Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1925-09-02
The Outside
Evidence
By WILLIS BRINDLEY
a. 1925. Western Newspaper Union.)

L warning by deputy United States
marshals, heard the evidence against
r. ]. Scully, alias Il. J. Sullivan, alias
Ralph Rhodes, alias Peter Morrissey.
alias Madison Jimmy, whose true
name was, to the grand jury which In
dicted him, unknown.
Mattison Jimmy was charged with
having made two ten-dollar bills grow
where one ten dollar bill had grown
before.
1t was alleged that Mattison Jimmy
had taken a dollar bill and one
dollar bill, had cut each neatly in two
by means Of a safety-razor blade held
with a pair Of pliers so as to make
diagonal cut that would permit the
severed halves to be glued together
again, but glued so that each recondi-
toned bill was half one and half ten.
1t was alleged that the defendant.
Mattison Jimmy, meeting up with one
Olaf Lauregaard, a stranger from a
logging camp, had bought sundry
drinks Of cider, seasoned with dena
tured alcohol, for Olaf, and, when it
came Olars time to buy. had vOlun-
teered to cash Olaf's pay check for
him. Olaf having Endorsed the check,
Mattison Jimmy took 1t to the bartend-
er In the soft-drlnk establishment and
had 1t turned into money. he then
presented the roll to Olaf, who bought
sundry elders, seasoned with dena-
tured alcohol, and retired in back
room Of the saloon.
Upon awaking the next morning
Olaf found himself destitute and, upon
complaining to the bartender. was ten
dered a somewhat shrunken roll. which
the bartender counted for him, discov-
ering In the process that one ten-dOllar
bill was in fact not a ten-dollar bill at
both ends-one end being a one-dollar
bill
In due course secret service agents
rounded up Mattison Jimmy. who was
registered at the American Eagle hotel
as R. J. Scully. They found In Soul
ly's room a safety razor blade, but no
razor, a pair of pliers and q fifteen
cent pot of glue. and that was all.
Eleven men Of the jury. having
weighed the evidence, decided that
Scully, or Mattison Jimmy, was
tough bird all right, but that the gov
eminent had offered less evidence than
was necessary to prove the case.
The twelfth man, who sat fourth In
the front row, believed Mattison jim
my guilty. Throughout the trial his
eyes roved about the courtroom, stop
MT a1x ,hoS, m
son Jimmy. Jimmy. attired In the
latest in Jazz suits, with a lavender
bordered handkerchief peeping from a
top pocket in his helted coat, returned
the stare at first, then seemed to
squirm under 1t. He chewed gum, and
the more Juror No. stared at him
the harder he chewed.
The learned counsel for the defense
brought Mattison Jimmy to the jury
rail and urged the Jury to look ut this
innocent man who had been dragged
into court to suffer from the unwar
ranted zeal Of the hounds OF justice.
Madison Jimmy squirmed. The
jurors all stared now, and Jimmy
stared them all DOWNFALL but Juror
No. 4. Juror No. 4 focused through
steel-rimmed glasses upon the laven-
der bordered handkerchief that peeped
from the defendants pocket. Jimmy
choked on his gum and slipped It into
the pocket with his handkerchief
Juror No. 4 continued to stare at the
handkerchief pocket. Mattison Jimmy
jerked his handkerchief from his
pocket to wipe his forehead and 1t nut
tered from his trembling hand. Juror
No. 4 picked 1t up and handed It back.
smiling.
The Jury retired and balloted with
out discussion. The count showed
eleven votes not guilty. one guilty.
II voted guilty." said Juror No. 4.
but not on the evidence as presented"
THAT'S the trouble with juries al
ways" Quavered very old man. "rhe
government had no evidence against
this man that was enough to convince
beyond a reasonable doubt. The bar
tender might have been guilty, or the
bartender might have got the bill from
some other man that was guilty.
don't send no man to a federal peni-
tentiary for owning safety razor
blade and pot Of glue. I've got those
things myself"
The others nodded-all but Juror
No. 4.
Maybe you noticed" said Juror No.
4, that this Madison Jimmy person
squirmed considerable when l looked
at him. The more l noticed this, the
more l looked at him. He seemed to
be uneasy about his fancy handker-
chief, 80 sort of concentrated on that.
Maybe some of you noticed that when
he was standing in front Of US he got
nervous and took his gum out OF his
mouth and put 1t In the pocket with
his handkerchief. And then pretty
soon he took out his handkerchief and
started to wipe his forehead. but he
was nervous and dropped 1t at my
feet"