and ani renew the discussion later on they did so at tho the wa af the second act being troubled with asthma the young man excused himself saying it would be necessary for him birn to take the air and that he might not return to his seat until the close of the following act art to his surprise when he the front door the sky was filled with snow a brisk breeze was rapidly drifting it and the pavements were covered to the depth of at least an inch he muffled himself up and trotted literally toward broadway then turning bo he walked briskly back toward the theater while so proceeding a man bruj rushed shed rapidly past him toward towa rd sixth avenue with the fleetness of a deer As he did so he dropped something which shone in the snow the young man picked it up it was it watch and broken chain As an well AS he could he called after the rapidly retreating individual and tailing failing to make him hear endeavored to catch him unconscious of a group of men behind him be he ran as quickly as possible until lie reached the corner comer of sixth avenue and twenty third street where to his amazement ns as a police officer grasped him a crowd from behind pounced upon him shouting we have got himl He one of them remarking as he snatched the watch from hla his hands by heavens heaven he haa has pot pt it here i till vill NORMAL the young man was bewildered amazed dumfounded dum founded I 1 hurriedly ho be was titan taken to the station house where he be was charged with felonious assault at the comer corner of fifth r fifth and twenty street and with highway robbery i I 1 how so I 1 some one and the cr crowd d flie believed j ved it to be he be ud lad grabbed fan old gentleman about the throat dealt him vim ft a tremendous blow behind the CAM ears with a blunt instrument roughly grabbed his watch and with violence broke the chain ere he rushed away of course you see ec it was the man who had bad run on past our friend of this he knew nothing all he could say was that a man hod had dropped his watch in the snow and he picked it up he ile was vas laughed at al he ile was thrown into a cell in the mottling he was taken in serious physical distress and mental discomfiture before a fat tat sleepy judge and arid sent to the tombs to await the action at of the grand jury and bas friend the young lady well perhaps you can ran imagine her condition she waited patiently curing during the third act ct impatiently during the remainder of ithe tithe play wondering a at ahe ithe absence of her escort at last the curtain down d 0 w a she walked slowly toward thedoor where w b ere she was encountered with the usual al gang of cab shouters and street loafers more serious even in their insulting attentions than the tremendous storm which then hurtled through the air she a dollar in her pocket she was unfamiliar with new york what should she do the night watchman in a very few moments told her that ebe she inest step outside a as the theater must be closed A cabman asked her where she wanted to go she said to brooklyn with A lie he told her that the ferryboats ferry boats stopped running at 12 10 and recommended that abo should drive to the united states stat hotel A TERI tIBLE experience so she said she would like to explained ithe the absence of her escort as well as die she could anil and asked theman if he would trust her until the following morning when she could send to her friends frienda or go to her home in brooklyn he ile laughingly replied that that would make very little difference jumped on the box and ft started arted as us she believed for the united states hotel on fulton street near the ferry during the long long drive with the storm beating outside md her heart tu moving imide the poor girl nearly distraught something a womanly intuition told her all was not right and as she looked out seeing nothing she ivas was convinced that they were beyond the line of residence 11 her er repeated blows u upon pon the window made no impression upon the driver or his companion desperate frighten dehe burst open the loor door and sprang as well ins las she could into the snow tripped and fell la in front of a gir mill on tho the boulevard aa as a door opened and the light from the interior revealed her ler disheveled in tears tto to a group of half drunken merrymakers merry makers who emerged at that moment she was taken into the room revived given something to drink which she at first imitated to take and after much urging accented the ho hospital ty of a billiard room the following tn ra orning when the kind hearted wife of the proprietor who was his own bartender ablee ei her to return ft A half crazed entirely woman to her brooklyn home then began the search for her escort and nothing under heaven but the clean cat cut new york experience of a well known newspaper friend spared that young man alit disgrace of an indictment u trial and a probable conviction for or felonious assault and nd highway big liway robbery be being as AR guilty as it is possible pos able to conceive a man judged by circumstantial evidence yet as innocent S A AL babe unborn judged trem froin the factual twist point of view joe howard in new york recorder Ko corder |