Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-03
AN APPEAL TO ALLAH.
The Arab Ripper Takes the Stand
and Grows Very Dramatic.
SOLEMNLY PROTESTS INNOCENCE.
His Fate Rests Upon the Value Given to Ex-
pert Testimony.
THE CASE IN THE HANDS OF THE JURY

New YORK July 2-With the case of the
people all in, the lawyers for Ameer Ben Ali
began this morning the taking of testimony
| for the defense Ben Ali, the alleged
"Ripper," himself was relied upon to offset
| the stories of the miserable creature being
drawn from the slums in support of the de-
tective theory, and eminent scientists are
| counted upon to meet the testimony of the
prosecution experts
As matter of fact, the whole case really
comes to this: Will jury convict man of
crime involving the death penalty on a
microscopical analysis of dried blood made
nearly two months after the blood is
alleged to have been shed, when the expert
| testimony as to the revelations made by
that analysis by other expert testimony
tends to show that those alleged revelations
are not TO be relied upon. After testimony
| to the effect that Ben Ali had no knife when
arrested and sent to Jail at Newton for
vagrancy, offsetting the testimony of the
three Jail birds who swore he had. a knife
while in prison, there came the most
dramatic scene of the trial.
Imagines Every Man Is Against Him.
Ameer Ben ALI or "Frenchy," was called
| to the stand. His tai" form arose from the
little group of lawyers in which he sat, and
| he moved to the stand with his peculiar
| quick, dignified stride. The worried, anx-
| ious look, marked by the wrinkled foreherd,
| was greatly intensified. He looked about the
| room in a piteous sort of way, and seemed
| not to Distinguish between the jurors, the
attorneys who We trying to put HIM where
he would lose his NSs, the judge or the spec
tatOrS He apparently considered the whole
audience, with the exce,Stion of his lawyer,
as one comprehensive group of beings who
were hunting him to his DEATH,
His examination was conducted through
an interpreter, and Ben Ali remained toler-
ably calm during the preliminary part OF his
examination. At last, like q man moved
half to Madness he suddenly broke out into
a torrent of passionate defamation. He
held his trembling hands aloft and turned
his head upward in fierce appeals to heaven.
Tears rolled down his cheeks, and as he
stroked his head from side to side in the
madness of his appeal, the tear drips even
hew of in sort of spray.
A Torrent of Wild Arabic.
All this was when Mr.. Friend had leaned
forward toward the rail and with great i'm
pressiveness had asked: "Did-did-you-
ill-Carrie-Brown?'
When the interpreter had slowly repeated
this question the explosion came. 1t lasted
for nearly full minute before the excited
man could be suppressed. When at last the
flow of melodious Arabic stopped, the tears
still continued, and with his handkerchief
held in trembling hand he wiped his eyes
The interpreter stated his answer to be:
Gentlemen, by the garment of Allah am
innocent. l did not kill that woman. I
know nothing about how she died. 1 did
not do it. l did not did not. oh, spare my
life, gentlemen, good gentlemen
Then there was lull in the prisoners ex-
citement, only to burst forth with greater
violence when the blood stained knife found
was produced He was asked If ne had the
knife on him when arrested at Newton. He
sprang to his feet and again lifted his tremb
ling hands to heaven and implored Allah to
witness that he had no knife then; that no
knife was taken from him then.
His Emotion Breaks Out Afresh.
Counsel passed the ugly looking, blood
stained weapon over to him. He took it de-
hberately between his thumb and forefinger,
and held it out at arms length before him,
slowly balancing it. Then he was asked if
he ever owned that knife. He held it out
still further from him, and shaking it swiftly
in his hand, said with another o1tburst of
passion that he had never seen it before he
saw it in the court room; that it was not his
that he never owned it.
DR.. Justin Herold was put on the stand.
Witness stated that he was Deputy Coroner
OF New York City; had been connected with
2,l00 autopsies He testified that 1t was i'm
possible to scientifically determine from
what part Of the human body the blood was
taken. He further testified in support of the
two preceding witnesses.
DR.. Herold was followed by Henry Mott,
Jr., analytical chemist of the School of
Mines Columbia College. He said that he
could not swear that clot containing tyro-
Gin, bila-rubin and epithelial cells could be
distinguished from menstrual blood. The
drift OF all this testimony was to disapprove
the theory of the people that the presence of
the substances named, found in the blood
spots examined, indicated that he must have
come in contact with the contents of the
small intestines.
The defense rested at this stage. The case
will go to the jury tomorrow.