The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-10-02
THE RELIABILITY OF IDENTIFICATION
Positive Witnesses are Usually Cor.
rect. Says Local Attorney.

In speaking of Identification marks.
prominent attorney detailed the fol-
lowing narrative to an Evening Times
representative.
The attorney spoke of court trials
and said that when witnesses went
upon the stand and made positive iden-
LITIGATION of an accused man the identi-
fication was generally correct, and"
he said, this reminds me of an ex-
perience had in court some years
ago." which he proceeded to relate.
He said that about twenty years ago
he had a case in court and J. ]. Kra-
men was the lawyer on the other side.
He called to the stand a man named
SWEET, who for some years before the
time of the trial had a hotel in st.
Johns, N. B. Mr. SWEET now conducts
a large hotel in Philadelphia and is
also the proprietor of one of the larg-
est hotels in New York. He had called
Mr.. SWEET to prove the identity of
man and woman who had stopped at
his hotel in st. Johns the season before
the trial, during which hundreds of
tourists had stopped at Swett's hotel,
aA every season.
During his examination of SWEET the
latter swore positively to the Identified
ton of the man and woman who were
the subject of the inquiry. A deputy
sheriff who was in the court room
passed note to Mr. Kramer to the
effect that man was in the court
room with his wife and that they had
stopped at SWEETS hotel in st. Johns
the same season.
When Mr.. Kramer took Mr.. SWEET
for cross-examination he said to Mr..
SWEET, Il am informed that there is
gentleman in the court room who
stopped at your hotel last season with
his wife. Both are in court. Do you
think you could pick them out?"
II don't know" said SWEET, but I'm
willing to try"
will you try?" asked Mr.. Kramer.
Yes, If you want me to-
TRY, then" said Mr.. Kramer.
In continuing the narrative the at
torney said that SWEET stood up in the
witness box. He cast his eyes over
the 200 or 300 people in the court
room and finally picked out the man.
He picked out Colonel William B. Nc
Cray of that city," the attorney said,
and it was true that Colonel McCray
had stopped at Swett's hotel in st.
Johns the season before.
After he had picked out Colonel Nc
Cray. SWEET again glanced over the
court room and he picked out Mrs. Nc
Cray as the woman who had stopped
at his hotel with her husband. Both
had been at Swett's hotel the season
hofNro Sa1
people referred to by the deputy sheriff
In the note he sent to Mr.. Kramer.
Now" said the attorney, that trial
was more than twenty years ago. A
few days ago in trip down east, l was
in Swett's hotel. ] did not know the
man, but was told that SWEET was the
proprietor and he as pointed out to
me. walked up to him and said,
How do you do, Swett?' He turned
and looked at me and he said. Why,
how do you do, Mr.. - He had not
seen ME in more than twenty years
and he had hundreds of people at his
hotel every year."
The attorney told the Evening Times
man that he once knew a man who had
a remarkable power of observation.
He once asked the man how it was he
could walk through the streets and OBJ
serve so many things and tell of them
afterwards. The man told him that
when he was a small boy his father
on his return from a walk would ask
him to tell what he had seen. AS a
result of that means the man and boy
developed a remarkable power of OBJ
servation and if he walked through the
streets of the city he was able to tell
what he saw in the large show win
dows and everything that came under
his observation