Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 140, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1914 — Big Hands Saved Him. [ARTICLE]

Big Hands Saved Him.

Attorney John Cronin was appearing for a client charged with picking a pocket. The government’s chief witness, had evidently read detective fiction. He described at length how he, standing quietly by, had seen the prisoner slipra slim fingered.hand into the victim’s pocket. He described the perfectly manicured hand and tapered fingers of the alleged pickpocket’s hand minutely, just as it goes in a detective yhrn. Then Attorney Cronin opened his defense. "My defense consists of ‘Exhibit A.’ Mr. Prisoner, hold out your hands.” The prisoner, a six-foot man, did so, showing the jurors a pair of huge hands with gnarled fingers, which would have done justice to a bricklayer. “The witness called those ‘fingers long and tapering, gentlemen,” said Cronin. “Now I want you to look at them and tell me if you think that hulking chap could get hands like ’those in the subway, let alone a person’s pocket!” The jury returned a verdict of not guilty.—Boston Traveler.