The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1916-12-01

NA< inasmuch as you would have no
~ NcqhantaIfces, it would be very
hard for you TO prove an alibl.
so likely as pot ihe police being quite as eager
I'd give evidence of their aertneSs by securing
eSGwlcaaR as.q 2stA Ela serure-51rss
uce' would give you what they call the third
degree"
According to writer in the New York firrdld,
with the thlrd degree the public is well acquaint,
ed through sh9rt stories articles novels and the
drama, bats4Here has DEVELOPED of recent years
test more grimly nerve. racRing more crush
Ing and relentlesS-the "sent Mhird deCreer-
to the study of which benoogisE and psycholo-
Glsts are giving much time and thought In the
opinion OF some ii is more unjust than the older
form of bullying questioning others declare
that it Is true test-one which wrings the truth
from the subject more certainly than all the oues-
uonlng In the world and he goes on To explain
how the silent third degree works:
The McNamara Case.
one OF the most notable cases of the practice
OF the silent third degree was in the Los Ange-
les Times dynamiting case. James b. Mcnamara
was on trial. The prosecution hat developed a
strong case against him, but the mans nerve
was wonderful.
1t was Samuel L. Browne, chief of the Los An
geles secret service bureau, who directed the
grueling daily presentation of witnesses who
spoke not nor were spoken to, but who merely
Med into the court ROOM caught the eye of J. T.
Mcnamara shot him glance of recognition and
then. unquestioned by counsel for either side left
the room.
Women with whom Mcnamara had associated
hotel clerks who had seen him register under
false names. cabmen who had driven him TO
places where detectives contended he had met
fellow conspirators in the dynamite plot-all
these were marshaled by the secret service men
and paraded before the prisoner.
Nv1dly, realistically, almost II with n NOV
Ing picture film, each step in the accused dyna-
miter's journey from indianapolis to Los Angeles
each stage Of development Of the plot was called
10 his mind, and, what was worse there was the
suggestion that the prosecution knew all. Every
time three or four witnesses who ]. r. Mcnamara
knew could testify damagingly against him en-
tered the courtroom and bowed to him in recog-
milton the thought crushngly impressed upon
his mind that another step in his career was
known.
One Of these silent witnesses was the mail clerk
who had time and again handed mail TO McNn-
mara at the general delivery window and had
known him as ]. B. Bryce. Imagine the effect on
the guilty man when he that the mail clerk
recognized him.
There cabmen who had driven Mcnamara
about and one Of them had quarreled with him.
Finally woman. plain and rather shabbily
dressed, white and timid ushered into the
courtroom. She sat In Of the front seats and
gazed at J. Il. Mcnamara.
How the Silent Third Degree Works
That woman had sold him wrapping paper in
her store, and in her presence he had wrapped
sticks of dynamite in IL.
As the supreme test, the crushing denouement
Mcnamara confronted by the last living per-
son who had seen him before the dynamite ex-
plosion It the bartender who had sold McNa-
mara n drink just before he slipped through the
swinging door of the saloon back into Ink alley
and placed the dynamite which destroyed %
lives.
"Tll tell you what this silent third degree
does. II wakens n mans conscience That's the
underlying principle that makes II effective" said
George s. Dougherty formerly In charge Of the
New York police detective bureau. Look here,
I'll tell you how II works.
"a man is arrested for n grave crime-murder.
perhaps He no witnesses when ne is ar
rested. He is Mt bay desperate. fighting for his
liberty -and maybe for HIS life. He stees himself
and throws about him an armor of bravado or un-
concern or taciturnity. His nerves are like steel
fbers, and you can't shake them. If you should
bully him he would become suen and resstive
If you should threaten he would become defiant
He might be open to reason, but suppose he were
not
when he is arragned before n magistrate
there may he several witnesses there whom he
recognizes and who. he knows will recognize him.
When he has been first arrested he has told his
mother and his wife and his friends that he Is
innocent. The lie means nothing 10 him then. but
when he sees all these witnesses who are con-
nected with his crime In different ways he begins
20 realize that he may be forced To admit his
guilt and that these persons are going 10 make
him out liar before the friends and relatives
who have stuck by him. That is the beginning
Of the break. and IL reaches type Of man you
can't bully or hoodwink into a confession"
Setting Stage for ceidel.
on July o. 1911. william IT, Jackson. n broker
of New York. found murdered in his room at
the Iroquols hotel in the heart Of the club dis
trict OF New York city. He had been beaten and
strangled and n bottle which had contained chic
roform was found on the premises.