The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-06
Epistes to St. Paul.

Speaking about the influence a pretty
woman can exert upon Jury reminds me of
case l tried once some years ago when
was county attorney" said G. D. O'Brien yes
terday to a gathering of lawyers in the Office
Of the clerk Of courts. There was fellow,
a prominent jeweler at that time, who came
to me in my official capacity and secured my
assistance to help him out of an entangle-
ment he had gotten into with certain
woman, rather we'll known about town. I got
him off all right, and little while later the
woman was arrested on charge of stealing
some unset diamonds from a society woman.
The matron found the stones concealed on
the person of the prisoner, and there was no
reasonable doubt of her guilt. In her defense
the woman claimed to have received the
stones from the jeweler as a gift, and to that
end score of letters were introduced in court
that had been written her by the jeweler. All
were very endearing. but one in particular
said: I send you the dimonds.' Although
the jeweler declared he had never made any
present of diamonds, he insisted that the
handwriting was his, and l was very much
puzzled. The letter had bad effect on the
jury. Then l happened to notice that the
word diamond was spelt 'dimond, and came
to the conclusion that the jeweler ought to
know how to spell that word correctly, If he
could spell anything. 1 took the letter around,
and he insisted that he knew how to spell the
word all right, although he still denied having
ever given the prisoner any diamonds He
said he had sent her $40 bill occasionally.
Then 1 got microscope and discovered that
the word diamonds had been altered from
the ten When it came into court and l had
a chance l pointed out the forgery that had
been committed, and the woman, who, by the
way, was exceptionally good-looking, cried
hatful of tears. E. G. Rogers and Bill Erwin
were defending her. The jury went out and
1 thought I had a sure thing. They stayed
out about six minutes and brought in YER
dict of acquittal.
cit is no use, gentlemen. The most con-
vincing argument has not the weight with
jury of a few glances from the eyes Oh
pretty woman" and Mr.. O'Brien sighed
There is young fellow in town who Is
putting in his spare time nowadays wonder
ing how astronomers base their calculations
of time. One night a few weeks ago there
was an eclipse of the moon, and the young
man in question sent out by the paper
on which he occupies an honored position
to find out all about how the moon became
tangled with shadows and things. With this
idea in view the young person called on an
astronomer who lives quite a distance out in
the suburbs The astronomer was found i'll
he would write a brief account of the phe-
nomena If the reporter would wait Accord
ingly the visitor was accommodated with a
seat in the parlor and settled down to enjoy
the company of small boy in the house.
After a somewhat long walt the visitor
glanced up at the clock and noticed that it
was almost II 80 o'clock. Visions of an irate
city editor flashed across his mind. and he
grabbed the statement when it came down
stairs and flew to catch the last car.
SIS the clock right?" he asked
ooh, yes replied the youngster; papa
set it by the eclipse"
When the young man with the story rushed
| into the Office, cut of breath, he attempted
to explain how it took so long to get the
story. 1T kept me until $780," he said
sit is only 1880 now" observed the c. E.
Since which time the young man has never
quit wondering how astronomers regulate
their clocks The Philistine.