The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-03-01
QUICK WITTED PATSY
HOW HE SAVED THE DAY FOR HIM
SELF AND HIS LAWYER.

HOW HE SAVED The DAY FOR HIM
SELF AND HIS LAWYER.
Thoughtlessly Signed an AFFIDAVIT with
Name He swore Was Not His Own-But
He Won the Judge and His Point by His
Explanation.
Ny first case came at Florence, Ala,
few months after / was licensed,
writes Attorney B. NJ. Jackson The
sheriff there, Captain w. T. White,
now dead, gallant Confederate soldier
and one of natures noblemen, met me
on the street and told me there was
man confined in the county Jail who
wished to see me.
was then 81 years old, but would
readily have passed for II. The clients
name was Patrick Donovan, but he was
commonly called Patsy Donovan. Go
ing to the Jail, found man from 80
to 30 years old, an intelligent, nice
looking, devil may care Irishman.
When / entered, he greeted me with
GOOD evening, miss " Pretending not
to have heard him address me as miss
and assuming much dignity, l told him
/ was the lawyer whom the sheriff bad
promised to send him. For answer he
exclaimed, "Well, I'll be DID," and
burst out laughing-laughing uproar-
iously. was irritated to a degree by
this reception. ''I beg pardon, judge
it's go. You do look pretty young,
but Tom (the sheriff. says you are
daisy. Get me out of here and my
folks, who've got plenty, will pay you
we'll for your trouble.
He told me his story. He was skill
ed mechanic from Keokuk, Ia, and had
been employed by the government in
constructing lock on the Mussel Shoals
canal, near Florence. He had shot the
physician in charge of those works.
This physician was brother of the
United States engineer in control of the
canal construction, and 1t was evident
that the prosecution would be bitter,
sparing no pains or expense to secure
conviction, entailing long penitentiary
sentence. The doctor and my client
were both men of reckless courage and
overbearing temper, both sometimes
looked on the wine when it was red,
and both, inferred, were striving for
the favor Of the same woman. A clash
between them soon came. They had
savage quarrel at their boarding house
at dinner. The doctor being armed and
my client unarmed, the latter had to
submit to unlimited abuse and would
have been shot but for the interference
Of several men who were present. Soon
after nightfall of the same day my
client went to the DOCTORS office and
sleeping room, about mile distant and
in secluded place, and, knocking on
the door, was hidden by the doctor to
come in. Entering, he found the doctor
putting on a shirt, and thus for the
moment disabled, and, remarking, "You
had the drop on me this morning, but
I've got it on you now," fired, striking
the doctor in the neck and inf1icting a
dangerous but not fatal wound.
The case soon came on for trial
While the defendants version of the
occurrence as he had given it to me was
very different from the one in the fore
going, yet it was SO improbable in itself
and so inconsistent with the attendant
circumstances that it looked as if SEN
tence of ten years was inevitable if the
case was then tried. To gain post
ponement an objection was interposed
to the competency of the court on the
ground that he was related by affinity
to the prosecutor. This failed. Next an
earnest effort was made for continu-
ance. The state fought this aggressive
ly, thus giving warning of what was to
come, and it, too, failed.
In sheer desperation then whispered
to my client, "Your real name is Pat
rick, not Patsy, isn't it?" The indict-
ment named him Patsy Donovan. Then,
moving to quash the indictment for the
misnomer, I wrote out the defendants
affidavit in support. The affidavit stated
that the defendants name was Patrick
and that he was commonly known and
called by this name and not by the
name of Patsy Donovan. He took the
affidavit and read, or seemed to read, it
carefully and, going to the clerks desk,
swore to it and signed it "Patsy Done
van. F" This, of course, was the way he
usually signed his name, but he never
reflected that to sign it Patsy this time
was to afford the strongest evidence of
the falsity of the affidavit.
Arguing the case without looking at
the affidavit, didn't see how he had
signed it, but the state attorney had
noticed the signature and in his reply
called the courts attention to it. This
disclosure raised a storm of laughter
and jeering in the courtroom. was
COMPOUNDED and at the end of my re-
sources. Not SO was Patsy. Realizing
his peril, that the slip was his own and
that he alone could retrieve it, he spoke
out, not a whit abashed: 81 signed it
Patsy out of pure respect for your honor.
It's not for me to give the lie to your
honor's court papers. Your honor's
court paper says I'm Patsy, and I'll sign
it Patsy until your honor gives me leave
to write my own true name
The court sustained the motion from
pure admiration for Patsy. We now
had time to lock about us. A few
months later the case was tried, the
jury failing to agree. The bail bond,
which had been fixed at high figure,
was then reduced to a reasonable sum.
He gave the bond, saying he had "lost
by a nose," but he never returned to
stand another trial. although his bonds
men were promptly reimbursed, and the
writer was generously remembered, re-
ceiving, as | now remember, $500. 1
have often been curious to know what
became of the game, rollieking, imper-
turbable Patsy. Memphis Commercial
Appeal.