The New York herald., 1921-06-16
old TAX ACENfFRM,
WOMANAD TG(NTY
Wild Scene in Jersey City
Court When Caithness, ~,
Gets Verdict of Acquittal.
,NEIGHBORS JAM ROOM
Voters Who Reelected Col
IectOr After Indictment
Give Him Ovation.
MRS. MARSHALL in JAIL
Woman Who Lived i'm Style at
1923 a. Month Convicted
of $4,000 Theft.
MRS. MARSHALL in JAIL

A jury in the Hudson County Court
of Quarter Sessions, Jersey City, re-
fused yesterday to believe that Harry
f. Caitlpess, the seventy two year -old
Tax Collector of kearny Township,
could be dishonest. They found him
not guilty of enlbezzling the townships
funds and at the same time convicted
his assistant, Mrs. Helen Grant Mar
shall, who was indicted with him last
September after the discovery that the
tax Office books showed g. shortage of
$4,000. The vindication came as a
climax to the most dramatic situation
in the aged mans whole life
The decorum Of the court was
smashed the instant the foreman Of
the jury finished reciting the verdicts.
Caithnesss friends--there we're $50 of
them jammed In the room-climbed up
on their chairs and gave deafening
cheer and then rushed toward where
he and his wife. a slim little woman
had been sitting. The clerk shouted
Dor order. but nobody paid any atten-
tion to him and as Judge Richard
Doherty, VINO had been presiding at
saw that Mrs. Marshall was started
back to Jail, put on his hat and went
home.
In the afternoon the tax collector
heard himself referred to as criminally
careless In handling the work ne does
m fr1
Nickers, assistant prosecutor, in sum-
ming up, related how Mr.. Caithness once
let himself be talked into taking a
worthless check for 500 and how he
borrowed the money to set his office
accounts straight. He admitted the
collector gave his note for the 500 and
that he paid interest on it. The prosccu-
tor dwelt on the fact that the Kearny
tax Office handles more than million
dollars year.
The prosecutor then gave some atten-
ton to Mrs. Marshall, saying that she
vent to work in the tax office fifteen
years ago. For six years she worked
under Mr.. Caithness. he explained. He
called attention to the fact that in the
last thirteen years the tax office ac-
counts Indicate that more than $4,000
has been stolen. Also he charged that
Mrs. Marshall. who receives a salary of
SIPS a month, owns a home at Bradley
Beach. employs two Japanese servants
there, rides around the resort in big
limousine and occasionally wears a
$4,000 pearl necklace
Judge Arthur B. Archibold summed up
tho case for the collector, referring to
the Biblical tale of the thirty pieces of
silver.
Jesus was betrayed for thirty pieces
Of silver he said. And pointing at
Mrs Marshall. he continued That
woman betrayed this poor old man
CaIthness for thousands of dollars"
The jury heard the summaries and
went out of the room. Two hours had
elapsed before they reached the ver-
diets. Most of that time. Mr.. Csithness
and his wife were surrounded by resi-
dents of kcarny--thc people who re-
elected him Tax Collector last November
In spite of the Indictment.
They shouted themselves tired after
hearing that the old man had been
found not guilty and then climbed over
chairs and the counsel tables to carry
him out of court. But Mr. Caithness
and Mrs. Caithness disappeared through
a side door and later they were found
hiding i'm a corner of the corridor. the
old lady crying and he twirlinG his
moustache and trying TO look as though
he hadn't wept bit