The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-27
By Maj.
c.. e.. Russell

III
that if the officer saw he would
make me pay for it
We reported the status of the case
to our chief and he had the COM
manding general order Bottles"
back to the rear. And with our three
men they all reported to me. We
placed Bottles" under arrest and we
all returned to Bordeaux.
We searched the barracks where
this man said he had buried his uni
form and, sure enough, we dug up
an old uniform which we identified
az his by the number stamped upon
it, 1t was covered with spots, so we
turned it over to the medical depart
ment for analysis. Their report
showed that some of the spots We're
undoubtedly blood. but owing to the
time 1t had been buried, coupled
with the wine used to wash out the
stains, they were unable to swear
whether it were human.
We were now ready for the trial
when the officer who had been as
signed to defend Bottles" threw a
bombshell into the case by claiming
an albi. Investigation of this alibi
quickly convinced us that Bottles"
had built it up in such way that,
even with our evidence, he might de-
Iedl US anu go GiedT.
Some time before the murder an
American publication had published
the story of the life of Al Jennings,
the noted train robber. In this story,
jennings told how he had established
a false albi by visiting certain peo-
pie and incidentally calling their at
tention to the date-the date he
mentioned being a different one from
the actual date. Not one had noticed,
this bnWpNar uben Jappi n Or
was accused of participating in the
train robbery, although actually
there, he had proved by this false
alibi that he was miles away at the
time. Bottles" had done that same
thing. He had visited tho "" hut
and had purchased a few things;
had signed the slip as of the 18th
talthough it was the 20th), had told
the W secretary that this was his
birthday and asked him to give him
smoke as present. He had re-
manned there all the evening and at
The "Y' secretary remembered the
date as the 18th. When Bottles"
had arrived at the billet he remarked
to his squad leader:
This is the It'll of June and my
birthday. l hope to celebrate the
next one in the states" The squad
leader, when this was called to his
dlltIlOIl, dISo IGllenDGTeQ the date
as the 18th.
l, too, had read the story of AL
Jennings and clearly remembering
the alibi instance, made up my mind
that Bottles" had manufactured one
in the same way. To break down
| this alibi, / determined to adopt the
French custom in similar cases and
reproduce, for the benefit of the ac-
cused, the crime.
The French have a theory that a
| criminal cannot fail to betray his
| guilt If the crime is reproduced as
near the actual crime as possible, and
at the scene of the crime. We got
a basket of cheese a donkey, and
jeans cart; and two of our men were
| detained to act the part of the
! principals. Just at dusk, the prisoner
| with several witnesses was taken to
| the place where Jean had been killed
| and we awaited developments. At
| a given signal, out from the cross
| roads came jeans cart and donkey
while our man. dressed as Jean, was
| nodding over the reins. Suddenly,
| from the other side if the road, came
a man who in the distance looked
/ exactly like the prisoner. He stop
ped Jea: and Jean, climbing down
| from the wagon, reached for his
basket Of cheese. a sponge full of
! red wine sufficed for the rock, and
|
was squeezed and in the gathering
darkness it looked as If another MUIR
| der had been committed. AS our
Jean fell forward. the prisoner
screamed and. falling on his knees
begging for mercy. confessed.
Sobbingly, he told us the story of
his life: Il have be. i arrested sew
eral times. And jus. before | was
| drafted, / had been released after
serving three years at Joliet. The
! day after | came from prison was the
day | was drafted int the army.
l determined to live square and for
si:; months had no trouble. | started
drinking, however, and soon the old
| craving had me again and | knew
! that l would do anything to get a
drink. l hadn't had a drink for "a
| ling time was broke, and my credit
no good. when l CHANGED upon Jean.
Getting him down from his wagon
on the pretense of buying cheese, l
! grabbed him and tried to rob him.
He fought me. recognizing me by
my nickname Bottles so | grabbed
drove me mad. When | found blood
on my uniform / .ried to wash it OF,
with wine, thinking that the wine
would obliterate any blood stains.
when my regiment went to the
| front l was happy. for hoped to get
killed or wounded so severely that 1
| would be sent hol =. But Jus,
couldn't. l now know it was or
dered otherwise. Though l tried
several times to get mine, l came
through without a scratch"
With this mans confessitl and the
evidence which we had collected, he
was soon forrd suilty and was sem
fenced to be hung. In the army,
| sentences against the military code
that are punishable by death are car
red out by shooting. while those
against the civil. law are executed by
hanging. The reviewing aut' ority
confirmed the sentence and Bottles
paid the penalty.
! It last POOR Jean was avenged.
f'f-f' 'f