Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], September 22, 1904, SPECIAL EDITION, Page 7, Image 7

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1919

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
. GOODWIN'S WEEKLY. 7 ,jfl
The girls had Identified him, and that was enough.
Yet, had Spurred been allowed to testify in the
Old Bailey and swear that Beck was Smith, the
case would have fallen flat, for the evidence of the
witnesses quoted would have proved that Beck
and Smith could not be the same. Similarly with
the handwriting expert's testimony. He tangled
himself. He swore that the Union Bank checks of
1877 and 1896 were in the same hand, which was
not Beck's hand. To offset that he swore that
Beck, in writing the checks, had used a disguised
hand. Yet, Beck was in Peru in 1877. He could
not have written the checks issued that year.
How, then, could he have written the checks of
1896, which, as admitted by the expert, were writ
ten by the hand that wrote the first ones? But
this testimony was not admitted. It would have
Oleared Beck, taken in connection with his alibi.
Beck was convicted. Then came an astounding
thing. The police-court proceedings and Spur
rell's testimony was resurrected, and Beck was
sent to Portland jail as Smith, with a first con
fiction against him and this after testimony to
show that he was not Smith had been excluded
from the trial.
Beck went to prison. He "banged the tins, he
bawled the hymns," with the rest of them. For
two years he was there, a crushed, bewildered
man, before he discovered that the Smith who
was convicted in 1887 was a Jew. Beck sent a pe
tition to the home office asking that the prison
doctor be allowed to examine him. This was
done, and the doctor reported that Beck was not
a Jew. The home office removed the stlgmaof
previous conviction from him, thereby admitting
that he was not the Smith that he had been desig
nated on the prison record but he remained in
jail. He forwarded one petition after another, set
ting forth his case as I have presented it the fact
that he was not Smith, and that it must have been
Smith who committed both series of crimes. Beck
sent a dozen or more of these petitions, but they
were ignored. He was released when ho had fin
ished his term then came another remarkable
chapter.
After his release, in 1901, Beck lived with
George R. Sims, the journalist, who had known
him in 1888, who had always believed him Inno
cent, and who has just furnished the Dally Mail
Iwith a series of letters which are a scathing ar
raignment of the courts, the home office, and all
(j who were connected with the incidents by which
I Beck was proclaimed a felon. While with Sims,
Beck devoted his time to attending to the busi
ness he had been pursuing when convicted, and
in trying to establish his innocence. He spent
over a thousand pounds in this manner, and fought
valiantly to clear his name of the smirch upon It.
His plea was attracting public attention, when an
astounding thing happened. Smith appeared again;
defrauded servant-girls; Smith claimed to be Lord
Willoughby, with a house in St. John's Wood;
Smith gave his victims checks on the Unlcn Bank,
and Beck was arrested as the criminal. Gasp with
astonishment, If you will, but the records bear
out my statements that, on July 15, 1904, Beck
Iwas again arrested as being the man of 1877, and
the man he had in 1896 proved himself not to be.
In this last trial Pauline Scott was the princi
pal witness. She had been swindled out of a gold
rlng, a watch, and one pound by a man who had
called himself Lord Willoughby, who wanted a
housekeeper for his establishment in St. John's
Wood, who gave her a check on the Union Bank.
The police went to work on the case. They dis
covered that Beck ate in a certain restaurant.
Pauline Scott was placed where she could watch
him, and she said he was the man. On this tes
timony, and similar testimony by other girls, he
was convicted a second time, and at the trial the
same handwriting expert who had testified In
1896 swore that the checks written in 1877, in
1806, and In 1904, were by the same hand that
they were in Beck's disguised handwriting. Beck's
counsel tried to resurrect former testimony, to
show the impossibility of Beck and Smith being
the same, but he was convicted, and sent to jail
to await sentence. Then tho miracle happened.
While Beck was in jail, awaiting sentence, an
inspector of the detective department accidentally
turned Into the police department one morning
and asked if there were any prisoners. He was
told that there was a man there charged with de
frauding two servant girls by a trick. The in
spector knew of the Beck case, and with it in
mind went in to see the prisoner. He saw upon
his chin the scar for which vain search had been
made on Beck when he was on trial In 1896. He
exclaimed, "John Smith," and reported his discov
ery to his chief. An investigation was made, and,
two days fater, Beck was set free. At last he was
cleared of the charges against him at last it was
publicly acknowledged that Adoiph Beck vnd
Adolph Beck, not John Smith.
The case is a remarkable instance, for 'one
thing, of the unreliability of identification by Ig
norant people. The girls who gave damaging tes
timony against Beck In 1896 and in 1904, swore
that Beck was the man who had defrauded them,
and Spurrell swore that he was the Smith of 1887.
Yet, now that the real Smith has been found, it is
discovered that there is little resemblance be
tween them. Besides this Is the fact that Beck,
who is a Norwegian, speaks English with a for
eign accent and think of a man with a Norwegian
accent trying to impersonate an English lord!
