PROSECUTION WITNESS ASSUMES HE IS LOCKED UP FOR BEING TARDY TO COURT
Raleigh, North Carolina (JFK+50) On January 18, 1922, the Associated Press reports that one J.W. Reeves of Wendell* appeared in Wake County Superior Court here in Raleigh as a prosecution witness in a forgery case.
Mr. Reeves, however, stepped into the courtroom while another trial, this one for murder, was underway. Seeing only one chair vacant, he immediately sat down in it.
Unfortunately, that chair, unbeknownst to J. W., was located in the "prisoner's dock**." When the trial adjourned, Mr. Reeves was escorted with "other prisoners" back to their cells.
The AP reports that Mr. Reeves assumed that he was being locked up for tardiness to court and "offered no complaint."
Mr. Reeves family finally discovered his predicament, and were successful in gaining his release yesterday.
*Wendell is a satellite town of Raleigh NC. Incorporated in 1903, the local teacher suggested naming the village after his favorite poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes.
**The "dock" is a place set aside in the courtroom for defendants. It separates defendants/prisoners from other participants in a trial.
SOURCE
"Tardy Witness Sits In Prisoner's Chair, Spends Week In Jail," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., January 18, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
