The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-06-27
MULTUM IN PARvO MAN.
He Was a Great Variety OF
Things and Had a Syndicate
in His Head.

A man of MANY accomplishments was
| ON trial today in the Court Of General
| Sessions, charged with false pr~etences.
He was Frank Short, and his business
| card that he was a "t'reethink-
er, atheist and professor of elocution,
phonetic spelling, gesturing, posturing,
graceful department, etiquette, rhetoric,
first principles of dramatic art, English,
penmanship, logical science and spiritual
philosophy Besides this Shorts card
said he taught fighting with gun, rifle,
pistol and sword, and as side show ne
taught calisthenics, swimming and riding.
He laid stress on the fact that he had
been tutored by such eminent men as
ssProf. O,Rafferty, of Ireland; Prof. Conn
Rad. of Germany; De La Tour, of France;
strong of England. and Wise, Of the
United States" On the back of the card
were columns of figures with highly In
teresting information about his weight,
fatty tissues manly proportions etc,
Mr.. Joseph NJ. Noonan was counsel Tor
all this.
In opening the case. Assistant Prose
cutor Marshall Var Wrinkle said that IN
1894, Short. a middle-aged man, boarded
with Mrs. Mary Beardsley, of No. "a
Fourth street, Jersey City. He told her
that he represented a private syndicate
and held up such a glittering prospect OF
future wealth that she gave him sums
of money a-ggregating several hundreds
of dollars to invest. The syndicate, the
State said, existed only in the imagina-
ton of Frank Short, who buncoed the
credulous boarding house mistress out OF
her savings.
-o1-1a+oI,1o
Mrs. Beardsley, a stout, Respectable
looking woman, wearing a colossal nat
grey silk waist and r~ustling black skirt,
took the stand and after putting on a
pair of glasses and glaring at Short, said
that she was induced by him to part with
$3.50. He promised to give her 5 per cent
per month. She got one months interest
and that was all. subsequently she gave
him other sums to get back the first
monies, but never a penny could she ex-
tract from the syndicate or its manager.
He gave her a book purporting to be q
book of account with the syndicate, ana
in it he generously placed to her creolt
his Sc weekly board, with 30 cents inter-
est on i; but he never paid ner any
was all. The trial was adjourned at noon
and resumed this afternoon.
Shorts defence is that he invested the
money and it was lost. The syndicate,
he contends, was a bona tide one.
When the case for the people was nm
ished Counsellor ]. NJ. Noonan moved thar
the jury be directed to acquit the defen-
dant on the ground that the indictmen was
faulty in charging Short with false pre-
fences; there was no proof, counsel salu,
that false representation had been made.
Mr.. Noonan's argument was inganiously
and skillfully presented. but the Court re-
fused to so direct. Counsel then said tEat
his client would retract his plea and plead
guilty 10 the charge. but the Court gave
It to the jury, which after five. minutes
elaboration returned with a verdict 81
guilty.
Judge Blair lost no time but at once sen-
fenced the prisoner 10 two years at hard
labor in the State Prison.
Short some time ago threatened that
when he got out he would shoot the
woman (,
six men," The bird will be securely Gagged
in Trenton.