Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-03-15

ly different from what he anticipated.
subordinate TO Sheriff Viles. lie had cvt-
Viles was TO be the subordinate and when
he found Viles had charge leading with
his aggressivencss and honesty and In
tegrlty AMI himself the subordinate he
then began to sulk and tie began to med
itate upon the idea that Il would be q
good thing for McNally II Nelson shoild
escape under such ~ state or facts as
would seem to shield him from any con-
nectlon with 1t and that later he should
CAPTURE him. McNally cannot sat
knows the duty OF an officer
as to his failure to put irons Upon that
man. n man that he knew 10 be DANGER
Gus and u man that he knew to be a des-
pcrado. What; gentlemen Is MS MS excnse ;.,.l,,,
gencc Of this jury, that he was saving
his irons to put upon this poor little
Kelley. a little fellow weighing not more
than 125 pounds whom he could easily
have mastered with one hand, with all
his rheumatism which troubled him on
the 10th day Of October. but didn't seem
to trouble him 80 much IN his midnight
rides on his bicycle! Oh. gentlemen. that
to use a common expression. Is a "trines
thin" This man could have arrested
Kelley without any trouble. Kelley Is n
poor, little inoffensivc, fellow. as has
been shown upon the stand. without
courage enough to fight anybody. with
would come at the command of an officer
easily, and yet Foster Nelson. 6 feet and
2 inches In his stockings weighing 21o
pounds. a splendidly built man. power
full, a man OF courage. potOrtous deS-
perado who had detied arrest many
time. who had no respect whatever for
McNally. who evidently dcspiscd him. ~
he had a right to. because Foster Nell
son knew McNaily's moral blackness. as
did his neIghbors: Foster Nelson knew all
the uses that his house had been put to
by McNally: Foster Nelson knew. un-
doubleday. that his house had been q
place OF assignation where McNally had
met his mistress: he knew that he was
a frequent visitor there: he knew that
this deputy sheriff. this representative OF
the State of Maine had been In the habit
of coming there to his house and drinking
liquor with the respectable people that
gathered there, Foster Nelson undoubt-
edly knew that this man had been drink
ing. this deputy sheriff who saya In his
writ that he had good reputation, but
whose neighbors say that he has none:
knew the incomings and the outgoings
of this representative of law and order.
and Foster Nelson not only despiscd him
morally as being no better than he save
in the outward form OF respectahilIty;
Foster Nelson knew that the only di1er-
encc between them was that he had been
convicted and McNaliy had not, but.
more than that. he dcspiscd him physi-
cally. Just think OF that. This man.
eight days before. had mounted n rock
pile upon the farm and used n contemptu-
Gus gesture Of the thumb and fingers.
which Is an invitation TO light among
small boys. the only thing that VIII start
the blood of the good American boy and
provoke him TO righteous fight. II
righteous fight be possible. and he
criminal rumseller. the keeper OF house
that McNally frequented. stood upon a
rock pile and thumbcd his nose at
deputy sheriff eight days before and yet
George McNaliy with handouts in his
pocket. keeping them for small. In
offensive. little fellow like Kelley. start
ing from that house after Viles with
greater caution and greater honesty had
refused Nelson the privilege. believing
II undoubtedly to he "a pretence and as
McNaly knew IL was. went out there
alone behind this building. by this hen
house. by this barnyard. not allowing him
to go into the barn. and going out OF the
sight and hearing of everybody. and.
gentlemen. upon pretence so triiting
that he insults the intelligence of the
public by setting 1t up here. This Is the
high-toned public officer whose character
can be hurt by the publication of an item
which every body at the time believed to
be true and which everybody looking on
at the time had n right to believe To be
true. Aye. gentlemen. Mr.. McNally may
have lost his good name in the town OF
Clinton; he may by his wickcdneSS have
lost his actual moral character. but he is
II man of brains and he is TOO bright
man not to have known that the moment
when he left that house with this man
who deSpised him morally and who had
no respect for his physical strength
that this Foster Nelson was dangerous
man. an outlaw and desperado. George
McNaly knew that that man meant TO
escape. and / say whatever may be the
truth as to the 5 story. in a moment OF
weakness. out of the morbid jealousy
which he let's out in his letter: with IT'S
wicked slander of Payson Viles. than
whom no officer stands higher in Maine
for honesty and integrity, that then
George McNally fell undoubtedly into the
belief that he would recapture his man
sooner or later and gain the prestige
which he desired out of the whole matter
Now gentlemen, that is all propose to
say about that count.
What about the other. ! believe that is
the first count. 1t Is repeated In the
second count. ! say in the first place
true. In the second place If it was not
true. all the surrounding circumstances.
the talk of the crowd the wickcdness on
the part of McNally.. his inexcusable
he saw and what he heard in believing it
to be true. and IL he did so believe 1t to
be true. that is just as good a defence as
IL 1t was true. In other words. you are
prudent men. for instance. You repre-
sent the standard man that is set up in
court as a man of average prudence, eau
ton. etc, in other words. If you had been
there in McCOne's place. seeing all the
said. looking at 1t. you would have been
justified from what you saw there at
least in believing that there was some
kind of a put-up job between McNally
and Nelson for the words "put-up job
mean in this matter that the escape was
through wickedness and negligence for
some reason or other. That is all that l
need to say about that. As to whether
McCone had any express malice or not
it a thing I will come to later, because
that applies to both counts.
Now the second count is only a repeti-
ton of the first. That was inserted in
the weekly. The third count stands by
itself: that is the dispatch sent by Mr..
Iiooke. the young man who was the As
sociated Press agent at Dover. Foster
Nelson had been arrested and he was in
custody. HOoke did not know McNally
but still he knew that this had been "a
matter of news in the papers and he went
to Nelson and interviewed him. There is
no pretence that Hooke could have had
any possible malice. This. 1t will be ad-
mitted, he sent as a matter of news. 1t
will be admitted that the statement was
made in the presence of a deputy sheriff
and a clerk of courts. 1t will be admit
ted that there were all the outside indi-
cations to lead Hooke to believe that it
was true. There was no more inquiry
that Hooke could make. He was eau
tious about it as any man could have
been. He made thorough inquiries. He
gathered in all the information that was
possible at the time. He certainly is Il
discreet youn~ man. You saw him on