Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1844-08-17
by Masser s. Eisely.
A Court Scene I'm Georgia.

! is as rich in all its elements Of fun as ANYTHING
we have lately stumbled upon
A friend oc mine has recently returned from
an excursion into the - circuit of this State.
! He tells me while in the county Of, he
strayed into the Court house, and was present at
an arraignment of a man by the name of Henry
! Day, who was charged with attempting to kill
his wife, Day was pale little man, and the
! wife was a perfect behemoth. The Indictment
being read, the prisoner was asked 10 say whe-
ther he was equity or not guilty"
/ He answered, "There's a mighty chance of
lawyers lies in the papers but some part is
true. did strike the old lady, but she fit me
! powerfully first. She can swear equal to
! liAle Of anything, and her kicks are awful. |
reckon what you say about the devil moving
me is pretty tolerably correct, seeing as how
she moved me. | have told you all know
bout the circumstances. Mister. | gin Squire
! Jones there a five dollar bill, and allow he'll
take it out for me-" Squire Jones thereupon
rose and said he had point of law to raise in
| this case which he thought conclusive. 1t was
an established rule Of law, that man aud wife
were but one and he should like to know if
man could be punished for whipping himself; he
| should be glad TO hear what the solicitor gene.
raj had to say that. The soctoral general an.
swered, that he thought his brother Jones had
carried the maxim little too far; men had often
been punished for beating their wives. If man
! should kill his wife it would not be suicide.
Here Squire Jones nterposed, and detied
the solicitor general to produce any authority
to that effect. The solicitor general looked at
"Green and Lumpn's Georgia Justice" for some
minutes, and then observed that he could not
find the authorities Just them but he was sure
he had seen the principle somewhere and he
called on the Judge to sustain him. In the en-.
thusiasm of counsel on the point, they forgot to
offer any evidence os to the guilt or innocence
of Day in the premises. The Judge, likewise,
being obvious of the fact, proceeded to charge
the jury. He told them that man and wife
were one. He remarked that in either event,
the man was legally bound to suffer and there
fore, come as they would, Day was undoubtedly
guilty. lie said he would not decide the ques.
tion whether if a man kill his wife it was mur-
der or suicide. He was not prepared to ex-
press an opinion on that point it was n very
delicate one, and he had no idea OF committing
himself (Some one here observed that he was
mighty fond of committing others.) He then
called up the baif, tremendous looking
cracker, wearing broad brim hat with Grape.
! q never saws man south of latitude thirtv-three
that did not wear white hat with Grape and
proceeded TO admonish him that the Jury were
very much in the habit of coming in drunk with
their verdict, and that if it happened in this
case he would discharge the prisoner, and put
( the punishment upon him The baililf gave
significant glance at the Judge, and replied that
other people besides the jury came into court
drunk, when some people were drunk them
selves! The jury then retired and 50 did riy
/ friend.
The next day he returned aud found matters
IN statu quo, except that Day and his wife had
made up, and were discussing the merits of a
cold fowl and quart of beer, and now and then
enterchangng kisses, despite the trowns and
becks ofthe officers. The Judge, clerk and She
riff had been up all night, and looked wolish :;
and the bailIffwas seated on his white hat at the
door Of the Jury room and this indicated that he
had swallowed the concentrated venom of
| thousand wildcats. The most awful curses.
oaths and sounds proceeded frou the Jury rooms;
some were roaring like lions, some cry ing like
children, mewing like cats, neghing like horses
&c. At last a short consultation was held at
the jury-room between the foreman and the bal.
lif; whereupon the latter, putting his hat one
sided on his head, came into the court room
and addressed the Judge thus "Mster Tom
Jakes says the Jury cant't agree about this here
man ; aud fyou keep him (that is Tom Jakes)
without grog any more, he'll whip you on sight"
| The Judge appealed to the bar if thi. was not
contempt ofcourt-and "Grecn and Lumpkin's
Georgia Justice" having been consulted, it wos
finally decided that it was threat addressed
to the Judge as private individual, and was to
"whp him on sight" and not on the bench il
was not, under the free and enlightened and de-
mocratlc principles of Georgia legislation, a
contempt ofcourt. This being settled, the Judge
directed the ballfi to say TO Tom Jakes, the fore.
man, "the jury should agree ifthey staid there
through eternity" The bailif retired, and so
did my friend-but he gives it as his opinion.
from the trame of mind in which he left all par.
ties, the juries and bailffsare still there.