The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-12-13
TREATMENT OF WITNESSES.
THOUGH A SATIRE, THERE IS MUCH MORE
TRUTH THAN POETRY IN IT.

THOUGH A SATIRE, THERE IS MUCH MORE
TRUTH THAN POETRY IN IT.
The manner i'll which attorneys ques-
tlon witnesses is exaspcrating, to the in
telligent listener. beyond expression. The
great purpose of the average criminal
lawyer, for instance, is to draw from the
witness all the facts touching the case
under consideration.
| a countryman chopping down tree,
stops his work and buries his axe up to
/ the eye in the brain of his brother in-law.
transaction runs about thus:
You say that the prisoner was chop
ping tree down. Now will you please
tell the court and jury where he bought
the axe?'
"You don't know Very well, sir.
We'll see about that.
Now, sir, look at the jury-don' t
stare in that helpless manner at mellow
sir, do you say, upon your oath, that you
don't know that the defendant stole that
axe before he left Milpitas?"
You say So ali! Well now mark me,
sir. How many feet was it from the tree
the defendant was chopping to the near
est grist-mill? You can't say"
''Was it ten feet?'
'tCertainly-a good deal more
well, then. was it thousand mileso''
ooh. certainly not
The court and the jury will please OBJ
serve the stubbornness Of this witness. 1t
is man(estly his purpose to keep from the
jury the facts they ought to know.
Now. sir, who owned that milla
The witness innocently inquiries.
'What mill?' bat soon repentS it.
''rhe jury will please observe the eXas-
perating contumaciousness of this wit
ness. his evasion, and his manifest pur-
pose to confuse your minds rs to the fact
involved in this terrible murder.
. Now. sir look me i'll the face. You
have solemniy sworn that the man was
chopping near mill. viii you dare say
look at the jury. sir--that there was no
mill within one thousand miles of the tree
the defendant was felling?H
Il don't say anything of the kind
! The jury will please note that an
swer.'
Now. see here. my friend--we We had
about enough of this. You first declared
that there was no mill, and now you bra
zcnly avow there was Il mill near the
wood-chopper--
Il said there was no mill within ten
feet
Never do you mind what you said--l
know what you said, and the jury knows;
and now listen to me.
Who made your boots?
You don't know. Is there anything
under Gods heavens that you do know?
/ There. there, Look at the iury-not at
me. And now, perhaps, you can tell the
jury what your name isl
The witness tells his name.
j Now. sir--look at the jury. How long
did you live there?''
The witness timidly asks. Lived
where when the attorney springs to his
feet
May it please the court and jury, |
find this witness utterly incorriyible
stubborn, niulisl. and bent upon keeping
back the very facts the jury must have.
He has clearly been tempered with, and
comes here with the manifest intention of
brow-beating and worrying both the jury
and the bar. | have temporized with him
| have led him gently from point to point
in the hope of beguiling him into a true
recital of the facts connected with this
dreadful murder; and what is my reward
for this consideratc kindness and forbear-
ance? Speaking under the sancity of an
oath, he tells this court and jury that he
doesn't know where he lives, and has
asked me to toll him. Can such things be
and not overcome us like a--like-and
not overcome us! | ask, your honor, that
this witness be sent to jail for contumacy
to remain there until he expresses will
ingness to tell what he knows about this
dreadful MURDER
The court then admonishes the witness
that further tritling will not be permitted;
that he must answer the gentleman 5
questions, or he will certainly feel called
upon to commit him to prison.
The witness by this time is bewildered
scared, dazed. and INDUCES i'll contradic-
tons and absurdities as fast and as often
as the attorney requires him to, and final
u. leaving the stand. it is quarter OF an
hour at least. before he can recall his own
name or fix his own identity. The attor-
ney then gets upon his feet, tears the
wretched witnesses contradictory and
foolish rigmarole all to tatters. and asks
the court that it be excluded from the
jury as false and nonsensical,
And that is one of the ways many of
OR average criminal lawyers adopt to
draw out the facts" in great murder