Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-04-16
FRAGMENTS OF SHATTERED LIQUOR BOTTLE
INTRODUCED AS EVIDENCE IN THIb0DEAU
CkSE-JURY RETURNS VERDICT NOT GUILTY

thing under his shirt and when he
went down the front stairs Nash saw
that Thibodeau had a bottle in his
hand. AS he opened the front door
he dashed the bottle upon the stone
steps. Nash smelled the odor of
alcohol about the fragments of the
bottle and picked them up, getting
a bag to put them In from Mrs.
Claire.
Some bottles which had been
found in the Thibodeau house were
here shown and upon cross examin-
alton he declared that many empty
bottles could be found at about any
home. On redirect examination he
testified that 1t Is not customary to
find them by the dozen and all like
those which were produced. He
pointed out that one smelled Of liz
uor. On cross examination he said
that they are the kind of bottles that
might be found in the house of a
| man who bought liquor for his own
use and on redirect said that they
were also the kind of bottles that
could be found in the house of a man
who had liquor to sell.
Federal Officer George Lydic Of Wa
terville corroborated the testimony Of
Deputy Nash.
Deputy Sheriff Oscar Hagland
stated that he did not see the res
pendent until he entered the house.
| He was apparently excited at. the
time. being pale and after coming in
he drew a deep breath. Hagland
| told Thibodeau that he had a war
| rant for searching the house and the
| respondent told him to go ahead. He
cnt hn hntf1nc from xro rin ",
the kitchen. Nash showed him the
| fragments of a bottle which he had
| found and he could smell alcohol
| upon them.
Defense A Denial
| Thibodeau in his own defense de-
MED that he had run away from the
officers or that he had seen them
until he went into the house and
! found Hagland there. He said that
his wife had gone to the church with
I the three oldest children, leaving him
there with the youngest boy. Later
he saw man named Powers, whom
he knew. going by and waved to
him. Powers came in and a moment
later the respondent went out to look
for the child who had been playing
out of doors. He looked around but
not finding it went to the home of
MS iiiOliASi " W sec IL Tie DOy
was there. When he entered the
house he saw his sister, in law, Ar
lene Claire, there and she told him
that she had not seen the child but
that he might be upstairs in the
| room of a boarder with whom he
was friendly. Thibodeau went up
there, but not finding the child con-
tinued through the house, down the
front stairs and out of doors. A few
moments later he found the boy and
seeing that he was all right he re-
turned to the house finding Hag-
land there.
After Nash and Lydic came In he
i heard Haglap1 ask Nash If he found
anything and he answered no"
Lydic responded the same to a SIM
liar question. Then Nash said that
he had found broken bottle and
Lydic had declared that he did not
see it broken because he was be-
hind Nash. He emphatically denied
that he had broken any bottle or
that he had been pursued by the Of
ficers to his knowledge. On cross ex-
animation he declared that a bottle
which was shown in court and which
was said to have been found at his
hous had had no alcohol In it at
that time although 1t might have
now.
Mrs. Thibodeau testified that she
had taken the three children to
church.
Miss Arlene Claire, a sister-in- la W
of the respondent. told the. court
that she first saw Thibodeau at the
home of her mother when he asked
her if she had seen the child. She
had told him to look upstairs and he
had started up the back stairs. She
had not seen him again. A few min
utes later she had seen Nash and
Lydic come down the front stairs as
she was standing in the door of Miss
Duprey's room. Nash came down
first and a short time afterward Ly.
die and her mother had come down
the stairs. She had seen Nash &C
out into the street and pick up the
pieces Of the bottle from the other
side Of the sidewalk out in the
travelled part of the roadway.
Miss Duprey testified that she had
not seen Thibodeau that morning
She had seen the officers and COR
roborated the testimony of Miss
Claire.
W. NJ. Powers Of West Benton
stated that he called at the home OF
Thibodeau to try to locate a friend
and that Thibodeau went out after
the child as he had testified Fifteen
or twenty minutes later Thibodeau
returned but he could not see that
he was excited. Hagland had enter
ed the house in the meantime and
had said that he had a search war
rant for the place.
When Nash and Lydic returned
Haglund asked them If they found
anything and Nash said that he got
nothing but broken bottle. He had
heard Lydic say that he could not
see it Is he was behind Nash. but
the latter had declared that he saw
Nelson Thibodeau break 1t.
Verdict mot Guilty"
This completed the testimony and
the case was argued in the after
noon. The july took the case about
S:15 and were out until Ais at which
time verdict Of not guilty was re-
! turned.
Attorney r. Harold Dubord repre-
scented Mr.. Thibodeau and the states
case was handled by county attor-
ney Frank E. Southland.
Technical Testimony
For a time during the testimony in
the case of State VS.. Arthur Trudell,
| the court room resembled a class in
chemistry with Prof. Lyseth explain
ing the manner in which he would
test liquids to determine their alco-
| holic content. If any. He told of
using picnometer, thermometers
| and other kinds of meters, and of
the chemicals which were employed,
and with Attorney F. Harold Dubord
Of Waterville, representing the re-
spondent, went into the realm of
ethyl alcohol, and allyl alcohol in a
discussion as to the possibility of
| allyl alcohol giving the same chemi-
cal reaction to the tests that ethyl
or grain alcohol would give. Various