The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-30
HE SENT A MESSAGE
JURYMAN THOUGHT HE WAS IN
WITH SPIRITS.
The Judge Was Against the Prisoner
and the Jury Also Had Decided
Inclinations In That Direction,
But a Verdict of Not Guilty Was
Returned.
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fC.hicago Inter-ocean.l

Tic ltOSlQItdl iQI lILS REESQAts 1AAGGC o.
the. game a young pal of mine workt
enct, and him a defendant, too. bein'
tried for burglary, second degree. His
name was Tommy Deyine. and him
and me had been side partners troo
many job, takinf the good and the
bad together, kunneI. as square as if we
was colIidge gradooates. Naturally
was wurrft about him, especially as we
couldn't figur' out no defense except an
alibi, and experience seemed to teach
that the more of the boys that came
forward and swore that he WASH
there, the more dead-cock sure the jury
would be that he was,
We'll, Devine's case was called early
in the afternoon, and they had jest got
a jury when adjournment was had. L
set in the front row of the spectators
seats, with me arms on the rail, a
chewin' for dear life, bot to- keep in the
fashings and to hide me emotions.
| They was a seedy lot them talesmen,
mostly small tradespeople worn thin
thinkin of their goods hangfn' out
side, and who would vote for a law that
| every poor crook should have a big
capital TT branded ON the tip of his
nose. Not much chanct for you there,
Tommy l sighed, when an old Teller
with long hair and face like the haf-
vest moon, took the end seat nearest me
in the jury box. on the front row, and
answered all questions as satisfac-
torialy as a kid in the confirmating
class. Thinks l to myself. thinks /,
where have | seen that old putty dob?
and then l remembered.
1T seems, kunnel, that about tree
weeks before, when me and Tommy was
/ wanderin' around town, seekin what
we might devour, we came acrost a
| buildin on d side street, with a sign,
| spiritualist meetin' within
| Here's your puddin', says Tommy.
| There's no easier marks than the folks
that can swaller that nloss-eaten finn
| fam and so we went in. And by the
same token, kunnel, when we came out,
| Tommy had tree supers and slangs,
| only two of them was oFeide, which we
! flung up on a roof, and 1 had two
pokes, though there was nothin in one
| of them but a cookin' receipt and bit
of dress goods. Howsomdever. in We
went. and there on a platform set
| vinegar-faced woman with short hair
and red nose. and swipe tied acrost
| her eyes. She was in a tranct; and any
one who had paved the price, and no
| one got in you can bet, who hadn't,
could ask 'er questions. which would be
answered by raps from a table near
| by. Three raps meant yes, kunnel, you
/ must remember particular, and two
raps meant no. Now. the pint of these
ere observations is this, the most en-
thusiastic of all them people gatherin'
around was this same old bat-headed
| guy asting more questions than
! you'd find in a Methody catechism, and
rollin up his eyes to heavings in holy
I hecStasy. when the answers came
must say / felt easier when l saw this
aged innocent settle hisseIf in the jury
box. for, says I to myself, says I, he's
pretty we'll used TO bein' on the wrong
side, and if that amt our n, what is?'
Message From the Spirits.
THAT evenin', kunnel, managed to
brace the night Waterman, whose
brother KEEP a saloon we hung out at,
| and git hours talk in the cooler with
Tommy. He was as down in the mouth
as a young swell with his fust mus
tache. 1t amt the bit I'll surely git,
says he; but I'd like to have some kind
of a run for me money: and with that
! jury I'm left at the post, to say nothin'
of bein' failed down and rolled over
with. Did you ever see sech a collection
of full-extensers?
They're fierce says 1. far wuss
| then the inquesition, with the EXCEPTION
of number sixt on the fust row. and
then. isunnel, 1 explained when and
where we had seen that ancient believer
in modern spells.
We'll. kunnel, you never in all your
life see such delight as Tommy exhib-
tied at this intelligence He shouted.
he clapped his hands over his head. he
put up a sailors hornpipe that nd have
brought down an old Bowery gallery.
The old Elijah, he cried; he's returned
to cart in his fiery chariot to save me-
g How 500 l asst; you can't count on
! them cranks; sometimes they have a
alteration of the mind and go right,
for a chance
He wants instructions from the
spirruts. don't he?' says Tommy. Well.
them he shall have it on every impor-
tant pint Listen to this. Smithers.
spirruts say yes; spirruts say no And
blast me, kunnel, if fust there didn't
come three raps and then two, bot
times low, but distinct
Il sprang to my feet and listened at
one wall and then at the other. Who's
in them ceIls?' I asst.
There's a drunk in one of them and
dumb dgO in the other. says Tommy
Then where did them raps come
| from?' I continood-
L do it with my knee exclaimed
| Tommy. See? l learned it when 1 wa9
a kid at the deestrict school, and we
druv' one teacher so daffy with the
mystery that he resigned. Now, don t
you see how I'll call the turn on that
old poppy guy? My seat in court il
clost to the end of the jury box, and 1
can stretch my leg over his cheer, and
by the time the case is over I'll rap
him so full of assurances of my inno-
cence that no disagreement will salts
! fy him; no, indeed, he'll convert his
associates, see il he don't, troo the en-
thusiasm of his fatt. So have no fear,
Smithers, my boy he added as the
screw came along to sneak me out, but
| lay in leg and box of Stoggies and
wen blow the gang tomorrer night
Well kunnel you can lust bet
was in me seat good and early the next
1nornin', for it amt often as one strikes
sech a graft as a trile and a seants
t'run together. The judge hit a wIlaek
with his mallet, the crier got off mis-
bluff. Tommy took his seat TO the right
of his lawyer, and next to the end of
the jury box. and the shindig begun +
didn't pay much attention to the OMEN
| ing of the deestrict attorney at fust.
my eyes was all for Tomnay's leg.
/ Pretty soon / saw him stretch it out
/ careless like until his knee was right
under the old spiritualists chair. and
/ then picked up my ears for what was
| bein' said. and shifted my eyes to the
| faceg.of the Juror No. sixt' The iees-
| trict attorney went an rehearsin' In
! an orderly way what would be the line
/ of his proof against Tommy. and then
concluded with this remark Having
due regards 60 Your oats gentlemen,
arter you have heerd this most concIu-
| sive evidence wiIl3it be possible for You
TO give this defendant the benefit Of
any reasonable doubt and pronounce
i him not guilty 81 know that your
minds and consciences will find the
true. the only answer.