The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1910-06-07
"A SLIPPERY
SCOUNDREL
By 6. l.. PIONEER
Copyright 1910 by American Press
Association

The al1ekest pair, be salu, ever
eame 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 countryman.
Darby used to do the work, while VIII
liams would play confederate We q
the police were on to them, but when
we got them the difficulty was to prove
anything against them.
Their vlllaInies became so frequent
that we determined to lay a trap for
them. We started a farmer down
among their moorngs, and, as we ex-
pected. be fell afoul Of them. They
took a marked ten dollar bin from him
lat least. Darby debut managed to
get rid OF It 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 filling up the last two or three
men on the jury, gentleman Of evi-
dent responsibility appeared and said
he had been summoned 70 serve. he
would like, II he must serve to do 50
at once since be was expected 20 at
tend the funeral Of a near relative
within a few hours The judge, glad
to get such a man on jury duty, closed
matters up, Mr Worthington-that was
the gentleman'a 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 his 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 thar he was the rascal But
II we could prove that the man who
had swindied him was Darby we were
sure Of q conviction.
The prisoner was instructed to take
on his coat and roll up hts sleeve on
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 roll
up his leftssleeye. There were no let
ters on that arm either. Thus far be
had foiled rs In some way he had
got rid Of the tattoo The next step
was to prove II possible. that the man
had been tattooed A medieo-legal ex-
pert was called IN. who applied strong
friction to the prisoners arm. This
bad the effect to bring out white lines
with a slight blush tint These lines
were letters and spelled the word
Agnes"
Having brought circumstantial evil
dence. though It was weak to prove
that the prisoner was the man who
bad swlndled the farmer, this proof
that be was an ex-conviet 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
bis partner. Williams, with him. But
williams had given US the slip, and,
though we sought for him everywhere. /
we couldn't End him. You see, we
bad evidence connecting him with
Darby that We had never had before
and, having the deadwood on one Of
them. we would have no dificulty Of
convicting the other.
The Judge virtually gave the jury in
gtructions b convict Darby, and some
Of Us expected they would do it with
out leaving their seats. The foreman
held brief consultation with the 9TH
er eleven before retiring. but there
seemed to be opposition somewhere
among them-we couldn't tell where
to bringing Id i verdict that way, ana
they got up and iiled out Of the court
room.
] waited around for half an hour to
make sure that we'd got SIR. Darby /
where we wanted him. but the jury /
didn't come back. Then / waited an
other half hour, feeling certain that It /
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.. I
the gentleman who ex-
pected TO get through in time to attend I
the funeral Of his relative The delay
must be very aggravatlng TO him In
deed, il was now past the time for the I
Is, judging from what be
had said about it
Well, I waited TIL 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 / 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 III
again TO ask what was the prospect az
i verdict and they assured him that
owing to the ohsunacy Of one man
there was no hope Of a verdict except
FOR an acquittal. He sent back nm
order to settle the matter one way or
.he other Then they filed III and
brought ia a verdict Of acquittal
And who was the obstinate iurymanq
he was Mr. Worthincton the man
who had come in at the last moment
ind was ~ hurry g attend a funeral
And who was Worthiugton He turned
lut to be none other than thar slip.
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