Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-07-04

By Lawrence Hodges

|nNE of the most interesting By Lawre
~ trials that ever took place
in any country that of James
Stevens in the California courts, for theft The
circumstances were as follows.
There were four prospectors in the klondike
region when the gold fever there at its
height, among whom Stevens was one They
struck it rich" divided up and started out
for the United States. Just before leaving
Stevens got into a faro game and lost every
thing he had. Winter was coming on and he
bid fair to starve unless something was done
for him. So the other three decided to pay him
so much to guard their dust on the ship and pay
his way home to San Francisco. They each had
their share of dust and nuggets accurately
weighed, and then put them into a common
pile pending of course their reapportionment
on reaching port.
This they placed in a strong box, which they
nailed up and sealed carefully. 1t was Stevens
duty to watch this by day and sleep by it by
night until the destination was reached. There
was exactly six hundred pounds avoirdupois of
the gold. sworn to by regular weigher 1t was
worth a great deal of money.
Well, everything went along smoothly until
San Francisco was reached, Stevens seeming to
appreciate what his former partners were doing
for him. and guarding his trust jealousy. When
the ship came into port the box was immedi-
ately removed, under the supervision of Ste
vens, to place for reweighing, so that each
could take his share again and deduct so much
1t was found that instead of having six hun
dred pounds of gold as before there was now
only fraction over five hundred and ninety
eight pounds. The partners were loath to dis
trust Stevens, and SO had it reweighed twice
but with the same result each time.
Reassured as they were of his guilt and hav
ing contempt for such ingratitude. they imme-
diately swore out warrant tor his arrest. He
all the time protested his innocence but was
not able to account for the loss
The poor fellow thrown into prison and
held for trial Not having any money or
friends he gave up all hope Of being acquitted
as the circurnstantial evidence seemed abso-
utely against him. A young lawyer was APP
pointed by the court to defend him. This
Young man. Thaddeus Wayne by name, set to
work on the seemingly hopeless job with great
enthusiasm. as he had few clients, anyhow, and
plenty of time.
The case was soon called and all the circum-
stantial evidence set forth. Wayne did not
even question witness.
When all the testimony was in, Wayne re-
quested the Judge to allow him to qualify
Samuel l.. Johnson. teacher of physics in a
high school, as an expert witness. The Judge
not seeing anv relation of physics to the theft
was about to refuse the young man. when pc
culiar glinmer in the latters eye persuaded
him to huInor the bow. Johnson was placed on
the stand. and the following colloquy ensued:
With what does physics deal?
With natural phenomena, or the changes in
the state or condition of matter.
Does the weight of a person change as he
changes his location on the earth!'
YES"
Just how does that happen and how much
does the weight changer"
The weight of any body is greatest at the
poles of the earth, as they the nearest
points to the center. 1t gets less and less the
farther we travel toward the equator; for we
go away from the center. This effect is en-