The Pensacola journal., 1907-05-24

The trial of James NJ Andrews, for
mer chairman of the Board of County
Commissioners, came to an abrupt
end yesterday when the defendant
withdrew the original plea of not
guilty, substituting one of guilty.
Upon the formal agreement of Jury
men Cant, Mcguire, Powell, Lambert.
Gonzalez and King that such guilt
was a fact, they were discharged at
the beginning of the morning session,
and nothing remains in the big graft
case but TO sentence the man who
has been employing a sort of clumsy
rascahty for some time in the per-
SOnal appropriation of county funds
Guilty Under Three Counts.
The charges of which James NJ. An
drews has been found guilty. by both
his plea and by facts brought out in
Tuesdays trial. are as follows:
Obtaining the signature of the
clerk of the board of county commits
sioners by false pretense; I'd, forgery;
Sd, uttering forged papers.
Solicitor LOftin had easy work in
proving these particular charges. and
from the first there appeared to be
no chance for Andrews. In fact,
there was not even surprise when
the sharp turn of affairs came.
Maximum of Thirty Years.
The aggregate maximum penalty
that can be imposed for the three
crimes to which Andrews pleaded
guilty. is thirty years in the peniten-
tiary.
The first count in the information,
that of obtaining the signature of the
clerk by false pretenses, is punish
able by a sentence of not more than
ten years. and the same sentence can
be passed upon Andrews on each ot
the charges of forgery, and of utter
ing forged paper.
Prisoner NonchaIant.
That he had wilfuly duped others
for his own selfish ends, and that the
full knowledge of his ridiculously
small dealings in many instances is
now in the possession of the public,
did not seem to greatly concern Mr..
Andrews.
Preserving an air of polite boredom
throughout the trial. he depOTted him.
self yesterday morning a great deal
after the manner of a man who had
had a slightly annoying piece OF busl-
ness to transact
That the defendant is a remarkably
good Judge of human nature was in
evidence more than once during the
trial, for frequently he shot quick
comprehensive glanceS at the faces OF
his jurymen when a particularly rough
piece of evidence had been offered. Ii
was this same insight into human ma,
ture that probably led him and his
counsel TO know that no possible
doubt existed in the minds of the
jurymen as 20 his guilt, and that fur
ther trial would but damage him.
Outline of the Trouble.
II will be remembered by readers
of The Journal that an examination
of Andrews's affairs was conducted
about one month ago. when the case
came before the grand jury upon the
original information of persons whose
names had been used fraudulently by
Andrews, Many Of these same per-
sons were servd with subpoenas 10
appear in court, it having subsequent
Iy been proved that the prisoner used
every avilable means to keep as many
of them from appearing as possible
The news spread that Mr.. Andrews
had been in the habit of making out
warrants in the names of seemingly
obscure men, and making it appear
that these men had worked for the
county at various times and for
various amounts. According to the
evidence adduced by Prosecuting At
torney LOftin on Wednesday these
warrants were apparently endorsed Dy
the person whose name appeared on
the check, and many of these endorse
ments were proved to be forgeries on
the part of Mr.. Andrews, whose name
usually appeared as second indorser,
and who would thus receive the
money. according to the order Of busi-
ness as shown in the testimony Of
Teller John Pfeiffer of the American
National Bank.
In some cases, warrants were made
out in the names of men whose iden-
tity cannot be learned, and there ts
existing doubt whether these men are
not merely creations of Mr.. Andrews
TO aid in serving his purpose As in
the case of the others. these were
apparently properly indorsed, witk