the indicted man must
return for trial and submit the charge against him to a jury. But if
this happens, even if he be guilty, all hope need not be lost. There are
still "tricks of the trade" which may save him from the clutches of the
law.

AT THE TRIAL

What can be done when at last the prisoner who has fought presistently
for adjournment has been forced to face the witnesses against him and
submit the evidence to a jury of peers? Let us assume further that
he has been "out on bail," with plenty of opportunity to prepare his
defence and lay his plans for escape.

When the case is finally called and the defendant takes his seat at the
bar after a lapse of anywhere from six months to a year or more after
his arrest, the first question for the district attorney to investigate
is whether or no the person presenting himself for trial be in point
of fact the individual mentioned in the indictment. This is often
a difficult matter to determine. "Ringers"--particularly in the
magistrates' courts--are by no means unknown. Sometimes they appear even
in the higher courts. If the defendant be an ex-convict or a well-known
crook, his photograph and measurements will speedily remove all doubt
upon the subject, but if he be a foreigner (particularly a Pole, Italian
or a Chinaman), or even merely one of the homogeneous inhabitants of
the densely-populated East Side of New York, it is sometimes a puzzling
problem. "Mock Duck," the celebrated Highbinder of Chinatown, who was
set free after two lengthy trials for murder, was charged not long ago
with a second assassination. He was pointed out to the police by various
Chinamen, arrested and brought into the Criminal Courts building for
identification, but for a long time it was a matter of uncertainty
whether friends of his (masquerading as enemies) had not surrendered a
substitute. Luckily the assistant district attorney who had prosecuted
this wily and dangerous Celestial in the first instance was able to
identify him.

Many years ago, during the days of Fernando Wood, a connection of his
was reputed to be the power behind the "policy" business in New York
City--the predecessor of the notorious Al Adams. A "runner" belonging
to the system having been arrested and policy slips having been found
in his possession, the reigning Policy King retained a lawyer of eminent
respectability to see what could be done about it. The defendant was a
particularly valuable man in the business and