POLICEMAN EXPERT WITNESS.
The Court Decided That Wooden Leg
Didn't Damage Bed Clothes.
It was a very fine point which arose in a police court trial yesterday, and it was finally decided against the prisoner, Howard Mills, a negro. Mrs. Catherine Porter, an aged negress with whom he boarded at 1915 East Nineteenth street, alleged that Mills, because he had been locked out of his room for non-payment of rent, got back into the room with a knife and "did then and there cut, carve, rip, split, strip, etc., etc., one blanket, one 'log cabin' quilt and one white spread."
Mills strenuously denied the allegation, and pleaded that the damage had all been done with a splinter in his wooden leg while he was in the throes of a nightmare.
"The cuts were straight and clear across the covers," said Patrolman Thomas McNally, expert witness, "and couldn't have been made with a wooden leg."
"That is corroborative evidence," said Judge Kyle. "Ten dollars."
