Arizona citizen., 1875-06-05
Our First Law Suit.


 arrested for stealing hay near the sink of
 the Humboldt river from a man whom we
 will call Brown. They were pretty hard set there at that time and by their feuds and troubles made great deal of expense for the county. Brown came to Unionville, the county seat, and made complaint against Jones; & warrant forthwith issued from Justice Hadley's court, who was an honest old black m tn, and in due process of time Jones was arrested and lodged in the county jail. We were absent and Jones insisted that he could not pro- ceed to trial until we returned, and as soon as we reached the town we had the most pressing request from Jones to come at once and see him. On repairing to his dark cell we inquired what business he had with us and he replied that he want ed us to defend him. We told him that we were not lawyer, and that there were plenty of that profession Tn town whose services he could secure. He said he was aware of that, but he was sure that none of them could clear him and felt con-
 ident that we could do it. We tried to show him his folly but to no purpose and he plead so hard and with tears in his eyes
 told us Of the grey hairs of his dear old father and mother whom we could save from disgrace, etc., that we finally said, "well, what defense have you to make" He replied, "None" Did you steal the hay?" He replied "cer- taiuly, just as is charged; but am sorry for 1t now and the devil must have had hold of me when I did it." Well, what can we do to save you from conviction? You say yourself you are guilty. He said he did not know but he felt confident from the start we could save him and he threw the whole defence into our hands.
 The simple faith the fellow had In us under such circumstances created desire to clear him, and an idea struck us which we proceeded to carry out. We asked him If he ever carried with him pocket ac- count book; he said that he had with him an old one: we asked him if he had ever had any dealings with the prosecuting witness; he replied never; then we told him at once to charge him with work and certain articles, commencing the dates some time before the theft, and as he went along to make other charges and credits for and against other neighbors and when his dates brought him to the day he stole the hay to give Brown full credit for the hay he stole, and to make his debit side show larger than the credit, and after the hay transaction to go on with his accodnts to the day he was arrested. All this was done and according to the book Brown was several dollars Jones' debtor. Then we told him to rub the first charges (as writing look old and to continue to ru b each leaf less and less until he came down to the present date, which of course mus look fresh and new. About the time we got our accounts arranged the sheriff came for the prisoner to appear in court. We called for jury and were careful to select good hard sense men who would not be governed much by forms of law. Every thing being ready the district attorney | opened the case, introduced the witnesses, and proved and rested his case. We then | opened our side by introducing the old | account book. The district attorney ob- jected and showed conclusively that 1t | was no evidence and ought not to be in- troduced. We appealed to the court, &C., the disadvantage we labored | under by not being acquainted with the | dark mysterious ways of the law, but represented that we had found this poor young man in distress and too poor to hire | the services of a lawyer; we had recog- nized his sterling honesty In the homely | book he kept; we had seen by examining 1t that the prosecuting witness Tot only | intended to rob him but add further to the | infamy of the thing by forever blasting his fair name, and that the district attor- ney for the paltry sum he was to receive | upon his conviction woald stop every avenue of proof and send an innocent, honest man to the dungeon. We saw from the uneasy manner the old justice | sat In his seat that we had him and at this point we rested the case. The old | justice said, well, he did not care d-n for if it came in conflict with l justice and the evidence must be received. l AS item after item was read over, Brown | would groan out, "Oh never; Jones you know better than that" and the old black smith would roar out silence in court, the | dignity of this court must be preserved | We asked the district attorney in triumph how it WAS if thiS was not a hona fda