Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1910-05-28
A SLIPPERY
SCOUNDREL.
BY c. L. PIONEER
Copyright. 1910 10y American Press
Association


lent, the sergeant ut the desk had moth
ing to do. Unemployed people are in
clined to be garrulous. and the ser
geant talked a stream.
The Slickest pair, he said. | ever
came across were Darby and Williams.
They used To play confidence games TO.
gether, and they did them So naturally
that they could take I'm a police In
Spector as easily ms n countryman.
Darby used TO do the work. while WI.
Hams would play confederate. We OF
the police We're on to them. but when
we got them the difficulty was To prove
anything against them.
Their villainieS became So frcoucnt
that we determined to lay a trap for
them. We started farmer down
among their moorlngs, and, as we cx-
pected, he fell afoul OF them. They
took IA marked ten dollar bill from him
at least Darby debut managed To
GET rid OF II before we could catch him.
Nevertheless we had a strong case
IL we could prove his record.
On the day of the trial, Just as we
were hlling up the last two or three
men on the jury. gentleman of evil
dent rcspectability appeared and said
ne hau beeh summoned TO serve. He
would like, If he must serve. To do SO
at once since he was expected to nj
tend the funeral of near rentiyc
within few hours. The Judge. clad
TO get such man on jury duty, closed
matters up, Mr.. WorthingtOn-tha was
the genuemans name-beiug the last
man chosen.
We knew that Darby had served a
term at the penitcntiary and that ono
ol the physical characteristics noted
on its records was that his girls name
Agnes had been tattooed on his
right forearm. We brought our farm
CT TO tell his story AZ to how he had
been bunkocd, but Darby. who had n
way or changing his expression. CON
FUSED the witness, ana he wouldn't
swear that he was the rascal. But
II we could prove that the man who
had swindled him was Darby we were
sure of II conviction
The prisoner was instructed to take
OH his coat and roll up his sleeve ON
his right arm He did so. aud we
were disappointed mt not seeing II tot.
too Fancying we had been misln.
! FORMED and that the letters migbt he
| on the left arm, he was ordered To roll
up his left sleeve. There were no LOT
tefS on that arm either. Thus fgr bc
hau fotcd us. In some way he had
got rid Of the tattoo. The next stcn
was to prove, if possible. that the man
had been tattOOed. a mcdico-lcgal OK
pert was called In, who applied strong
friction to the prisoners arm This
had the effect TO bring out white lines
with slight blush tint. These lines
were letters and spelled the word
agnes"
having brought circumstantlaI cvi-
Iehcc, though 1t was weak, TO prove
mat the prisoner was the man who
had sw'ndled the farmer. this proof
mat he was an cX-convict made q
case SO strong against Darby that we
ga not doubt that we would get rid
or his pranks for at least the period
OF another term i'm state prison. Our
only regret was that we couldn't send
his partner, Williams, with him. But
Williams had given us the slip. and
though we sought for him everywhere.
! we couldn't find him You see. we
hau evidence connecting him with
Darby that @c had never had before
ana, having the deadwood ON one OF
tDcin. we would have no difficulty OF
, convicting the other.
The Judge virtually gave the Jury in
structions 10 convict Darby. nud some
OF us expected they would do 70 with
ont leaving their seats. The foreman
held brief consultation with the 9th
or eleven before retiring, but there
seemed 10 be opposition somewhere
among them we couldp't tell where
10 bringing in % verdict that way, and
they got mp ana nlcd ONT Of the court
room
/ waited around Tor half au hour To-
make sure that wc'd got Mr. Darby
whore wc wanted him. but the Jury
didn't come back Then I waited am.
other half hour, feeling certain that It
wouldn't require more than uu hour
to settle the case Of man who had
been proved tO be uch 900 awnut ras.
ca' but sixty minutes didn't serve the
purpose. fol to thinking of Mr..
Worthugtou. tlr gentleman who cy
pcntnd f0 get through 600 time fo attend
the funeral Of his relative. The delay
must bc very aggr1ea'ug 10 bm. In
deed, 10 was now past the time FOR Che
funeral That is. Judging from what no
had said about b.