The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-11-10
Her OWN
LAWYER.
Colored Girl Of Sixteen
Conducts Her Own De-
fence in Court.
MOTHER SAYS SIZE IS 4 THIEF
Child's Story Is to Be Investi-
gated by the Police and
She Is Meanwhile
Held.

Maud Poyas, sixteen years old, colored
girl, of No. Cooper place, was arrested
last night on a charge of petit larceny
preferred by her mother, Ada, who is the
janitress of the flats at the corner of
Cooper place and Gregory street, opposite
F, ice Headquarters. Mrs. Poyas says
tfat the girl, who has lived for years
under the very shadow of the City
Prison, has developed into a thief and is
not to be trusted
| The girl remained in cell at head
quarters all night and when brought be-
fore Poice Justice Hoos in the First
Criminal Court This morning she was not
/ at all ruffled In fact her GOODNESS and
/ straightforward way of handling all the
1 details of her defence compelled the ad-
miration of all who heard her defend her
| integrity. 1t was the unanimous opinion
of all who heard the girl that she was
as clever a defendant as has stood in the
dock of that court in many day. She
/ was likened to the notorious fourteen
year-old Lulu Gardner.
/ Mrs. Poyas went on the witness stand
and told her story calmly and was as
( calmly contemplated by her daughter. She
said that on last Monday afternoon her
! daughter had stolen a large tin box from
their home, which contained many valu-
| able papers, a bank book and $40 in money
and that on Wednesday she lost a pocket
book containing SIS, which she was salts
fled her daughter had also stolen. Her be-
lief in her daughters guilt was founded
| on fact that the girl had been spending a
| large amount of money of late in spite of
! the fact that she had no visible means of
| support.
] Mrs. Poyas said that on Saturday after
noon she went shopping, leaving Maud
| and a younger sister in charge of the
house. The younger sister left shortly af-
| ter the mother. And Maud was alone
| When Mrs. Poyas returned she missed the
box and asked Maud about it, She denied
| all knowledge of the whereabouts of the
box and a search was begun. No trace of
the missing box could be found and
Maud was questioned as to her actions
during her mothers absence
The girl said that shortly after her
/ younger sister left the house she went
to the store, locking the door behind her
| and locking the key up in an outer closet
as was the custom of the members of the
| family when they left She was away
about ten minutes. Upon her return she
noticed, first, that newspaper was on
! trunk, which had not been there when
/ she left She also noticed the absence
| of the tin box and began to search for
| it. She did not find it, and it has not
yet been found. Upon her completion of
| the search she met friend of the fam
| lily and casually remarked about the loss
of the box. This friend was the first to
tell Mrs. Poyas the news. Her daughter
was not home when she returned from the
shopping tour.
! Mrs. Poyas made quiet search She
/ said that in the night she found pock-
etbook, containing $1.20, which had been
concealed by Maud. On Wednesday Mrs
Poyas laid her pocketbook, containing s15
on a table and went out When she re-
turned the pocketbook and money were
gone. She and Maud made search,
but could not find the pocketbook about
the house. Then Mrs. Poyas turned to
| the girl and searched her. Hidden in the
| lining of the girls dress were two one
dollar bills. Asked to account for these,
| the girl said she had saved them, having
earned the money by running errands
| The money had been saved in two
months, she said. The saving had been
inspired by reply from the mother to
the girls request for shoes, which was
| that she would have to earn her own
/ shoes.
Justice Hoos received list of names
of those the girl said had given her
money and her story is to be nvestigat-
ed. She is held meanwhile for further
examination