Bock has been offered two thousand pounds by
the government as compensation If he will ler
the case drop. He has rejected It, and demanded
an investigation. The Daily Mail, which, with al
most the entire press behind It, is clamoring for
a public ventilation of tho whole affair, has guar
anteed him two thousand pounds in case he fails
to receive it from the government.
Beck calls his prosecution a conspiracy. He
can not be blamed very much; and any one is jus
tified in pronouncing it a piece of colossal stupid
ity on the part of his prosecutors. Piccadilly, In
The Argonaut.
KANSAS FARMERS HAPPY.
(Prom the N. Y. EVenlng Sun.)
There was deep gloom in Democratic National
headquarters when it was heard that the Kansas
farmers were so well off that they proposed to
take three days off for a corn festival. The Demo
cratic rainbow needs a cloud for a background.
Send to TRIBUNE JOB PRINTING CO., Printer
6"f Goodwin's Weekly, for anything: in printing lines
Phones 718.
MBBMMIIHBIHMIIWWWWBBBWB
I rajv San Pedro, Los Angeles
I vSR & Salt Lake R. R,
Paasess through the Famous
TINTIC MINING DISTRICT
Comprising Eureka, Mammoth and Silver City; also
Mining Districts of Ophlr, Fairfield, Mercur, Black
Rock, Milford and Frisco in Utah, and Ploche,
Delamar and Calientes Mining Districts
In Nevada.
Pullman Buffet Sleeping Cars Free Reclining Chair
Cars Daily between Salt Lake City, Milford,
Modena and Calientes.
Tho completion of tho connecting link between
CallontOB, Novada and Daggett California will opon
ono of tho largest undovoioped mining districts In
tho west Full Information regarding train servlco,
stago conneotlon to lntorlor camps, ota, cheerfully
given by any agent of THE SALT LAKE ROUTE, or address,
E. W. GILLETT T. C. PECK J. L MOORE
Gsnl, Pats., Ail. Ant. Gon.Pass. Agt. Dili. Past. Agent.
Bait Lake City, Utah.
I J
DENVER & RIO GRANDE I
AND THE fl
RIO GRANDE WESTERN I
Only Transcontinental Lino Passing B
Dlrootly Through Salt Lake City. H
Connections made In Ogdon Union Depot with All Trains jH
of Southern Pacific and Oregon Short Line. M
OFFERS CHOICE OF jH
0 FAST THROUGH TRAINS DAILY 0
Leaving Ogdon at 7:25 a. m., 2:16 p.m. and 7:1 G p, m j jH
And Tfyree Distinct Scenic Routes. H
Pullman Palace and Ordinary Sleeping Cars to jH
DENVER, OMAHA, KANSAS CITY, ST.
LOUIS, CHICAGO Without Change.
Free Reollnlng Chair Cars. H
Personally Conduotod Exourslons. H
A Perfect Dining Car Servloe. H
For rates, folders, etc, Inquire of nearest Ticket Agent H
specifying tho Rio Grande Western, or write H
I. A. BENTON, Gonoral Agent Pass. Dopt., Salt Lako City. H
I
1 ANNOUNCEMENT. H
I
I The Kenyon Hotel Barber Shop I
I has opened its Turkish and Russian Bath iH
Rooms. The most complete establishment of , M
H the kind in the Inter-Mountain Region. H
I Chiropody and Manicuring in con- H
nection with baths. Special treatment 'm
1 for Rheumatism. jH
I GEORGE TOSTEVIN. Proprietor.
i Prof. Joe Kaltski in charge of Baths.
I PERSONNEL OF SHOP. H
R ART. KIMDALL ZIG. JENSEN
1 CHARLIE DONALDSON D C. FORRESTER 1 M
I O. C. DODSON I H
ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD CO. I
Efficiently Serves a H
VAST TERRITORY H
By Through Sorvlco to and fron fM
tho following oltloe: ' H
$H
OMAHA, NEB. H
ST. PAUL, MINN. LOUISVILLE, KY. EVANSVILLE, IND. ,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. NEW ORLEANS, LA. NASHVILLE, TENN. VM
KANSAS CITY, M0. GHIGA00, III. ATLANTA, 0A. M
MEMPHIS, TENN. ST. LOUIS, M0. JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
CINCINNATI, OHIO. PEORIA, III. VICKSBURO, MISS. H
Weekly through sorvlco between Chicago jBB
and botweon Clnolnnatl and tho Hfl
Pacific Coast and Montana Territory. (fl
Connections at theeo terminals for tho M
EAST, SOUTH, WEST AND NORTH Jfl
Fast and Handsomely Equipped Steam H
HeatedTralns DlnlngCars Buffet Library H
Cars Sleeping Cars Free Reclining Chair j H
Cars. I
Ask tloket ngont for tloket via the H
ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD H
Or apply to
J. A. FOLEY, 75 W. Second South St. '
SALT LAKE CITY UTAH. jW