The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-12

ueIenuant or witness.
 Line fence cases" are numerous, and generally the area involved is very small and the land next to worthless-stll there IS a fight, and often a long and costly one Any kind of case will do to enter tain The other day some old-time law yers were recounting their experiences and some of their "reminiscences were in- teresting.
 Deed Forgery Alleged.
 It was in d Somerset county court sev- eral years ago that a man was tried on the charge of forgery. He was a promi- nent business man of the Upper Kenne- bec He kept general store and operated in the lumber woods, dealing in real es- tate more or less The charge in the in dictment found by the grand jury was the forgery of a clause in a deed of d piece of land which the respondent claimed to have purchased of a man in his town, but that the deed had not been registered until after the original owners death.
 The alleged forged clause was the fol- lowing. Also my timber lot in Anson Valley"
 The State set up the claim that the re- spondent had bought certain amount of real estate of a certain person. that the oeed had not been recorded until after the death of the original owner, and that the 
 the timber land in question, had inserted the clause mentioned and then had tho deed recorded.
 It was plain to the county attorney, lfr. F. w. Hovey, of Pitts1eld that the original deed had been written with blac9 ink and the alleged forged clause had been written with much lighter colored fluid. The deed was exhibited in court. and several handwriting and ink experts testified that two different kinds of ink had been used in the construction of the instrument as it then appeared.
 Two CoIors of Ink.
 When the respondent went on the stand to testify in his own behalf he said he had talked with the original owner of the property in the respondents house; that he succeeded in securing the real estate first mentioned; that he drew the deed himself and then talked the matter over after the original owner had signed the deed. Afterward both men went down to the store of the respondent, where the respondent talked the matter over with his son and the other man. Finally, the respondent stated, the owner of the tim Der lot consented to part with it, and the clause referred to was written in at tho store.
 On cross-eXaminatlon the responder. admitted that the ink appeared to be of
  he knew the ink was the same, as he re- membered filling the bottle at the house out of the bottle at the store This was a startler for the jury, apparently, for certainly here was a witness trying to make them believe two colors of ink had come out of the same bottle A Verdict of Guilty. The respondents son was in California and the counsel for the defense, Simon $. Brown, of Waterville, had tried to get a continuance of the case until such time as the son could return east and testify. The court. however, declined to continus the case and gave the defense but two days in which to appear for trial. The jury was out only few minutes and re- turned a verdict of guilty. The accused was so worked up oyer the verdict that he asked the counsel if he would have to go to Thomaston State Prison that day.
 When you are sentenced to Thomaston on this case this judge and jury will have been dead many years" was the reply of the veteran attorney motion for new | trial on the ground of new evidence was denied and the court intlmated his sur prise at the move of MT. Brown. The court told Mr Brown that he (the courO | supposed Mir Brown was satisfied of the guilt of the accused even before the case 1 began.
 vindlcated by BIotter. | MT. Brown took exceptions and appealed l to the law court The case came back | from the law court and was about to be l tried before Associate Justice Enoch Eos | ter. In presenting the case to the court al the opening, Mir Brown took a piece I of writing paper, wrote the word "Skow- | began" twice. Then he used the blotter on one and let the other dry. Handing | the paper to the court, Mr Brown asked l if the two names had been written with | two colors of ink. The court sad he | thought they had MT. Brown then asked