The Kenosha telegraph and tribune. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1859-1860, 1860-06-07

enQeQ, Lincoln introduced few wit
nesses to remove some erroneous i'm
pressions in regard to the previous char
acter ofhis client, who, though some
what 1owdyish, had never been known
to commit vicious act and to show
that greater degree of i'll feeling exist
ed between the accuses and the accused
than the accused and the deceased,
The prosecutor felt that the case was a
clear one, and his opening speech was
brief and formal. Lincoln arose, while
a deadly silence pervaded the vast au-
dlence, and in clear but moderate tone
began his argument. Slowly and care
fully he reviewed the testimony, point
ing out the hitherto unobserved discrep-
ancies in the statements of the principal
witness. That which had seemed plain
and plausible, he made to appear crook
ed as serpent's path. The wit
ness had stated that the affair took
place at a certain hour in the evening,
and that by the aid of the brightly shi-
ming moon, he saw the prisoner infict
the death blow with slungshot. Mr..
Lincoln showed that at the hour referred
to,the moon had not yet appeared above
the horizon and consequently the W hole
tale was a fabrication. An almost in
Simultaneous change seemed tohave been
wrought in the minds Of his auditors,
and the verdict of ''not guilty. was at
the end OF every tongue. But the adj
Vocate was not content with this intel
iectual achievement. His whole being
had for months been bound up in this
work OF gratitude and mercy, and, as
the lava Of the oyercharged crater burst
from its Imprisonment, so great tho'ts
and burning words leaped forth from
the soul Of the eloquent Lincoln. He
drew a picture Of the perjurer so horrid
and ghastl y that the accuser could sit
under it no longer, but reeled and stag
gered from the Court room while the
audience fancied they could see the
brand upon his brow. Then in words
of thrilling pathos, Lincoln appealed to
the jurors as fathers of sons who might
become be widowed, to yield to no
previous impressions, no i'll founded
but do his client Justice and
as he alluded to the dept of gratitude
which he owed the boys sire, tears were
seen to tall from many eyes unused to
weep. 1t was near night when he con-
Guided by saying that, if justice were
done-as he believed IT would be-be-
lore the sun should set, it would shine
upon his client a free man. The Jury
retired, and the court adjourned for the
day. Half an hour had not elapsed,
when, as the officers of the Court and
the volunteer attorney sat at the tea ia
bic of their hotel "a messenger announc-
ed that the jury had returned to their
seats. All repaired Immediately to the
Court House, and while the prisoner
was being brought from the Jail, the
Court room was filled to overlooking
with citizens Of the town. When the
and his mother entered, silence
az completely as though the
house was empty. The foreman Of the
jury, IN answer to the usual inquiry from
the Court, delivered the verdict of s'Not
Guilty !" The widow dropped into the
arms of her son, who lifted her up. and
tod her to look upon him as before
free and innocent. Then, with the words
wv here is Mr.. Lincoln ?'' he rushed
across the room and grasped the hand
OF his deliverer, while his heart was too
full for utterance. Lincoln turned his
eyes toward the West, where the sun
still fingered in view, and then, turning
to the youth, said, cit is not shutdown,
and you are free" l confess that my
cheeks were not wholly unwet by tears
and | turned from the affecting scene.
AS | cast glance behind, l saw Abra-
ham Lincoln obeying the divine injunc-
ton by comforting the widowed and
the fatherless. D.