Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1893 — Convicted by a Blotter. [ARTICLE]

Convicted by a Blotter.

“One of the most remarkable things that I ever saw introduced in court asevidence, ” said Rodger Milton to a St. Louis Globe-Democrat reporter, “was an ordinary white blotter. This happened in Norman, South Dakota, where a fellow was being tried for murder. The point that the prosecution was trying to prove was that the man had been in the Haywood Hotel at that place on a certain day. The blotter in question contained a portion of a signature to a letter and a date, that of the day in question. It so happened that the prosecuting attorney had visited the hotel on the day the crime had been perpetrated, and thattoo, shortly after its commission. “In discussing the matter with the clerk, the suspected man’s name wasmentioned, and the clerk stated that the party referred to had jnst left the writing room. With detective sagacity the attorney visited the room and found this blotter, with the name and date on it. Though sadly blurred and inverted, experts were called and the writing was proved to be that of the prisoner. The effeet of this was simply to destroy the defence’s efforts to prove an alibi, which point being knocked out the criminal was convicted.”