"I think it's a frame-up," he said, pausing to use the bicuspid
vacancy for the purpose of expectoration. "That's what I think it
is. Now I'm in a position as superintendent of a flat building to
know a lot about what goes on among the bachelor tenants. I ain't
sayin' that the prisoner didn't go to Mr. What's-His-Name's flat
without an invitation. You bet your life he wasn't expected, if my
guess is correct. I tell you what I think,--and my opinion ought to
be worth a lot, lemme tell you,--I think there's something back of
all this that wasn't brought out in the trial. Now here's something
I bet not one of you fellers has thought about. What evidence is
there that this Chancy woman is that deaf man's sister? Not a blamed
word of evidence, except their own statement. She ain't his sister
any more than I am. Did you ever see two people that looked less
like they was related to each other? You bet you didn't. Now I got a
hunch that the prisoner follered her to that guy's apartment. What
for, I don't know. Maybe for blackmail. He got onto what was goin'
on, and makes up his mind to rake in a nice bunch of hush-money.
That's been done a couple of times in the apartment buildin' I'm
superintendent of. A feller I had workin' for me as a porter cleaned
up five or six hundred dollars that way, he told me. This robbery
business sounds mighty fishy to me. Now I'm only tellin' you the way
the thing looks to me. I don't think that woman is Wollop's sister
any more than she is mine. It's a frame-up, the whole thing is. Look
at the way this Wollop says he tied her up and all that.
Humph!--Can't you fellers see through this whole business? He tied
her up so's the police would find her tied up, that's what he done.
The chances are she's some woman customer of his that's got stuck on
him, tryin' hats and all that,--and maybe gettin' all the hats she
wants for nothin',--and this feller Smilk he gets onto the game and
goes out for a little money. See what I mean?"
So loud and so furious was the discussion that followed the
extraordinary deductions of Juror No. 9, that the bailiff had to rap
half a dozen times before he could make himself heard. Finally the
foreman, purple in the face, called out through the haze of smoke:
"Come in!"
"The judge says for you to come into the court room for
instructions," announced the officer. "Never mind your hats and
coats. No cigars, gents. Leave 'em here. They'll be safe. Come on,
now. It's nearly time to go to supper."
The judge informed the jury that they could not find the man guilty
of bigamy and curtly ordered them back to their room for further
deliberation. They took another ballot before going out to supper at
a nearby restaurant, guarded by six bailiffs, who warned them not to
discuss the case while outside the jury room. The second ballot, by
the way, was eight for conviction, four for acquittal. Juror No. 5
had come over to the minority. He said there was something in the
theory of Juror No. 9.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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