The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-26
WITNESS TOO SWIFT
Jury THOUGHT HTS MEMORY TOO
GOOD TO BE TRUE.
ISHMAEL AND SOLOMON.
COMRADES ONCE, THEY ARE LESS
THAN STRANGERS NOW.

THAN STRANGERS NOW.
Solomon Washington and Ishmnel
shaw, Comrades of the Grand
Army of the Republic and Fellow
Pensioners, BIacLSuarded Each
other in United states District
Court. TO the Delight of the Spec
1ntors-SoIOmon Was Being Tried
for Passing Counterfeit Money.
Jury, Gould Not Digest Shaw's
story and Found Washington Not
Guilty.
Solomon Washington, an old negro, was
tried In the United States District Court
yesterday morning for having in
his possession and attempting to
pass a counterfeit silver dollar. The
jury, after a trial that developed
many amusing incidents, brought in
verdict of not guilty.
The offense with which Solomon was
charged is two years old, the
case having been continued from time to
time and on one ground or another at
several terms of the court. The prosecu-
ACf NdS q AtSlb maj heN NbAii1Ai' vi .iAAi1
Williams. but the star witness was
Grand Army confrere of Solomons,
whose name is Ishmael Shaw.
All the male witnesses. indeed, were
Grand Army men and fellow pensioners.
and they alluded to each other as Com
rade." The feeling of comradeship. how
ever. seemed not to be very strong, for
ct xsritp unit
the stand he would begin violent on
slaught upon the character and reputa-
ton of one of the others.
Corinne williams said that she had been
approached at the market by Washing
ton, who had purchased from her
nickle's worth of pears. He had offered
her the suspicious dollar in payment, and
she had thrown it on the sidewalk, OBJ
served that it did not ring and called an
officer.
Solomon was arrested and claimed to
have got the dollar from Ishmael Shaw
and the party then started out to look
for that Individual. When Ishmael saw
Solomon approaching, in charge Of the
officer, he observed; II tole you dat dol
lar was bad"
Then Ishmael took the stand. With great
solemnity JUNCTION and particularly he
described how the dollar had come into
his possession and all of its subsequent
history. He said that he had originally
received the coin in a transaction that in
volved the changing of a ten-dollar note
and that for six months afterwards he
had kept it in a tobacco bag, at the bot
tom of his wife's trunk. He started down
the street with it one day and CHANGED
to show it to Washington, who snatched
It out Of his hand. He had explained to
Washington that the money was bad but
the latter had insisted upon carrying It
away with him. When Ishmeel next saw
the defendant he was under arrest. He
had expected it, he said.
Another Grand Army man pnd pen
sioner, whose name is Perry, described a
scene in which he and Ishmael and some
other of their comrades" were partici-
pants. They were discussing their pow
erty and airing their grievances one
day and Shaw had said: well Use only
got one dollah in de worl, and OATS bad.
Somebody pass it on me and Use goin' to
pass ii on somebody else
In his own defense the defendant tes-
titled that he had met Shaw near the
market. on the day of his arrest, and had
asked his comrade to lend him a quar-
ter Shaw produced the dollar and told
the defendant to go and get it changed
and bring him back seventy-fve cents.
He had never realized that there was
anything wrong with the money until he
was arrested Washington said Shaw had
coucocted the story he told on the stand
in order to get himself out of trouble
Evidently Judge Speer found it easier to
believe Washington's testimony than he
did that of Shaw. The Judge said II vas
possible that no story in history or fiction
had ever been told with so much minute
ness as the witness Shaw had used in
describing the various incidents in the
history OF the counterfeit dollar. since
Dame Quickly had related the story of
the proposal of marriage made her by
Sir John Falstaf. Shaw was what had
been described as a swift Witness" said
Judge Spec.
1t is likely that he was too swift for
the jury, for that body, after scant de-
liberation, returned a verdict of not guilty.
The other criminal case tried in the
District Court also resulted in verdict
of not guilty. Charles McRee was charged
with the offense of impersonating a Unit
ed States revenue officer and the charge
was shown to be absolutely without
foundation.
1t appeared that McRee had been en-
ployed by the authorities of the town of
Triton in ferreting out cases Of violations
of the town ordinances prohibiting the
sale OF liquor, and in this manner had
incurred the enmity OF those engaged in
this Illegal traffic. 1t was very plainly
evident that the prosecution was persecu-
tton and that il sprang from the enmity
thus engendered. Judge Speer thought
so and said SO from the bench, and he
reminded the governments witnesses that
they would or should DAIRY back with
them to Triton the adherence of all good
and law-abiding citizens. Almost every
one of them, it developed in evidence, had
been convicted at Triton of violating the
town ordinance against the sale of IL
quor.
McRee is a young negro man of ap-
parent responsibility. He has been in
jail now for four months and seems to
have had hard time of it. There seems
little reason to doubt that he has an ade-
quate remedy in the courts for the false
Imprisonment he has been compelled 90
undergo.