Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-04-02
PRISON BARS FOR
LETTER SENDER
SHENANDOAH MAN CONVICTED
OF MAILING OBSCENE LIT
ERATURE.
|lN FEDERAL COURT
Judge Smith Mcpherson Gives Scath-
ing Lecture on Wickedness of
Man Who Would Send
Filthy Literature.
FEDERAL COURT

night in the case OF United States !
against John w. Baldwin of Shenan-
doah. The jury retired at $50 o'clock
at which time the jurors were escort
ed to supper at the expense of the
government. At 8 o'clock the YER
dict was returned into court and the
sentence passed by Judge Smith Nc
Pherson, presiding judge of the south
! ern district of Iowa.
| The crime for which Baldwin was
SO quickly found guilty was that OF
sending an obscene letter to Miss
Pocahontas Harris, the 20 years old
| daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Ha".
ris of Shenandoah. The epistle was
so vile that it will not bear the light
of publication. 1t was so vile that it
could not be read in open court and
the jurors were supplied with photo
graphic copies of it.
Have Writing Expert.
Possibly j. F. Shearman of Wichi
ia, Kas.. the governments expert in
| hand writing was the main cause for
Baldwins conviction. Mr.. Sherman,
an unassuming and impartial witness,
said that in his own conscience he be,
lieved both letters were written by
the same hand. namely the Original
letter and the one made by Baldwin
for the Shenandoah postmaster and a
! postal inspector at the time Of the in
vestigation.
When asked what he had to say the
prisoner volunteered no reason why
he should not be sentenced.
Prisoner Non-CommittaI.
II have nothing to say said he.
"The verdict of the jury is in
hearty accord with the opinion of the
court, said Judge Mcpherson 81
haven't a shadow of doubt but that
you sent this vulgar, obscene, lascivi-
Gus letter, to this upright virtuous
young woman. We must protect our
homes from such vile stuff as this
4 You aN guilty of this crime"
\ Here the prisoner, still standing.
nodded assent to the words uttered by
the court.
UnspeakabIe Crime.
"This crime of sending this vulgar
letter to this innocent young woman
is unspeakable. The letter is so vul-
gar that I doubt whether the Jurors
even read it aloud in their delibera-
tons. This girl is poor to be sure.
That is no crime. She worked in a
canning factory with her mother for
living. That is to be commended.
That is no crime.
''You have said that YOU were out
, for drive and were suffering from
strong drink when you wrote at the
, dictation Of the postmaster and the
2 inspector. That is deplorable. Your
3 character in the community in which
} you reside is bad, very bad. When
: you were not on spree l dare say
that you were planning the vile stuff
that you sent to Miss Harris. | be.
lieve punishment should be swift and
/ certain in case like this. You are
r still a young man. % years of age |
will not give you the limit Of five
years in the federal prison. am of
the opinion that two years will teach
you, and be a warning to others. that
this is a serious crime. The judg-
/, ment Of this court is that you serve
} two years at Fort Leavenworth, Kas
g Mr.. Shearman's Testimony.
Nearly the entire afternoon yester.
!. day was taken up with expert testi
mony on hand writing by j. f. Shear.
; man Of Wichita, Kas., the govern
; ment's acknowledged expert in tn.
/ line of hand writing Identification. Mr.
. Shearman was the governments ex
e short time ago when high officials
, were convicted.
q Mr.. Sherman compared the dis
! puted letter with the one written by
!. Baldwin for the inspector. He
: brought out many similarities which
n he said stood out on a man like his
e character and try as he could he
would not be able to overcome them
He pointed out the letters "c", oh
"k' and many others.
He told of the inevitable similar
tiles although the writer had endeav
1 ored to disguise his hand writing. II
t some instances the writer misspellet
d words. Mr.. Shearman showed thai
/ the first page of the copy was not like
e the last pages of the same copy This
he explained was because the write,
l. was frustrated and at first I'll he carct
was to think OF Disgusting lis writing
v while later on he forgot this an,
thought of what he was writinf
# about.
}, 10 Made Good Fight
Z. Attorney 10 Jaques made hare
7 fight for his client. He cross exam
s ined the witness at some length AM
T. showed many dissimilarities in tn
:. hand writing for instance the "fs''
l. Following the closing of the cas-,
e both Attorney Temple and his Assist
ant Attorney Stewart addressed tn
d jury on behalf Of the government. At
n torney Jaques argued for the defend
ant between the talks of the govern
If ment's attorneys.
: The only witness for the defens
was the defendant himself. He wa
% placed on the stand and denied eve
n =. writing letter of any kind excer
n the postal card to Miss Harris.
,s This gave the government chanc
n to show up the character of the mar
Three witnesses testified that Bale
= win was of very bad reputation in hi
city ana tnar his truth and veracit
was not good.
q Charge to Jury.
= The charge of the Judge to the jur
was quite lengthy He covered tn
d law in point which says that any pc
a son who knowingly mails lewd, WI
igar lascivious letters in the Unite