“That’s all,” said the cross-examiner, with an audible sigh, and the witness, as he stepped down, exchanged a triumphant glance with Jake Hines.
The next witnesses were the men who had been in Warren’s office when he placed the watch in the package, and who had accompanied him to the post office and seen the package handed in at the registry window. Both of them were reputable business men, and Owen’s lawyer made no attempt to impeach their testimony. In cross-examination he let each of them off with but a single question, which was the same in each case:
“On the way to the post office, where did Mr. Warren carry the package in which you had seen him place the watch?”
“In the left-hand pocket of his coat,” the two witnesses both answered.
Michael Harrington, the saloon keeper, testified that the package contained no watch when he opened it; which statement was corroborated by several witnesses who had been present in the saloon when the accused postman brought in the registered package.
Harrington made a good impression on the stand. He denied that he knew Jake Hines, except by reputation, and volunteered the information that he had “no use for Sam Coggswell, or any of his bunch,” being himself of the opposite political party. Hines could not help grinning at Judge Lawrence’s evident discomfiture.
The pawnbroker’s clerk, an exceedingly nervous young man, who took the stand and swore that Owen had pledged the watch for forty dollars, was cross-examined at greater length than any of the previous witnesses.
Counsel for the defense, however, could not shake his testimony. He admitted that he was acquainted with[Pg 53] Jake Hines, but denied that the latter had been in the pawnshop that day, or had held any conversation with him regarding the watch. Another audible sigh came from Judge Lawrence as this witness left the stand.
The two post-office inspectors testified to having found the pawn ticket in Owen’s trunk, and a half dozen of the employees of the Branch X Y took the stand and reluctantly stated that Carrier Sheridan had tried to borrow thirty dollars from them that day.
Owen’s counsel did not attempt to cross-examine any of these witnesses. As the last of them left the stand and the prosecutor announced that this closed the government’s case, Jake Hines leaned back in his seat and smiled expansively.