The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1910-07-05
A SLIPPERY
SCOUNDREL
By c. L. PIONEER
Copyright, 1910. by American Press
Association.

lent, the sergeant at the desk had moth.
ing to do. Unemployed people are In
clined to be garrulous, and the ser
geant talked stream.
The slickest pair, he said, l 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 in a police In.
spector as easily as a countryman
Darby used to do the work, while vii
liams would play confederate. We OF
the police were on to them, but when
we got them the difficulty was to prove
anything against them.
Their villainies became so frequent
that we determined to lay a trap fol
them. We started a farmer down
among their mornings, and, as we ex
pected, he fell afoul Of them. They
took marked ten dollar bill from him
at least, Darby debut managed tC
get rid of 1t before we could catch him
Nevertheless we had a strong case
II we could prove his record.
On the day Of the trial, just as we
were filing up the last two or three
men on the jury, a gentleman of evi
dent responsibility appeared and said
he had been summoned to serve. He
would like, IL he must serve, to do SC
at once since he was expected to at
tend the funeral of a near relative
within few hours. The Judge, glad
to get such man on jury duty, closed
matters up, Mr.. Worthington-that was
the gentleman's name-being the last
man chosen.
We knew that Darby had served a
term at the penitentiary and that one
OF the physical characteristics noted
on its records was that his girls name
Agnes" had been tattooed on his
right forearm. We brought our farm
er to tell bis story as to how he had
been bunkoed, but Darby, who had a
way Of changing his expression, con
fused the witness, and he wouldn't
swear that he was the rascal. But
II we could prove that the man whc
had swindled him was Darby we were
sure Of a conviction.
The prisoner was instructed to take
of his coat and roll up his sleeve or
his right arm. He did so, and We
were disappointed at not seeing a tat
too. Fancying we had been misin.
formed and that the letters might be
on the left arm, he was ordered to rel
up his left sleeve. There were no let
| tiers on that arm either. Thus far he
had foiled us. In some way he had
got rid of the tattoo. The next step
was to prove, If possible, that the man
had been tattooed. A medico-legal ex.
pert was called in, who applied strong
friction to the prisoners arm. This
had the effect to bring out white lines
with a slight blush tint. These lines
were letters and spelled the word
agnes"
Having brought circumsta1tial evil
dence, though it was weak, to prove
that the prisoner was the man who
had swindled the farmer, this proof
that he was an ex-convict made a
case SO strong against Darby that we
did not doubt that we would get rid
of his pranks for at least the period
of another term In 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
had evidence connecting him with
nort,xy <ho+ mo Rod rouar bod hoforo
and, having the deadwood on one of
them, we would have no difficulty of
convicttng the other.
The judge virtually gave the jury in
structions to convict Darby, and some
Of us expected they would do it with
out leaving their seats. The foreman
held brief consultation with the 9TH
or eleven before retiring, but there
seemed to be opposition somewhere
among them-we couldn't tell where
to bringing in verdict that way, and
they got up and filed out Of the court
room.
waited around for half an hour to
make sure that we'd got Mr.. Darby
where we wanted him, but the jury
didn't come back. Then I waited an
other half hour. feeling certain that 1t
wouldn't require more than an hour
to settle the case of a man who had
been proved to be such an arrant ras-
cal, but sixty minutes didn't serve the
purpose. fell to thinking Of Mr..
Worthington. the gentleman who ex-
pected to get through in time to attend
the funeral Of his relative The delay
must be very aggravating to him. In
deed, it was now past the time for the
funeral-that is, judging from what he
had said about it.
Well, I waited till dark Then, being
hungry, / took more interest in my
supper than the conviction Of Darby
and went home to get something to
eat. After supper l went back to the
courtroom. The jury was still out
At 10 o'clock the foreman sent word
to the judge that they couldn't agree.
The judge sent back word that they
must agree. AT midnight he sent in
again to ask what was the prospect of
verdict, and they assured him that
owing to the obstinacy of one man
there was no hope Of a verdict except
for an acquittal. He sent back an
order to settle the matter one way or
the other. Then they fled in and
brought in verdict of acquittal.
And who was the obstinate juryman?
He was Mr.. Worthington, the man
who had come in at the last moment
and was in hurry to attend funeral.
And who was Worthington2 He turned
out to be none other than that slip
perry scoundrel williams in disguise.