The San Francisco call., 1897-01-26
MORE PUNCT TURES
IN LEES THEORY
In Pegging Up Some Holes
the Detective Opens
Others.
Cooney's Lawyers Introduce To
Me" Nctary Blanks Used
Four Years Ago.
Wade Qualities Sweeping Statement
Only to Contrad ct a Former
Witness,

It was Captain Lees uneasy day. The
chief of detectives found. when the
Cooney case was resumed yesterday morn
ing, that there were squalls in all quarters.
His clients, the FAIR children, had become
entangled in nasty little family snarl
over the expediency of proceeding with
the case Just at present. Moreover, the
discovery by the Craven people on Satur-
day last of batch of ''to me" notarial
certificates in Attorney John d. Dickin-
sons Office that had been printed prior to
! 1890 had punctured one of the tires OF the
prosecution, so to speak, and Captain
| Lees and things generally were not run
ming harmoniously together.
There was a corresponding elevation OF
spirits among Cooney's adherents. His
attorneys impaled the prosecution by forc-
! ing Simon H. Wade to qualify his state
ment previously made that none of these
"to me" blanks had been turned out by
Crocker previous to August, 1895. Wade
saved himself and his firm from har-
pooning on sharp facts by declaring that
his memory along these lines did not ex-
tend further back than 1895. But he fell
afoul of a former witness on the same side
Hueu he lOlu ludI tl6 hSg NOIOS AAl 4SS
blank, Estate OF California" were printed
from electrotypes instead of from type di-
rect, and that these electrotypes had been
in use in his house for many years.
There is a detective 40" in the word
"of" of this phrase in the Cooney blank,
and w. E. Stanford, the manager of the
legal blank department, had identified
the pencil deed certificate by this very de-
fec,ive letter. Wade's testimony was
that electrotypes of the three words had
been IN use at least fifteen years.
The case occupied the entire day. 1t
was rehearsal of the technical routine of
big printing-house, and TO the uninitia-
ted was hashing of dry and uninter-
esting details. Ready thrashed his straw
over and over again. He had Foreman
Wade go over the detail OF his work, and
the progress of job in printing under his
supervision. There were fine points TO be
brought out, as fine almost as the invisi-
bic defects in printing in these Cooney
certificates, and Reddy weighed and sifted
them with the greatest care. Battered
type was his principal theme. He put
into the hands OF Wade specimens of va
rious notarial blanks printed by Crocker,
and had the foreman enumerate the de-
fects with the aid of magnifying glass es.
Where Reddy was going in his devious
digging and probing none but himself
and Cooney knew.
After leading Wade through catechism
on defective printing he suddenly intro
duced two deeds, both containing ac-
knowledg gments, with the words ''to me"
| IN their contents. One Of them, executed
| by Notary Felix Marcuse of Alameda,
/ bore date May %, 1893. The notarial ac-
| acknowledgement of Marcuse corresponds in
! form, size and printing defects ir every
! respect with the blanks used by Cooney,
with the single exception that the ruling
on the margin is slightly more distant
| from the border of printed matter.
The second deed was acknowledged in
! Stanislaus on July IS, 1893. The printed
matter in the notarlal form is distended
so as to include one more line than is con-
tanned in the Cooney documents. The
words ito me" occur in the proper place.
Both of these ackno wledgments bear the
! trademark of H. S. Crocker & Co., printed
on the margin, and they are self-evident
contradictions OF the famous ''mathemat-
ical demonstration" the Fair children de-
clared they would bring forward to prove
that these words were not printed in no
tarial blanks prior TO August Is, 1895.
Lees examined these documents curl
ouslY. He turned his magnifying glass
on the Marcuse document repeatedly, and
made detailed inspection of the defects
ID the printing. Then it was hung up in
evidence, and Reddy let his witness go