The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-08-07
CHIQUITA
GIVES MORE INTERESTING LEAVES
FROM AN AUSTIN LAWYERS
DIARY.
How a Mexican Woman Was Well Cleared
From an Unfortunate Charge.

once held up the scales of justice for q
Mexican woman. She was young and
handsome. Bertha Oativeres by
name. She was afflicted with the
usual shortcoming of the Mexican
criminal class that appear in the
court house. When approached by
counsel as to their defense, me no
entiendo senior. OF course / went for
my Interpreter as well as my law
book, but of the two / needed just
then the interpreter most. I got him
by the aid of our wise and able Fed
eral judge, Hon. T. S. Maxey, one
Enavcio Gonzales, good one. A
thick, heavy sort of fellow, he looked
like the but end of a tree cut in six
foot length, but he had glib tongue
and was a good linguist. 1 had by
this time gotten hold of the indict-
ment and found she was charged with
having in her possession and passing
counterfeit coin with Hon. A. j.
Evans, the Federal district attorney,
and one of the best prosecutors l ever
saw, with his war paint on, and the
testimony against the accused as
strong as turpentine.
She had fifty pieces of the base
metal, some fifteen of which were
passed. Each piece was crime by
possession and each exchange of a
piece was passing in law. The coun-
sci for the government went for the
fair Bertha in way that seven you
would admire" Though the govern
ment showed she had all of this base
money in huge leather purse in
half dollar pieces snugly slowed away
in her hat, and the same were poor
counterfeits at that, and that she
ought to have known it, passed
some fifteen of them as afore-
said in three quantities on three I'M
suspecting merchants of San Marcos
in exchange for goods, yet we proved
that she was an ignorant Mexican,
could not read and write English, had
not the power and ability to make
counterfeit money if she desired to-
that the words Omitted States Of
America Half DOL" on one side she
could not read and "the goddess Of
liberty" on the other she did not un.
derstand Gas we'll known as this lady
is in this country that her husband
had been over to San Antonio to the
fair, had come back and given her
these coins and told her they were
good and to spend them, and that,
like true wife, she had unsuspecting.
ly taken them and bought the lady's
hats, hosiery and children's clothing
as stated in the testimony, that if the
purse with the money was in the
crown of her hat as aforesaid, she had
other in her hand, in the latter which
she carried that way the money was
placed for convenience, that she did
not know they were counterfeit, that
she passed them openly and when the
spuriousness of the coin was detected
by the shopkeeper she returned the
whole of the goods and kept nothing,
that her husband had fled the coun try
although having stood and examining
trial and been discharged and was now
quietly resting in that blessed
land across the border where all good
Mexicans go as soon as possible Ga kind
of Canada Mexicana) when by acct
dent or mistake they unintentionally
violate the laws of this country, that
she was of exceptionally good char
acter both as to truth and law
abidance. (These facts were testified
to with great emphasis by three or
four of the most prominent citizens of
Hays county, who knew her from
childhood.) With all of this testimony
the governments counsel vowed she
was RullJy, anu SWOre he WOulu nave
blood; that his Mexican damsel was
an adept in the business, and her pre-
tensions of innocence and ignorance
were huge shams of hypocrisy and de-
ceit. He belabored thejury most ter
ribly, and gave fair Bertha and all
Mexicans most terrible rounding up !;
that it might be expected from a
Mexican to steal our horses and to kill
our people-most any kind of a Grim
inal could do that-but when it came
to them counterfeiting our coin and
getting rich and luxurious on the fine
arts of the American criminal, Ga sort
of pre-empted ground by McCarty and
few others) it was time the strong
arm of the law should lntercede for
the protection of American interests
against intruding foreigners and stop
the business. | never shall foget one
very impressive argument he used, as
| sat in my seat and listened to his
speech, the fair Berth trembling at
every quake of his voice, and as his
long bony index finger in its spirited
gesticulations came down at the end