It might be said here that if any such deal as this was made the supporters of Mr. Trickey have failed to find a witness who overheard the bargain, while on the other hand the police deny that such a conversation ever took place and claim that Captain Harrington and others were in a position to hear all that was said upon the subject by Mr. Trickey and the detective. But this chapter is not an argument either for or against Mr. Trickey. His declaration goes on to say that after the 15th of September, or thereabout, he made numberless visits to the detective, and in this particular he agrees with the police version of the affair. He admits receiving the “skeleton” story first and later the names of the alleged witnesses, and that he did play the part of an agent for the defense prompted purely by a desire to get the story for publication. The fact that he hastened to print the story without further attempt to verify it, is due to two causes. First, he feared that McHenry would sell it to the _Boston Herald_. Second, that he had given a Fall River police officer (one whose name does not appear in this chapter,) the sum of $100 for a list of the witnesses in the case and they agreed with the names furnished by McHenry in the latter part of the transaction. The fact that it did agree convinced him that the story was all right and he did not want to take the chances of McHenry selling out to the _Herald_, so the agreement about the twenty-four hours notice was violated.
The writer has been assured by the police that if Mr. Trickey had given the twenty-four hours notice before publication the _Boston Globe_ would have been spared the trouble of printing the “fake.” In Justice to the _Boston Globe_ it must be said that its editors made the most humble and abject apology for the wrong done Miss Borden by the publication of the “thirteen columns of lies” which Detective McHenry had sold to Mr. Trickey. The apology was made as prominent as the story had been and the Globe’s position, although not an enviable one, appeared to be as graceful as the circumstances would admit.
It has been stated by persons who are in a position to know whereof they speak, that not only Mr. Trickey, but others were indicted for their apparent connection with this affair.