The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-12-22

A. F.AUhOI. 4"
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o O
Syndicate.
on e shopping tour with them and
these women, both respectable, swore
emphatically that Crispi was at the
breakfast table when they entered the
flat.
His Alibi Was Perfect.
These were posers I knew, out
there still remained my mistaken
faith in the finger print system, so I
decided to go to-. trial on that eVi-
dence alone.
Even at the first stage Of my fight
l encountered opposition for when I
had Crispi arraigned in police court
it was only after a bitter battle that
I succeeded in having him held for
the grand jury. / knew the same old
fight would be continued in the grand
jury, room and the hardest bght Of
all when we reached court, if indeed
I, could get the case that far. =,
The sase rame to trial and Crispi
nesses' capable Of swearing him at
any one place at given .hosr no mat
ter where it might have been. He
had an alibi that seemingly was flaw
less. His wife told a straight and
well connected story This was in a
.measlre corroborated by her women
friends who had seen Crispi at the
breakfast table, while his companions
who attended the theatre with him
on the night Of the robbery told in
detail of his every move, adding the
time to the minute Crispi had bade
them good night to go to his home.
The theatre attendants backed this
up in degree, and in consequence
Crispi and his lawyer wore wide grins
every time they glanced in my direc-
ton. The testimony Of the wife was
the most direct given. She swore her
husband had entered their flat Just
as the clock was tolling midnight. He
said he was tired and retired irame-
diately. He was sleeping soundly
when she turned in half an hour later
and he was still asleep when she
arose to get his breakfast.
When I went on the stand I was
armed with hundreds Of exhibits to
prove the infallibility Of the finger
print. I had diagrams Of all sorts on
hand to show that the finger prints
of no two persons on earth are alike.
This I think I proved, for the jury
and court attendants were deeply i'm
pressed, to Judge from the profound
attention they bestowed upon my tes-
timony. To cap the climax turned
to the judge and asked permission to
be put to test which I believed
would clinch my case. I offered to
leave the room and in my absence
have some one take the prints of any
member Of the court attendants the
judge directed. I would return and
finger print all the attendants and
after developing my print compare it
with the one taken in my absence
and pick out the person originally
finger printed. The court readily
agreed tc, the proposition and the test
went on.
When I returned I finger printed
about twelve persons. Then when
these were developed and printed I
was given the print taken in my alb
sence. At a glance identified it and
matched it with one I had taken
thereby identifying the person print
ed in my absence. :.
Test Amazes Jurors.
The success of the test created a
profound sensation. The jurors sat
up and asked dozens Of questions
which proved that they had intelii-
gently followed every move I had
made. They soon recognized the diff
ference between a whorl and a ridge
and were asking technical questions
innumerable which did more to con-
vince ME that was going to win my
case than anything that had tran
spired since court convened. I had
been on the stand continuously for
three days and when court adjourned
that Wednesday evening Crispi and
his lawyers had lost their air of
bravado, and instead Of the sneering
glances bestowed upon me their looks
clearly proved how. deeply concerned
they were.
When court convened the next
morning I was again called to the
stand. There were one Or two little
points that. I wanted to make clear,
although I was very we'll satisfied
with things as they were.
But before the district attorney
had an opportunity to start the pro-
ceedings, Mr.. Moore, chief Of counsel
for Crispi, arose and said:
"May it please your Honor, with
the consent of the district attorney,
the defendant. would like to-: with
draw his plea of not guilty and enter
plea of guilty to the third count Of
the indictment-that charging unlaw-
full entry"
''The court accepts the plea" the
judge replied, even before those in
the court room could grasp the sig
nifcance Of the move.
Crispi Admits All.
A ripple Of surprise swept over the
court room and even the jurors turn
ed in their seats to gaze into each
others faces. The admission of guilt
from the prisoner who had been so
brazenly defiant, but few hours be-
fore nearly stupefed the entire court.
My victory had been hard earned
and bitterly fought I'll admit, but it
was all the sweeter for that very rea-
son. Handwriting experts who were
present, doubtless recognized that a
new factor had entered into the
science of criminology and they were
none too well pleased at the turn
events had taken. But as dear as
that moment of victory was to me
none realized of what tremendous i'm
port it was to me in the work that
stretched before me. Here was the
one test I had wanted above all 9TH
ers and I had won. Henceforth it
would be matter Of record, prece-
dent established, and the finger print
system to which I had devoted hard
years of study would be accepted as
a fact which any jury would have to
consider.
Before court adjourned Judge Ro-
salsAy commanded the prisoner to
stand before the bar.
"tCrispi, since you have admitted
your guilt, there are certain things
Won can clear I'M in this case that the