The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-12-06
THE VOICE THAT LIES.
Court stenoEraphers, II IL said, Can
Always Detect IL.

ANY shorthand reporter who has
been doing court reporting for Il long
time car tell almost infalllbly by his
sense of hearing whether a witness is
telling the truth" said an old court
Btenograpber the other day. 1T comes
from experience combined with abnor-
NAL development OF the sense Of hear
Ing which all first rate court and par
Elementary s~tenographers possess. The
stenographer's ears become as sensi-
tive to the slightest Infections and in
donations of the human voice 40 a
phonograph roller. There's n certain
tremulous quaver In the tone of II map
or woman who's lying In court THAI the
stcnographer catches when the shrewd
est judges, lawyers or Jurors quite fall
to catch 1t.
when he's got his head bent over
his notebook he feels the Earring false
note in the voice of the liar every time,
no matter how plausible and ~convinc-
Ing the testimony in itself may sound.
So frequently have I tested this idea
In the past fifteen years or so that /
have come to accept 1t as certain when
that almost indlstlnguishable false
trcmolo is absent from the tone of Il
witness voice that the witness Is tell.
ing the truth.
"A few years ago I reported the trial
of a young chap who was accused OF
having sand dubbed a jewelor in his
store and Of looting the establishment.
The young fellow was good looking,
intelligent, with n face as frank as an
eight day clock and an easy, candid.
winning manner.
IL looked the young chap over before
the trial began, and 1 decided that the
accusation against him was outrageous.
When the witnesses testified tina.
they'd seen him coming out of the
store l strained my ears to catch the
false %intonation in their tones, but 1t
wasn't there.
when the defense opened the young
man was permitted to go on the stand
In his Owl behalf. 1 was aston!Shed to
find that his voice had the lying uuaver
in 1t right from the beginning of his
statement.
His words vastly impressed the
jury and as vastly chagrincd the pros
ecution. He undertook to prove an
allbi for himself.
I'm confederation OF this a married
sister testified that her brother had
been at her apartment from 3 O'clock
In the afternoon until 10 o'clock ut
night, taking dinner with her and keep.
Ing her company In the absence of her
husband. Well. she was lying too.
She had that telltale false ring in her
voice that convinced Me of 1t despite
her fine, frank face and her obvious re-.
Spectability.
"The court adjourned for luncheon ut
the end Of her testimony. l took
luncheon with the attorney for the
prosecution.
"'Well, what do you think Of this
casef' he asked mo when we sat down.
L guess we don't land him, chg
lies guilty. replied briefly. He
was lying. and so was his sister
"The attorney for the prosecution
looked me owe out of the Sits of his
eyes, but 1 didn't say II more.
when the court r%cconvcned he asked
for an adjournment until neXt day,
and the judge granted 1t.
ON the following morning he had I'm
court the %janitor of the apartment
house in which the prisoners sister
lived. The ~janitor testified that the
prisoners sister had not been in her
nat from noon until late at night on
the day of the sand clubbing.
while the janitor was on the stand
a detective walked into the courtroom
with the loot from the jewelry shop.
He had found 1t In a satchel in the
prisoners sisters apartment that morn
ing.
THAT settled the case, of course. The
prisoners sister broke down and con.
fessed that she had been en%deavoring
to shield her brother."-St. Louis Globe
Democrat.