River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-06-18

hearney Sharply. j N the cHleI VII
ness for the prosecution. 1 gotta do
my duty. hard as it may be. The law
tells me what | gotta do. and must
do it. If you got witnesses bring 'em
10 court in the morning"
81 have several friends in Nyack
who will testify that my boy is a good
boy" she sobbed. '"They promised to
come to the courthouse tomorrow"
Kearney looked at his watch. pushed
back his chair and reached for his hat
and coat.
That's all | can tell you. lady" ne
said as he departed abruptly.
Mrs. Montgomery called after him In
a thin. frightened voice, but if he heard
he did not reply.
She started up from her chair and
sank back. sobbing bitterly.
Kearney's mother brought her a cup
of tea and solaced her AS best she
could. the tears flowing from her WI
eyes.
Eugene Garrett. a lawyer of insignlt1-
can't attainment at the bar. but with
a certain degree of political influence
in his assembly district. was h man
chosen by the court to defend Mont
gomery The fee he would receive
from the public treasury was a part
Of his reward for his political industry
in and out of season.
Garrett welcomed the arrival of the
mother of his client and with the voice
of a dove assured the frightened little
cOuntryWOman that he would move
heaven and earth to free her son. He
inquired very gently as to her proba-
bility of securing funds for taking the
case to the higher courts Oh appeal,
should a verdict against him be reach
ed by the jury.
Aside from the prospect of getting a
fee from her as we'll us from the court.
the lawyer took a genuine professional
interest in the mother of the defend
ant. He would use her to work on the
sympathies Of the jury. She brought
to the criminal courts building three
men and woman, old friends from
the country about the town of Nyack.
All would be willing character witness
eS for the accused.
They entered the courtroom with the
young assistant district attorney, his
witnesses and d lock of men drawn as
veniremen. They were hardly seated
when the door of the chambers of the
presiding justice was opened by a
court attendant and d heavy. droWsy
man in a black silk gown strobe across
the room and made his way laborious-
ly and with much painting to the dais
before a mural painting of Justice.
fanked by another of the three Fates.
A jury was quickly secured from the
panel, and twelve men who had de-
clared that they were not opposed to
capital punishment, that they had not
read the newspapers, that they had no
opinions whatever and were perfectly
competent to give Montgomery a fair
trial and order his life snuffed out,
took their seats in the jury box.
The annals of New York's courts are
packed with cases where hysterical
editorials, articles of human interest
by special men and women writer's
forcing sympathy for murderers and
m~urderesses, have brought about &C.
quittals. But in the case of the peo-
pie or the police against James Mont
gomery there was no Outcry for mer-
cy. There was not enough of sordid-
ness in the crime to give the public a
real thrill. He was not of the real
murderer's type-the kind that Stays
for seIishness or hate. He was not a
minister of the gospel nor was he the
dissolute son Of a Pittsburgh million
aire.
The Waterman of the bank in the
west side had been cracked Over the
head with an iron instrument. His
end was as prosaic as had been his
birth and life.
There was no crowd in the court
room as Garrett rose and announced
that the defense was ready for trial.
The policeman who had caught the
prisoner running away from the scene
of the murder with a kit of tools sat
on the left of the prosecuting attorney.
Three other witnesses sat neal them.
They were to testify that on the night
of the murder they had seen the pris-
orr lurking in the HelI's Kitchen Sec
ton of the city on the North river
front. One of these was a stool pigeon
of long service to the detective bureau.
a man hired to betray fellow criminals
and n whose own crimes were over
looked because of his usefulness.
There vas one other witness, a man
who combined a knowledge of bacteri-
ology and chemistry with a knowledge
of the science developed by BertiIlon-
anthropometry. Garrett looked at him
c~uriously and wondered what part he
would play in the case. The police
had not produced this witness until
the trial was begun. 1t was an old po-
lice trick.
The Indictment charging murder was
read, and the prisoner pleaded not
guilty.
CHAPTER III.