Omaha daily bee., 1911-04-28
FATHER STANDING ny HIS SON
smyth Reviews Case and Gives Out
Letters.

smyth Reviews Case and Gives Out
Letters.
Defense of Bernard Smyth Is made by
his father, c. j. Smyth in a statement
issued today denouncing the implications
made by the police indicating that they
suspect the young man of fabrication of
the blackhand plot.
In his statement Mr.. Smyth reviews the
movements OF his son in detail and sets
forth many statements tending to show
that II would be morally impossible for
the lad to have framed the tangle. The
statement OF Mr.. Smyth follows:
THE statement given out by the police
that my son put up the job himself is so
cruel and so utterly unwarranted by any,
thing in the case that 1t is astonishing
that the chief Of police should utter IT,
On what does he base tit 1t is said that
the boy contradicted himself in several
vital points. This is untrue. I heard his
first statement and / have heard subse-
quent statements made by him, and none
of them differs in any material respect
The reports In the newspapers may differ
but his statements do not He gave the
hour at which he boarded the car at
Twenty-fourth and Cunning streets. He
Is supported In this by at least three
witnesses. He told how he was approached,
was thrown into the automobile, how he
awoke in the shack and what he did
thereafter, and there has not been a hairs
breadth difference In any OF his stories
with respect to those details.
Father Reviews MOvements.
One paper said that at first he did not
say that his assailant drew a revolver
upon him. heard him make the state
ment two minutes after he. returned TO
his home. while seated in my bedroom. in
the presence Of two police officers. II is
said that the place where he was abducted
was a lonely place, we'll calculated for
such an act The fact is that there is a
house upon every corner OF the street,
and it Is more densely populated than the
corner of Webster and Thirty-eighth
streets near which he lives II he was
seeking for lonely place he could have
found one and fe would not have selected
$3.50 as the hour. IL Is said bis shoes were
Immediately clean when he came in. He
wore tan shoes Whether they were clean
or not do not know. But II from this 1t
is Intended TO argue that he did not travel
between the car line and the shack, a
distance OF a mile and a half over the
Dodge street road, l ask how did he get
his hat and coat TO the shack? They were
found there at II o'clock by the chief OF
police and myself and others. Bernard had
them on when he left Creighton Univers-
ley at o'clock That he was at the shack
Is beyond question. To get there he had
TO walk from the car line west, If he was
not conveyed in the automobile or some
other. vehicle. II is said there was no
odor OF ehioroform upon him when he came
home. Perhaps mott ] do not know But
what Of thet2 The chloroform was applied
at $50. He could not have left the shack
before l0-three hours and half after
ward He then had to run a mile and a
half over the Dodge street road through
an open country to the street cars. Would
not the odor disappear under those cir
cumstancesG IL Is said that his hair was
smoothly brushed when he came back
This Is untrue. 1t was slightly disheveled
But as his hair naturally lies close to his
head and is combed back brush OF his
hand would make it smooth. II Is said he
was not pale. A boy would not be pale
after running a mile and a half under
such intense excitement as he was suffer
ing from.
III is said that John Wear is positive that
no automobile passed near the shack thar
night, ana that the MeCaffrey dogs always
bark and raise a disturbance when anybody
approaches The chief. Captain Dunn.
officer Leahy, Bernard and myself went
by the McCaffrey place at y o'clock at
night ana the dogs raised no disturbance
nor gave any sign whatever. as ] remsm-
Der IT, OF our presence. That Bernard or
somebody else was In the shack that night
and conveyed his hat and coat there lie
beyond question. yet neither Mr. Wear
nor anybody else In that neighbOrhood
knows anything Of II.
''The reasons assigned by the police give
absolutely no foundation for the disgrace
which they seek 10 heap upon my boys
head.
Answers Police story.
but apart from all this. what becomes