Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-01-18
FIRST EDITION.
the GREAT TRIAL.
OUR NE W-Y0Rk LETTER

|
THE TERRIBLE WITNESS MouLToN-Ap oTeaRAPH
OF MAN AND MANNER-DoEs HE LIVE OR NOT p
EvARTs WARMING UP-MUsIc AHEAD.
Special Corresponds ce of he Commercial.
| New York, Jan. l6
Beyond the complete stenographic reports, the
leading newspaper descriptions of the Trial are
amazingly incorrect and often unfairly colored
There are various good reasons why this is 30.
One il incapacity to properly describe, and Of
this failing could give many instances taken
from the Tribune and Herald A different
cause however, induces a distortion or ms-col-
oring Of every detail that can be turned to the
discredit OF party, counsel, and witnesses. The
| Tribune does this for side, the Herald for
| the other. The Times, for the last two days,
| has been splenddly non-committal.
| propose TO dwell somewhat, in this letter. on
THE TERRIBLE WITNESS,
| Frank d. Moulton. Closing with the adjourn
ment Of yesterday evening" he has now been on
| the witness stand three days, and will probably
occupy it ut least two days longer, CROSS exami-
| nation included. 1t s here that first saw him.
and have not the remotest personal interest in
\ him, or any one belonging to him, through
any one belonging to me. Here however, have
watched and studied him with protracted scruti-
| ny, and as have never seen any notice that does
HIM justice, am going to do it now. The ac-
| count of him in yesterdays Tribune is a high
| specimen OF the genius for calmny by which
| the present management OF that journal makes
all the former achievements Of the race, in The
| same line, simply contemplate. The attempt is
| to belittle him. He is, however. undeniably one
| of the most remarkable men in this very remark
| able conjunction of men, and well able, appar-
| emily, in his own native strength, to cope with
the strongest and best trained of them all He is
| tall, strongly-buit man, with head fit for a
Roman Emperor think the
MOST MASCULINE HEAD
| ever saw. 1t matches well in size the colossal
heads of the parties to the suit, while contrast
ing strongly with both of them by it's command
ing masculinity. The nose is Of the most prom
inen Roman type,angular, not curved or hooked,
| and the strength of the massive jaw and chin is
entirely disclosed by the razor but the character
of the mouth is concealed by an enormous and
sweeping moustache. t=
To have this mans picture. however, you
must consider his big head further enlarged by
| a thick intractable shock of hair, of peculiar
dark sorrel shade, or yellowish brown which has
evidently been given up by the BARRIERS. 1t Ii
head OF hair that would drive any barber mad,
and that wife would venture to comb with
three-legged stool.
His dress is in very special sense that OF
gentleman; faultlessly elegant, yet without the
remotest suggestion Of a fashion plate or Of
tailor. His manners are of the same type; abso-
lutely at ease and free in posture, movement and
speech. HIS voice s very strong and masculine,
you nOJ nhrtil, nlb lhnBuhBe hnu
those of well educated society, not Of a finical
school. His absolute self-possession bespeaks
the perfection of clear head strong will, and
| straight forward meaning.
Now, if
MoULToN HAS BEEN LYING,
all along, about Beecher, what dramatic &C.
MUS he must be to have woven the story he
tells. Shakespeare would be inferior. l have
throughout suspended my own conclusion, all
along. upon the result of Moulton's CROSS exam
i,at 1a patt IN fprna hqH
that result now. But perhaps it is as well to
prepare myself and you for it by confessing that
the prospect is disheartening. II were MIR.
Evarts, with all his powers, l should dread the
struggle But the occasional portents OF 1t
which have broken from the great lawyer, AZ he
rouses more and more to the fray, and the storm
gathers backer on his brow, forewarn us of
A TERRIBLE ATTACK ON THE TERRIBLE WITNESS.
If Mr.. Eyarts comes off victorious from that
encounter, if he succeeds in shaking Moulton'B
testimony and his credibility with the jury, he
will have won forensic victory never to be for
cotton by the generations of lawyers to come
If he fails here, however, there will remain an
other chance, for eloquence to sweep away the
story as with a flood. But as for the witness
himself, it seems at present as though Mr.
Evarts might as well dash against the tower of
the Brooklyn bridge. We shall soon see.
/ suppose it ID we'll understood, however, that
the chief reliance of the defence is on the four
years of lying that Moulton processes to have
done for Mr.. Beeeher's protection. They will
argue that this proves him unworthy of credit
when he processes to tell the truth. 1t is
CURIOUS CIRCLE OF REASONING.
If Mr. Moulton has lied for Mr.. Beecher he is
certainly telling the Truth now against him. But
he admits that he has lied for M. Beecher
ergo, he is not telling the truth now against
him. Or more concisely, if he has not lied be-
fore, he is lying now. If he tells the truth now,
he lied before. But he says that he lied before;
therefore he does not tell the truth now. II a
man says, II lie,' does he lie or tell the truth
Both for if he lies he tells the truth, and il he
tells the truth he lies. 1t is well calculated to
befog jury.
see Mr.. Evarts lis very irritable gentleman,
after all, as well rs Mr.. Beach, and all the coun-
sells seem to be professionally pugnacious for
points of law for their own sakes, regardless OF
any apparent advantage or necessity. Half the
nothing whatever, or in manifesting substan
tial agreement that existed at first. am Salts
fed that il poets had not been made before law
yers, they never would have engrossed to them
selves the title of Irritable genus. But Fuller
ton is
A MAsTERLy EXAMINER.
His question is lucid, terse, precise, and that
the first time without any boggng, or shifting
OF words, or trying length and put with the
quiet, buiness-like, clear enunciaton, that
makes a clear understanding with the dullest wit
ness almost inevitable He has not yet showed
HIS teeth, in hostility to a witness. Evarts has
| and already intimated; his aggression looks
unexpectedly fierce and formidable. The same
of Beach. There will be music when all these
bulldogs get at it. DELAWARE.
Free Lunches IN Washington.