The Portland daily press., 1895-02-02

Another witness, Josiah Lock, swore
positively that the prisoner was one ot
two foreigners whom he met at O'Clock
on the Sunday afternoon four miles from
Reigate Now, the evidence of the bar
tender was conclusive that the two for
eigners at the Cricketers did not leave the
inn all that day, and he professed to
| identify Franz as one of them. If the
bartender was right Lock must be mis-
taken, aud vice versa. The woman who
sold the string would not swear positive
ly to Franz, though she thought he was
the taller of the two foreigners; but the
servant girl, who had not such good
opportunity of judging, had no doubt
whatever that Franz was the man.
Nine. Tietjens, whose first description
of them and who had obtained letter
from her, seemed to tally with that of
Franz, but when confronted with the
prisoner at once said that ne was not the
person who had called upon her and who
gave his name as Adolphe Krohn. Still
this did not prove that Franz might not
have been a partner in the crime. But
fairly staggered the jury. The prisoners
lawyer, who previously to being instruc-
ted to take up the case for the defense,
had acted as in terpreter before the mag
istrates, was called as a witness by the
prosecution. In the course of his exami-
nation he was questioned as to his
knowledge of Franz's hand writing, and
manuscript book was suddenly put in
to his hands, with the question from
counsel: us this the prisoners hand
writing?" The lawyer not knowing what
was being sprung upon him, but recog-
nizing at once that the handwriting was
that of Franz answered hastily. "Yes,"
Counsel for the defense asked TO look
at the book and found that it was diary
of his adventures in England, kept by
the prisoner. Each days incidents were
faithfully recorded until he reached
Leek, in Staffordshire, when the n ARA
tive abruptly closed. The extraordinary
fact was elected that this book had
been found on July (the day after the
trates) by a couple of tramps on heap
of straw in roadside howell, and with it
railway guards timonial, which
was one of the papers Franz alleged so
have been stolen from him. This was a
most singular corroboration OF at any
fabe one lupOrtdHt phTb ol tHe prlSoH0rS
story.
But there was yet another extraordi-
nary coincidence to be adduced in his
favor. In regard to the damning piece
of string found attached to his shirt,
Yranz's explanation was that he had
picked it up on the pavement in front
of tobacconist's in Whitechapel. This
seemed a scarcely credible story until in
the CROSS examination Of the prisoners
lawyer by the counsel for the defense
for this witness, ii must be rememb ered,
was-calIed by the prosecution-it came
out that the tobacconist's shop@was but
two minutes walk from Frapz's lodging
and close to the premises of the very
stringmaker who had manufactured the
peculiar @rubly cordn which had been
supplied TO the Reigate tradesman. The
prisoners lawyer said that he himself
had seen a ball of string of precisely
similar make lying ON the types of a
printing Office next door to the tobaccon-
list, where it was habitually used.
No direct evidence was offered for the
defense, and the end of it was that the
jury, after a long elaboration, returned
a verdict of not guilty, tho ugh it subse
quently transpired that at first ten of
them had been in favor of verdict OF
guilty.