Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-10-23
ChOate Before Il Jury.

In jury trials his main object was to
| influence the aUiNs of the twelve men
before him. He addressed their under
standings; he fascinated their magma
tons: he stirred their feelings; but,
after all, he used all his powers in
subOrdination to that one primal power
which dwelt in his magnetic individu-
atty, by which he subdued them, bring
ing on that part of their being which
uttered its reluctant Eyes" or " no. the
pressure of q stronger nature as well as
OF a larger mind. AS an advocate. he
thoroughly understood that men in the
aggregate are not reasonable beings,
but men with the capacity of being oc-
casionally made reasonable, if their
prejudices are once blown away by a
superior force Of blended reason and
emotlon-in other words, by force of
being. His triumphs at the bar were
due to the fact that he was powerful
man, victorious over other men because
he had a stronger manhood, stronger
selfhoOd, than any body on the Jury he
addressed. On one occasion [ hap
pened TO be a witness in case where
trader was prosecuted for obtaining
goods under false pretenses. Mr..
Choate took the ground that the SEEM
ing knavery Of the accused was due to
the circumstance that he had deficient
business intelligence-in short, that he
unconsciously rated all his geese as
swans. He was right in his view. The
foreman of the jury, however, was q
hard-headed practical man, a model of
business intellect and integrity, but
with an lncapacity. of understanding
any intellect or conscience radically
differing from his own. Mr.. Choates
argument, as far as the facts and the
law were concerned, was through in an
hour. Still he went on speaking.
Hour after hour passed, and yet he
continued to speak with constant
ly increasing eloquence, repeating
and recapltulatlng, without any seem
ing reason, facts which he had already
stated and arguments which he had
already urged The, truth was. as I
gradually learned, that he was, engaged
III a hand-to-hand- Or rather ina brain
tO-braln and a heart-to-heart-con
with the foreman, whose resistance he
was determined to break down, but who
confronted him for three hours with de-
fiance observable in every rigid line of
his honest countenance.S "You foolr'
was the burden of the advocates ingen-
lous argument; "you rascalw was the
phrase legibly printed on the foreman's
ncredulous face. But at last the fea-
lures of the foreman began to relax.
and at the end the stern lines melted in
to acqulescence with the opinion of the
advocate, who had been storming at the
defenses Of his mind, his heart, and his
conscience for five hours, and had now
entered as victor. He compelled the
foreman to admit the unpleasant fact
that there were existing human beings
whose mental and moral constitution
differed from his own, and who were
yet as honest IN intention as he was, but
lacked his clear perception and sound
Judgment. The verdict was, 'Not gull
ty.' 1t was a just verdict, but it was
mercilessly assailed by merchants who
had lost money by the prisoner, and
who were bounding him down as an
enemey to the human race, as another
instance of Choate's lack of mental and
moral honesty in the defense Of persons
accused or crime. The fact that the
foreman of the jury that returned the
verdict belonged to the class that most
vehemently attacked Choate was suffi-
Client Of itself to disprove such allega-
TONS. AS | listened to Choate's argu-
ment IN this case, [ felt assured that he
would go on speaking until he dropped
dead on the floor rather than have re-,
hnqulshed his clutch on the soul of the
one man on the jury whom he knew
would control the opinion of others
EDWIN I. WHIPPLE, IN Hmper's Moga-
zine for November. taa4 q
II - aH
THE volcanic activity of Vesuvius has