Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-03-11


probably planned to meet her alone
first, on the street or otherwise, as op-
pOTtunity might offer. But unknown
to him she had shortly before gone to,
was at the time, and now is in San An
tonic Texas. The church where he
was found is one block from his said
sisters residence.
On the first proposition l wish TO be
especially emphatic. History Of current
events is replete with cases of the
grossest injustice, done by good people
TO innocent persons, by the supposed
theft from their persons of money,
jewelry OF other articles of value. No
rule is better established in law or in
the public notion of common Justice,
than that the fact that crime was
committed must be first established.
In this case it is asserted in the
most positive manner that "a student
was robbed of a S. bill while in the bath
room"
The bathroom is in the basement of
the building; there is but one way of
ingress and egress. Descending short
flight of steps you reach the barber
shop, small room where the ''attend-
amt 'janitor" or barber" whatever
you choose to call him, is found with
lIID SLclI CIOSC " IlIC dOOt lulO
The bathroom, which is separated from
the barber shop by single partition.
The door connecting these rooms is in
The side and near one end of the bath
room. The bathroom is rectangular.
much longer than it is wide There are
no bath tubs, but on one side there is
full. row of shower bath stalls. each
stall being without door and separated
from the one next to it by marble slab
about two feet wide. On the other side
and opposite to the bath stalls, and
separated therefrOm by a hall about
three feet wide, are W hat might properly
ne called row of closets, each with a
door, for the clothing of bathers and
where they dress and undress. The
view from the bath stalls is entirely un-
ObStructed and it is practically impOs-
sible for any person to enter the closets
and reach the clothing of bather with
out being seen by him.
We interviewed the young man who
claimed to have lost the money and
this is his account of the transaction.
Sometime during the day he placed
loosely In one of the front pockets of
his pantaloOns IS bill, together with a
Slngle silver dollar; that this was the
second time that be had ever in his life
carried bill in that way: that on en-
tering the bathroom he undressed and
placed his clothing in the closet at the
farther end of the bathroom, and that
just before taking off his clothing he
examined the contents of his SAID
pocket for the special purpose Of as
certaining whether this So bill was
be took his bath in the stall directly
opposite from the closet where his
clothing was placed; that he saw no one
enter or approach that closet. and that
the only reason he had for thinking
James had robbed him, was that he saw
nim in the bathroom with other BOYS,
walking about in the hall; that i'm
medjately upon dressing he again
examined his said pocket for the
special purpose of ascertaining whether
his money was there Or not, and that
he found the silver dollar there, but
that the S. bill was gone; that neither
James or Victor nor any one else new
that he had that money, or any money
on that person. A few days after the
alleged theft and after the student in
question charged James and Victor
Herewith, they went to him and asked
for the facts and Circumsta noes upon
which he based his charge. In the
conversation that followed it was sug-
gested that the money was probably
lost from his pocket before he reached
the bathroom and he was asked when
he last examined the contents of his
pocket before entering the bathroom
This staggered him. but after some
hesitation and irresolution, apparently
deeming this vital to his case, he broke
out with the declaration that he
& Il
medlately before undressing and for
whether his money was there or not:
and to that story he has since re-
ligiously adhered. That person
should examine the contents of his
pockets upon dressing to see if any,
thing had dropped out by means of the
dressing and undressing process,
might not seem improbable; but that be
examined them Immediately before I'M
dressing for the special purpose of de-
terming whether all the contents were
there, would not be believed bv one
person in one hundred thousand
Further light is thrown on this matter
by the first theory advanced by the
prosecution in this case, that the money
was accidently dropped upon the floor
of the bathroom and that James found
it and appropriated it to his own use.
Assuming that the $5 bill was placed
and carried in this most unusual
manner at any time during the day, if
there is magistrate or any other per-
son of fair intelligence in the State of
Wisconsin who will say under these
circumstances that there was any likeli-
hood that the bill was stolen in the
bathroom, [ for one, from pure curl
nCitJ- I1-NI1lI i,I-a To l-,.1r- Ho l,o
Who would expect to find a bill carried
in that way? If under the circum-
stances it was within the range of
possibility to have reached the Students
clothing undetected, would not the
hard substance, the silver dollar, the
kind of money one would expect to
find in that pocket have been grasped
alone, or together with the bill, and
taken? To claim that the money was
stolen under these circumstance is an
insult to the intelligence of any man,
and | know there were members on
that "counciI' who SO regarded it and
were disposed to accord to James all
that he asked for.
Against President Albee and teachers
we found no cause for complaint; the
President was absent much of the time
the trouble was in progress and was not
informed of most of the facts stated
and James first and only visit to him
was within few days after the alleged
theft Immediately after being informed
by those who knew, that the relative
and henchmen of the student who
claimed to have been robbed were as
serting his guilt behind his back to the
students, and at a time before the meet
ing of the council" Because the
President refused to interfere at that