At one point in this examination the Commissioner rose from his desk, took the lobe of Jess’s ear between his thumb and finger, pinched it slightly, looked at the ear closely, and then walked out of the room.
Jess was all on edge with curiosity.
“Why did he pinch my ear?” he asked of Lieutenant Riley.
“To see if you are telling the truth,” was the answer, and in a moment the Commissioner came back and examined that ear again.
“Yes, he’s lying,” he declared. “Look at his ear—can’t you see it yourself?” Others were invited to look at Jess’s ear, and the little Italian became so curious that he actually tried to look around the side of his skull and see his own ear!
This psychological study was backed up with abundant proof that Jess had not told the whole truth. Presently he weakened and confessed. He told how he had handed $2,000 in a collar box to “Jimmie the Push” on the day of the robbery, which was to be taken to a Bowery bank and put in a safe-deposit vault for Montani. He agreed to accompany the police to Jimmie’s place in Thompson street, and late that evening a party made up of Commissioner Dougherty, Inspector Hughes and Lieutenant Riley went there, taking Jess along.
“Jimmie the Push’s” place is one of the most picturesque thieves’ resorts in lower New York.
“Typical of the old village,” as Dougherty puts it. “In fact, this whole case has a strong flavor of the little old village of New York.”
Jimmie was out when they got there, but this saloon was in charge of the biggest, swarthiest Italian bartender in town, a tough Hercules weighing somewhere around three hundred pounds. The room was crowded with motley characters, drinking beverages known to the neighborhood as “shocks” and “high hats.” For their edification, a tramp magician was taking coins out of his ears, his nose and the air.
Jess was not known to be under arrest, and immediately sent a boy called “Reddy” to fetch the proprietor, who had known the three police officers for years. Presently Reddy came back and said that Jimmie would come in about half an hour, as he was playing cards and had a fine hand.