The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-10

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mention here one or two of his achieve
ments. The world knows about some
of them and has marveled at them, al
though in each case Constitutional
Smith left the prisoners dock free
man, with an improved charge behind
him. That was because Constitutional
Smith had prepared his defense before
ne had committed his crime-a wise
thing to do.-An ounce of prevention is
worth pound of cure. These cases
merely have to be mentioned In order
to be recalled.
One Of these was the famous bank
messenger case. 1t was robbery per-
petrated upon three bank messengers,
each fully armed, and took place in
broad daylight in Wall street in the
sight Of half a thousand men. To a
moral certainty Constitutional Smith
did it, but to a legal certainty he did
not. He was acquitted at any rate.
The man that did it got off with some
$4,000 in United States currency. Con-
stitutional Smith has never yet denied
the preparation of this crime.
His second great alleged offense con-
sisted in cracking the Atlantic & Pa
cific Trust company safe in 1899. This
was done by means of setting up r
false front to the safe, painted on cam
vaS-a complete fac-simile of the safe,
itself. A member of the force and
detailed Waterman looked with COM
plaisance upon this false front all
through the night Behind it was
Constitutional Smith and a dismantled
safe. This coup d'etat resulted in an
other famous case of The People, etc,
VS.. Smith. It resulted also in another
acquittal of the one-and-only Smith.
To the trial of his third case he owes
his peculiar name. In that case his
guilt-of some crime at least-was
proved beyond a reasonable doubt. He
was charged with larceny from the
person of one Willoughby G. Schenck.
The larceny was accompanied with
violence. The crime occurred on the
outskirts of country town. Will
loughby G. Schenck was driving home
and foolishly carried with him nearly
$4,000 in cash, the proceeds or real
estate deal closed late in the afternoon.
He was held up on the highway by one
or two persons, either Smith or an
other. This other probably was an
accomplice. This man upon the trial
was claimed to be stranger and was
the principal witness. against Smith.
Smith, however, showed concluslyely
that this stranger was covered with
blood, presumably the victims, while
Smith was innocent of any evidence Of
the crime. The strangers evidence was
all the prosecution had. Smith was
acquitted and the stranger was arrest
ed. On his trial Smith took the stand
and swore that the blood upon the
strangers clothes was obtained in
fight by which the stranger attempted
to arrest Smith at the time of the rob-
berry. The circumstances were peculiar,
but upon each trial the facts seemed
to corroborate Smith. The alleged
stranger was acquitted. Smith was re-
arrested for the crime Immediately, but
Immediately he claimed his constitu-
tional privilege, that no man can be
twice tried for the same offense, and
the court ordered his immediate re-
lease. On that occasion Smith argued
his own case. 1t never occurred to the
authorities at that time to take him
into custody on the charge of perjury,
and in the confusion, Smith, having all
the nomadic tendencies of the Arab in
the poem, walked down the center aisle
in the court room and silently stole
away. When they looked for him he
had wisely disappeared. He had bust-
ness elsewhere.
And that is how Constitutional Smith
earned his very constitutional name.
And if any man deserved it he did,
without doubt.
Now, Constitutional Smith had one
popularity that has as yet not been
mentioned And this popularity con-
sisted in his personal appearance. And
1t was a popularity chiefly because 1t
was not popularity. The popularity
was that he was an ordinary looking
man and looked like ordinary looking
men. He was neither extremely tall,
nor short, nor dark, nor fair. He was
not extremely good looking or ill-look-
ing. He was nothing in the extreme.
He was the kind of man that you see In
the street cars, in the ferryboats, upon
the streets. Most men have some mark
ed popularity in appearance that at
once Identifies them Constitutional
Smith had none And therein largely
lay his safety. Send out a description
of Constitutional Smith to all the po-
lice stations and postofices and adj
vertise it in the papers and the police
would haul in hundred men or more
in the city of New York alone, anyone
of which answered the description to
a T. A whole regiment of unoffending
Joneses or Browns, or Johnsons would
be gathered in, but nary Smith-Smith
was not among the lot. And this had
stood Smith in good stead many, many
times; the fact of his resemblance to
ordinary men.
In one case, in fact, his direct resem-
blance to an ordinary man-an individ-
ual of the name of Peters-had saved
him from conviction. In that case the
NOUS treason trial of Charles Darnay,
had been unable to choose between
Smith and Peters as the guilty man.
The resemblance had puzzled him, even
as the likeness of Sydney Carton to
that more famous prisoner had knocked
famous treason case into cooked hat.
Mr.. Smith had never, and will never,
forget this circumstance, and ever since
that happening he had kept his eyes
wide open, for a multitude of reasons,
for any man who might be to some ex-
tent the counterfeit presentment of
himself. He made no particular point
Of 1t, but he kept his eyes wide open,
that was all. More CRAFTS than one lie
In close resemblance-so reasoned
Smith. And If ever there was a CRATER
upon this earth this Constitutional
Smith was one.
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