The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-09-20
BUTTE COURT TRIAL AR0USEs
sLUMBER1Na MEMORIES.
ARREST WAS A. PUT UP JOB
Tale of Traveller Who Found Himself
in a Serious Predicament and
Narrowly Missed Going
to Jail.

CT mistaken identity when their client
was put on trial for a felony" said
James Long of Chicago to group of
friends at the Butte this morning. II
believe the jury decided that there was
not as great a mistake as the lawyers
insisted upon, but the case recalls to
me a rather embarrassing experience
1 had in Milwaukee few years ago.
II had run over to the Wisconsin city
for a days rest and after eating my
dinner was standing in front of the
hotel enjoying a cigar when a policeman
came along and said he would like to
have me take walk with him. I pro-
tested explaining that I knew quite
number Of people in Milwaukee who
could vouch for me. The sleuth was
just telling me that he had heard my
story once or twice before when I saw
Chicago friend of mine coming up the
street. I called to him, explaining that
the detective insisted that I was a con-
fidence man and wanted to take me to
Jail. My friend looked at me with the
suggestion of a smile stealing over his
countenance and then turning to the
officer said: L don't think you are
making much of a mistake in this man.
He is one of the high class confidence
men of Chicago. I have known him for
several years, but never knew any good
Of him.
His speech had scarcely been finished
when the blue coat swung we along the
sidewalk at gait that was noticeable
to all who saw us that the minion of
the law thought he had made an i'm
portant arrest. I was hustled into the
police station and stood before the SUI
ala p1nn<
they recognized me as a clever CRATER
and others were sure the seuth had
made no mistake. One officer grabbed
me by the hand and explained to some
of his associates that I had the paw of
a criminal. Just as I was about to be
thrown into a cell glanced around and
saw my friend who had thrown me
down on Identification standing only
few feet away looking at me with an
assumed air of seriousness. He stepped
forward and explained fully to the Of
ficers who I was and the nature of his
joke. OF course I was set at liberty at
cree and everybody around me seemed
to think it was all very funny. However,
I was handing over the cash for tn
fourth bottle of wine and my friends
were sitting about me in jolly mood
before the hunaor of the occasion really
came to me, and to this day I always
take an interest in all cases where a
mans identity is brought into ques-
tion."
your story reminds me of how near
I came to being arrested on one oc-
casion,' volunteered a Helena attorney
who had listened to the Chicago mans
tale Of woe. II was on Northern Pa
cific train going east when I fell In with
a pair of sociable strangers who seemed
to take a great interest in me. They
wanted to know all about my business.
precedents and all that, but their
queries were brought around in cour-
teous sort of way and found no oc-
casion to take .offense at them nor to
suspect that my newly-made compan-
ions had any particular object in culti-
waiting my acquaintance. Once in
while one of the men would leave me
and be gone for few minutes from the
car, but even that did not arouse my
suspicious. We had hummed along for
probably seventy-f1ve miles when both
men babe me good bye with the ex-
pressed hope that we might meet again
and left the car at small station.
almost as soon as the train pulled
out from the station the conductor Of
the train, whom / happened to know
personally came up to me and asked
me If knew the men who had just left
me. I told him I knew them onl,1
through their own representations and
that they seemed to be all right.
"'Well,' said the conductor, they are
all right in their way. They are United
States secret service men and they were
about to put you under arrest when
they came to me and asked me if I
knew anything about you. I explained
to- them that knew you personally and
told them they would better go slow
about arresting you. They finally con-
Guided that I was right and left the
|. train as you saw
Nov If had not happened to know
that conductor I would have been ar
| rested and might have had some
trouble in getting released. The de-
tectives were SO certain that I was the
| man they wanted that it took some
argument on the part Of my friend in
charge OF the train to convince them
that they were wrong. No protest of
mine would have saved me. If I had
Teen arrested I should probably have
had to await the arrival of friend
from Helena before I would have been
released"
Zone of the strangest cases of a
question over identity that ever heard
Of" declared another member of the
party" was on where two men claimed
the remains Of a woman, each insisting
that the body was that of his dead
wife. The woman died in a city in the
middle west and the coroner took
charge of the case. Descriptions of the
effects she had in her trunk. her cloth.
| ing and person were published in the
newspapers and sent by the coroner to
all persons inquiring. on the theory that
! the dead woman might be a relative of
| theirs.
Zone man who lived in Pennsylvania
! insisted, after receiving the details of
| all the particulars of the case, that the
woman was his dead wife. Another
| man who lived in New Mexico was lust