The Elk Mountain pilot., 1917-11-01

insisted, complete detailed account of the
mans movements the day in question. The
story glibly told and 1t impossible to
confuse the witness
Then came the stumble. Among other incidents
the prisoner told OF visiting bOOtblack and ex-
planned that In addition to having his boots pol
ished he had received thorough brushing OF,
all because 1t was an exceedingly dusty day. The
records were produced and these showed that one
of the heavy rains of the season ragged not only
on the day Of the crime. but the days prior
and following. The witnesses were recalled and
they also remembered that 1t was a dusty blowly
day. This SO confused the prisoner he made sew
eral other misatatements which in the end led to
his conviction
A ranch hand accused of the wholesale theft of
grain from the fields of California ranches de-
clared that he not in California until after the
date of the alleged robbery. He then convicted
himself BY describing clump Of gum trees in
one of the fields. The prosecution was able to-
show that these trees were cut down two weeks
before the robbery and that the accused could
not have described the trees except from personal
knowledge His albi upset. the unfortunate ranch
hand pleaded to turn states evidence and impl-
cate what he was pleased to term the ringleaders
of an extensive gang of grain thieves.
Identity Coin by Perfume.
Several weeks ago a woman dropped her purse.
containing a large sum Of money. A CHILD Of ten
der years picked up the valuable container aud
started to carry It home Two men In oil dis
tributing station saw the incident and managed to
get the purse from the child. giving him few
pennies. The men hid the money In an oil can.
first extracting few bills for immediate use.
The same day the owner of the money made a
report to the police and also Instituted personal
search. She inquired all along the street In
which the loss had occurred eventually embracing
the very child that had found the money The
little tot Immediately pointed out the two men
who had taken the purse and the woman made
formal demand for the return of the money. The
denied the theft and by their fierce denial
frightened the child.
Police officers were summoned, but by this time
the child was thoroughly demorazed and refused
to identify the men, declaring that he was not now
certain to whom he had delivered the purse. The
owner Of the money. among other things, declared
the bills of currency could be identified. II located
by their odor. She explained that following her
securing the currency from bank she had pur-
chased bottle Of perfume and that this bottle
had been accidentally opened in her purse and the
bills saturated with the liquid. The police visited
the stores In the neghborhoOd and learned that
one Of the suspected men had paid grocery bill
a few hours after the money was supposed to have
come into his possession. On examining the bills
that had beenfpaid to the grocer they were found
to be strongly impregnated with perfume. Then
the officer searched the oil station. shifting into
every can and box in the place. Within few
moments after the search Instituted of
the officers found the bills secreted in a of
cotton oil waste the perfume being distinctly dis
cernable in spite Of the oil.
Minor Matters Trip Crooks.
Instances of similar nature may be found in
the police court without number thief was
victed recently charge of larceny because, al
though he had memorized the numbers on the case
and works of a watch and produced what purport-
ed to be bill of sale. still he did not know that
in the scroll work on the back of the were
the initials of the owner.
Another criminal was justly convicted and later
made full confession after the police had dis
paired Of fastening the crime on him. He was
accused OF cutting q number of DackageS in
an express office and extracting articles of value,
repairing the damage to the package so that there
could be no exposure for several days after the
theft. While the trial was In progress the prose-
cutting witness picked up pocket knife, the ac-
knowledged property of the accused. and on n
close examination found red coral bead in the
slot where the knife blade reposed when ciaspxd.
One Of the beads had stuck to the knife blade and
had thus been Imbedded in the knife slot. This
simple find resulted In the mans conviction and
the return Of several thousand dollars Of loot to
the express company.