The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-10-27
Iespite the efforts of the county off,

despite the efforts of the county off, cial.,
 1t was in Machias that Foss played one of his cleverest tricks. A term of court had just opened, and there was thirteen liouor cases against him, His lawyer assured him that in every one of these cases the papers were fa- tally defective, but Foss felt that he was too notorious as liquor seller to hope to escape solely on technicallties- he decided that he must have some thing that would effeotually discredit the prosecution. Accordingly he fitted ip a handsome barroom in new To- caHty, stocked it with what appeared tq be liquors and then had a grand opening Immediately the place was raided. and the officers seized a lot of what they supposed to be bottled whls- key but which in reality was molasses and water. Foss laughed at them, say ing that the case would amount to nothing. You've got thirteen eases against me now" said he to the sher- ift. land the papers are no good won't hold water minute"
 Acting on this tip, the sheriff had the papers in his latest action made out with great care, so that when Floss was Iarraigned in court there were against him thirteen cases in which the evil dence was good but the papers defec tive and one case in which the papers were good but the evidence lacking. The fourteenth case was called first, by prearrangement, and the effect, when it developed that the officers had seized sweetened water, was ludicrous. Of course the case was at once dis missed, and the court, much impressed with the stupidity of the county off, cials promptly threw out the other thirteen cases on technical grounds.
 When Bar Harbor was closed up tight and no one else dared to sell a drop of liquor there, Foss boldly opened fine place and did a rushing business, especially when war vessels were in port He was often caught, but he paid the fines cheerfully, with about five per cent. of his profits.
 Foss served only one sentence in jail in all his ten years of liquor selling. Together with one of his bartenders he spent sixty days in Ellsworth jail and it is said that while in jail he lived high, having all he wanted to eat and drink, including beer, which in some way not explained he managed to have brought to his cell. He was free with money, and money will work wonders for a man even when he is a prisoner in a Maine jail While he was locked up his several saloons were kept open, and the bartenders came to the jail to get directions from him and to turn over the cash receipts. It Is said, also, that liquor drummers called upon Foss at the jail to receive his or ders.
 Passionately fond of a good game of poker, Foss knew that it was impossi- ble for him to play without knowl- edge of addition and subtraction, and what he knows about arithmetic was acquired from the money on the table, chips being unknown to him then. He wanted to play cards and he studied figures so that he could do so, keeping at the task without the assistance of a teacher until he became so adept that he could calculate mentally as rapidly as an average bank teller. He learned a mental method of computing interest from the bank discount on his notes
 Foss eventually went out of the H. quor business on account of his fami- ly. He disposed of all his interests in the araffic and engaged in commercial affairs. Despite his lack of education he proved himself a good business man, and the three large stores he has ope- rated have been successful.
 In his long period of fighting with sheriffs and other county officials many of his employees and assistants were ar rested and he went on their bonds. A