Arthur Train

“ Why, if people were going to be so careless about swearing a man's liberty away it was time to “get on the level.” You might be nailed any time by mistake, and then your record would make any defense impossible. You had the right to demand common honesty, or, at least, intelligence, on the part of the prosecution.
But the main question was, what was going to become of Monohan. Well, the boy was convicted, and that was the end of it. It was quite clear to Jim that, had he been victimized in the same way no one would have bothered about it at all. ”

“ Jim sat smiling, self-possessed, and silent.
The youthful Assistant, still hoping to wring a plea from the defendant, paused and leaned towards the prisoner's counsel.
“Come, come, what's the use?” he suggested benignantly. “Why go through all this farce? Let him plead guilty to 'robbery in the second degree.' He 'll be lucky to get that! It's his only chance!”
But upon the lean and withered visage of the veteran Crookshanks flickered an inscrutable smile, like that which played upon the features of his client. ”

“ The Grand Jury had promptly found an indictment, but when the District Attorney placed the case upon the calendar, in order to allow our hero to plead guilty, Mr. Crookshanks, Jim's counsel, announced that his client had no intention of so doing, and demanded an immediate trial.
Dockbridge, however, now found himself in a situation of singular embarrassment, which made action upon his part for the present impossible. He was at his wit's end, for the law expressly required that no prisoner should be confined longer than two months without trial. ”

“ A feller might go to “the chair” as easy as not, in just the same way. Of course, Jim had n't intended to get the young greenhorn into any trouble when he had sold him the pawn ticket. He had been just an easy mark. And when the police had arrested him and found the ticket in his pocket, there was n't any call for Jim to set them straight. That was just Monohan's luck, curse him! Let him look out for himself.
But to see the patriarch carefully forging the shackles upon the wrong man, had filled Jim with a wondering and ecstatic bewilderment. ”

“ Not that the identification of the accomplice had any real significance, since the man so ostentatiously picked out by the patriarch in court had been caught red-handed at the time of the robbery, within a block of the saloon, was already under indictment as a co-defendant, and being out on bail had merely been brought in under a “bench warrant” and placed among the spectators. But the performance had a distinct dramatic value, and the jury could not be blamed for making the natural deduction that if the complainant was right as regards the one, ipso facto he must be as to the other. ”

“ There was no question but that Jim had been put in jeopardy.
“You must go on with the trial, Mr. Dockbridge,” he announced reluctantly. “The jury has been sworn, and a witness has testified. It is too late to stop now.” ”

“ Only half a bench left! Only two men left! Ah! What was that? People shoved one another in the back, craning their heads to see what was doing in the distant corner where the complainant stood. Suddenly the searcher faced the Judge, and, pointing to the last occupant of the rear settee, announced with conviction:
“Your Honor, this is the other man!” ”

“ Do you exonerate him, as well?”
“I've nothin' to do with him,” answered Jim calmly. “I've got enough troubles of my own without shouldering any more. Only Monohan did n't have any hand in the job. You've got the boot on the wrong foot!”
Young Mr. Dockbridge, the Deputy Assistant District Attorney, now asserted himself.
“This is all very well,” said he with interest, “but we must have it in the proper form. If Your Honor will warn this person of his rights, and administer the oath, the stenographer may take his confession and make it a part of the record.” ”

“ Here no one was allowed to stand, but nearer the door the pressure became too great, and once more an over-plus, new-comers, lawyers who could not force their way to the front, tardy policemen, persons who could not make up their minds to come in and sit down, and stragglers generally, formed a solid mass, absolutely blocking the entrance, and preventing those outside from getting in or anyone inside from getting out. ”

“ He paused, coughed slightly, and, removing from his green bag a folded paper, continued,: “In addition, it is my duty to inform the Court that a person named Farlan, left the jurisdiction of this tribunal upon the day after Monohan's conviction of the offense for which my client is now on trial.”
“After such an unfortunate mistake,” said Crookshanks with an almost imperceptible twinkle in his “jury eye,” “he can hardly be expected to assist voluntarily in a second prosecution. ”

“ Silence in the court!” shouted the Captain pounding vigorously with a paper weight.
“What's all this?” sternly demanded the Judge. “Do you claim that you robbed the complainant in this case? Impossible!”
“Not a bit, Yer-onner!” replied Jim in clarion tones. “You 've nailed the wrong man, that's all. I took the ring, pawned it for five dollars and sold the ticket to Monohan on the corner—I can't stand for his gettin' any fifteen years,” he concluded, glancing expectantly at the spectators. ”