Litchfield enquirer., 1868-04-16
nlisfellanD.
JUDGE REMsEN'S FIRST CLIENT.

Old Judge Remsen of Cowan, was fond of telling his early experience at the bar. My first case he would say came upon me very unexpectedly, after I had waited a considerable time for client. The way came to get it was this:
 A young girl, Helen Montressor, was to be tried at our county court for stealing a breast pin valued at four dollars. and twen- | ty dollars in gold. from the trunk of her employer, James Wesley, 2 merchant in the town of Bedford.
 The theft, which was detected five weeks before, occasioned quite talk at the time as the girl was beautiful, and Wesley and his wife Eunice were anything but that, besides being generally detested. People said Helen had been shamefully treated by her mistress wbo was jealous of her, and it was hinted that there had been foul play in 1 the prosecution for the theft.
 l The subsequent trial of a gang of coun- ] terfeiters and horse thieves had so absorb ed public attention, that the case of Helen Montressor was forgotten, ,and no one seem- ed to care for her fate. But when she was placed in the prisoners box her beauty riv. eted every eye, and when the judge asked her who was her counsel, and she modest ly replied that she had none and no money to pay lawyer, there was not member of the bar who would not have willingly un- dertaken her case.
 The judge after looking around a mo- ment, fixed his eyes on me and said, 'Mr. Remsen, will you please act as this young lady's counsel?" I started as though I had been shot. Luckily juror had been taken | i'll, and the court adjourned till next morn ing, or should have made sad work with my clients case.
 As I left the court room I looked at my watch; it was eleven o'clock, so had but twenty three hours to prepare. called 1 on the district attorney and asked to see the indictment and the evidence before the justice of the peace. As he tumbled over the pile of documents in search of the pa pers he said.
 1 The judge must have 0 spite against you, Remsen, to put you in such tight place, and you green hand. No offence, he added as he observed the rising color of my cheek-'no offence; simply mean that you are inexperienced. These are the doc uments; take them home with you, only be sure to bring them to court tomorrow morning. You will see that your client has no chance"
 was annoyed by this slight reference to my client for whom entertained deep res pect and believed innocent, but said nothing. Fastening to my office, I locked myself in, and commenced the analysis of my case. The evidence consisted of the testimony of James and Eunice Wesley, Sarah Brown, seamstress, Charlotte Boyce, domestic, and Thomas Hannegan a man of all work, employed by Wesley.
 Hannegans evidence seemed straight l forward and truthful, and so did the se:. want girls. made up my mind that they were not unfriendly to my client, and that I would seek an interview with them, al- though it would necessitate journey to Bedford.
 In Miss Browns testimony l at once detected intense malice, and determined to harrow her most unmercifully in the cross examination.
 l Wesleys evidence was similar in style and manner to that of Hannegan; but Mrs. Wesley's was discursive and acrimonious = such as that she always believed Helen to be viper, but her husband upheld the trollop. To my mind the case seemed clear; Mrs. Wesley had put these things in Helen's trunk
 l next went to the courthouse, and re. quested MT. Mace, the sheriff, to intro. duce me to the prisoner. He conducted
 me to her cell. Although the bolts clang.
 ed heavily as they sprang from their locks,
 our entrance did not seem to attract hel
 attention. She was standing with clasped
 hands before her grated window, gazing al the sky. The sheriff touched her arm and
 said:
 Miss Montressor, Mir. Remsen is the lawyer who is to manage your case, and he
 wants to see you. She started. turned quickly around, ano
 made an inclination of her head to indi cate her willingness to listen, but said
 nothing. The sheriff left the cell, and ws were alone. Conscious that every moment
 was precious, said:
 |. Miss Montressor, we must throw aside ceremony, and communicate frankly upor
 this painful business. I believe you ars
 innocent The thing is to prove you SO
 This promises to be difficult, but am no
 without hope. If you will tell me frankl, what your experience has been with tn,
 Wesleys, the task may be essentially light end
 { then put series of question to her and learned that she was fifteen years ol, that she had lived with Mrs. Wesley, wh, } had been married about eight years; tha , she had lived with kind old man named Gregory, who had taught her to call hin
 grandpa; that Mrs. Wesley, who was ther
 called Miss Nesnith, lived with Gregor
 also; that Miss Nesmith inherited all hi
 property, and married MT. Wesley abou