New-York tribune., 1878-06-26
STOPPING A BLACK MOUTH.

The thanks OF thousands Oh WIOhEOu "h"
patient witnesses are due to General Boynton
for his rebuke of Butler in the Potter COM
mittee-room. General Butler has been no
tOrious always for his outrageous treatment
of respectable persons who have the mis-
fortune to know anything about cases In
which he is employed, but he has not been
slngular. Abuses of the right of examination
and cross-examinatOn, in the courts and IN
committees of Congress and the Legislature,
have grown TO be almost intOlerable. The art
of bullying and breaking-down witness mas
become a distinct branch of the lawyers
trade. There is a bully of one sort who wears
a red shirt and dyed mustache, and swag-
gers on the Bowery with the stump OF
cheap cigar in his vile mouth, insulting shop
girls and hustling quiet pedestrians. Ihere
is a bully of another sort who wears broad
cloth and fine linen, and hurls vulgar ana IN
solent language mt ladies and gentlemen under
the protecting roof of court room. The one
is n blackguard from natural taste and
deficient education the other is black
guard for hire. There are lawyers who
train themselves for this special employ
ment. They may he weak in an argu-
ment, dull in debate, ignorant of the statutes,
but they make a good living by the bound
less license of an abusive tongue. Everybody
familiar with our courts can point out jury
lawyers who are employed expressly to make
the worse appear the better reason by terrliy-
ing, confusing and exasperatng witnesses.
And the worst Of it is that this disgracetul
calling is scarcely considered unprofessional.
II Is said in defence of such practices that
every suitor is entitled TO break down the
testimony OF the other side, if he can. But
that is not true in the broad sense OF the
proposition. Neither client nor counsel has
right TO break down testimony by unfair
means. No man has n right to injure an
innocent person in order to protect himself.
Where there is reasonable ground to suspect
that witness may be cOnccaling facts, or
preyaricating, or swearing falsely, the law
properly allows great latitude in cross-ex-
animation. But the evil of which we COM
plain is the browbeating and insulting
of witnesses who are evidently telling
the plain truth. Respectable persons who
have no interest in the case at issue are
dragged into court, at great inconvenience
and ANNOYANCE TO themselves, and there sub
icctcd to a course of outrages which it makes
ones blood boil to recount. The law says that
they must be required to tell all they know,
50 that the truth may be discovered and
Justice done and to carry out this purpose
they are set up on stand and trained bully
is let loose to worry them into hiding the
truth, so that injustice may triumph. Such
wrongs are an injury TO the public, and a
disgrace to the lawyers who practice and the
ir5ocs vgLo pcr,nit them
We are not sorry, upon the whole, that
General Butler vcntured the trial Of his tai
ents on Monday. lie found in General Boyn-
ton a subject who Ia not easily frightened OF
confused, and whose reputation for franlness
and integrity is above assault. General Boyn-
ton, moreover, was fortunately in better
position to defend himself than any witness
can command in an ordinary examination,
and he WAS not slow TO see his advantage
and to press it. Blackguagd lawyers have,
consequently, received a public rebuke for
which they have long been spelling; victims
have been encouraged to assert their rights ;
and courts have received broad hint which,
we trust, will not be lost upon them.