Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-19

when reporter asked former Judge
James Cav Gordon this morning IL he had
seen the evidence Of the alleged 'frame-up'
which had been given to the District Attor-
ney yesterday, he replied:
"Yes---that is. saw John r. X. Scott and
that is the same thing"
Reporter-"Is there anything to this
charge of frame-up?
Judge Gordon--"Certanly there is al
ways something to the charge Of frame
up
Reporter-"What is it?'
Judge Gordon-"The necessity to have
defense
Reporter-''woud frame-up' be good
defense?"
Judge Gordon-"Now see here, shall
rot discuss the Fifth Ward case with you
at this time. Nor will l comment upon the
alleged frame-up charged by the Mayor
and his co-defendants and his Ware sup
porters. But I will talk to you about
'frame-ups generally and particularly about
some famous historical frame -ups,' Verify
there Is nothing new under the sun. The
'frame-up' as defense to the charge of
crime is not a new plea. IT goes back to
remotest history, to the beginnings Of civil
izatiun. to the advent of the human race.
Let me show you:
The first criminal was the first man,
Adam When he was brought to the bar
the universe, the Lord God demanded of
him what defense he had to make. In
stantly. he pleaded "frame-up," and said
to the creator The woman whom Thou
gavest me did tempt me and ] did eat
BY this he implied that the whole situa-
tion was planted upon him, and even
insinuated that the Lord had given him
the woman that she might tempt him and
bring him to sin. The plea, however,
availed not and sentence was passed upon
him, and, as the fateful words were spoken
russet leaf nuttered down from the tree
Of knowledge and fell in the brook-the
signal Of the first fall. 1t is worthy of
note that Notwithstanding Adam alleged
that Eve was in the 'frame-up,' he walked
out OF Eden with his tcmptress oh his arm
while the old serpent lay Coiled up in
frogs hollow like the gunmen in the
Deutsch club. The plea of frame-up had
failed and Adam was convicted. This is
the first trial recorded in history and the
record must be true, for it is found in the
book of Genesis.
NEROS FRAME-UP
Then there is the case of that old Roman
rough-neck Nero, He you know, was
charged with fidding while the city of
Rome burned and his name has been
handed down to infamy because Of his
callous indifference to the sufferings of his
people, whose safety he was sworn TO pro-
IeCt. Against tnlS CnarEe ne, 100, pIeddeu
'frame-up.' lie alleged that the Christians
in Rome had themselves purposely set the
city on fire just at the time when he and
Sporus were taking their music lesson in
order TO frame him in public odium. The
Christians knew, he said, that the noise OF
his fiddle would drown the cries of the
suffering people so that he could not hear
them. Had this not been and had he
known of the disaster, he said he would
have taken a special chariot express and
would have driven to the scene of the con-
Migration, History has refused to accept
Nero's plea of a frame-up' and he stands
condemned through the ages.
There is recorded in the Memorabilia of
a Greek annalist the account of a famous
poison case. A portion of a city built on
the Aegean Sea formed at one end a
peninsula where the waters washed up for
a space on either side. On the low fats
certain selfish and reckless tradesmen had
erected noXious establishments wherein
they herded swine and ducks and goats
brought down from the hills above the city.
The ehluvia thus generated became an Of
fense TO the other residents on the peninsula
and as a result an angry feeling was
caused. One day a citizen visited a
chemists shop and bought some poison,
alleging that he desired il to kill rats and
straYIng pests from the styes maintained
on the narrow neck of land He got the
poison and administered 1t to rival in
away with. When apprehended and
brought before a Magistrate charged with
the murder, his defense was that the whole
thing was 'frame-up' and that the widow
and orphan of the dead man had Conspred
with the chemist to sell him the poison and
had caused the rats to infest his cellars.
otherwise the remnants of the deadly drug
would not have been found hidden in the
lining of his mantle. The defense failed
and justice was done to the malefactor to
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