From Boniface to Bank Burglar; Or, The Price of Persecution: How a Successful Business Man, Through the Miscarriage of Justice, Became a Notorious Bank Looter — John Shaqi
From Boniface to Bank Burglar; Or, The Price of Persecution: How a Successful Business Man, Through the Miscarriage of Justice, Became a Notorious Bank LooterWhite, George M. (George Miles)
History
From Boniface to Bank Burglar; Or, The Price of Persecution: How a Successful Business Man, Through the Miscarriage of Justice, Became a Notorious Bank Looter
White, George M. (George Miles)
Bank robberies -- United States; Criminals -- Biography; White, George M. (George Miles)
My witnesses from Boston testified to the business which took me to
that city every day, from ten o’clock in the morning until evening.
The time for every day in the week prior and after the burglary was
accounted for. One of my partners in the Boston firm of Towle & Seavy
told of the manner in which I had accumulated wealth. Several bank
officials testified to the dates on checks which showed where I was
at vital moments,--the moments when I was supposed to be actually
engaged in robbing the Walpole Bank. A number of witnesses testified
to various business ventures in which I was engaged with John M. Way
and several other reputable business men, and how many checks passed
in this business; and Charles Meriam, a broker of Boston, swore to
the sums of money that he received and invested for us, all of which
made a perfect accounting of the prodigious wealth which the district
attorney had conjured up against me. A. V. Lynde went on the stand
and told of my real-estate transactions with him; how I had bought
tracts of land from him and how I had dealt at all times honorably.
My clerks, Ellis Merrill and Fred Benson, told in detail of my strict
attention to business; of how I got up every week day at five o’clock
in the morning, attended to my business in Stoneham, and leaving that
in charge of my employees, went to Boston to look after my business
interests there. After finishing in Boston I would return to Stoneham
to look after things at the close of the day. In fact, all of my
time was well accounted for, making a complete alibi. Ellis Merrill
testified to the fact that he had been the first to meet Wyckoff and
Cummings at the Central House; that I was away when they came, and that
he let a team to them of which I knew nothing until my return from
Vermont. All these witnesses testified to my splendid business and
social reputation, my honesty, veracity, and integrity. Fully twenty
witnesses, all intimate friends, took oath on my behalf, to combat the
testimony of a few witnesses, none of whom could swear positively to a
point against me, except that I drove about the country a man who, they
swore, was Shinburn.
Shinburn was not wanted by his counsel to take the witness stand; but
I impatiently awaited my time to tell what I could, in the minutest
detail, of my movements that could in any way be dragged, even by
conspiracy, into the case. At last Judge Cushion called my name, and I
arose to testify. District Attorney Lane was on his feet in an instant,
protesting loudly that I had no right to witness for myself, that it
was contrary to the New Hampshire laws; and he quickly quoted from the
statutes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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