Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-06-26
LANCASTER. WISCONSIN. THURSDAY. JUNE IS, 1879.

case rests upon the testimony of old
Buff of bogus lead memory-a wit.
ness whose very looks convict him OF
perjury-and who has avoided truth
so long that he is ashamed to meet
1t, like the simpleton who avoided
meeting the doctor because he was
ashamed of not having been sick
enough to require his services for SO
long time. Can such man tell
the truth? To say nothing Of the
suspicious relations in which he
stands to the defendant, look at the
man as he stood before you, and saw
| il you can believe him. Why, he 10
the very incarnation OF a lie! What!
Do you believe IS he swears, that my
shrewd and wary client, Mack Black,
had the folly to attempt to suborn old
Buff? False, every word! Mack is
not fool. If the compliments
wanted witnesses, they would at
least have found those whose looks
would not bear witness against their
words. Why, the old rascal, bad as
he IS, when cornered on his voir dire,
admits that White has promised TO
let him have money; but then it is TO
be gratnity. Oh! yes; of course
q mere gift, . bonvs for his good
character! And yet here comes
Whites attorney and affects to be
struck with holy horror at this Gull
prit's statement, that my worthy eli.
ent, Mack Black, had proposed con.
veying to him an interest in the Dig
gings, and throws up his arms like
tragedy king, and rolls up the whites
OF his eyes like dying duck in
thunder storm! Where, now, do we
first find this defendant--this spotless
Mr.. White-this Texan major, whose
name is bnrlesque On his character
-one whom his well paid attorney
attempts to hold up 10 contrast with
my excellent and honorable client,
Mack Black? Where? Why, assist
ing old Buff to graft q mineral hole
and to swindle an honest stranger
from Galena! What! If they had
really made Q discovery there do you
believe, unprincipled as they are,
that they would have perpetrated
this fraud? or would they not rather
have proceeded to work ont the min
eral they had discovered? But sup
pose they did strike mineral on the
10th Of October, and that they did
sell an actual discovery to Leech,
which they afterwards repurchased,
did they not leave the ground for
tUeeks without tool upon it? was it
not abandoned? forfeited? while
Smith & Hawkins were, and had
been for q long time, working the
east end OF the range, as every body
knew, without an objection raised by
this defendant? No, gentlemen,
there was no discovery-and that
the real consideration for the two
hundred and fifty dollars which
White paid to Leech was the adjust
ment and settlement of q prosecution
which Leech was about to commence
against that pair Of worthless for
swindling him out Of nine thousand
dollars! There, You have it; and if
Mr.. Anthony Power could be sworn
he would tel you So"
Ono, / wouldn't" muttered Pow
er.)
"How easy for the defendant to
have left tools on the ground during
his three weeks absence as a sign
of continued occupancyp No, no;
White never thought Of going back
to dig until he heard that Smith &
Hawkins we're raising mineral. What
says the witness Clay, who has
badgered more holes in the mines
than there are in half an acre of hon.
eycomb, and raised more thousands
OF mineral than Flint has raised
pounds? He says that the damps
never prevent working q shaft in 90.
tober; and that every one who
abandons his mineral lot for more
than seven days, weather and health
permitting him to dig, and carries
away his windlass and all his tools,
absolutely forfeits his ground.
"Gentlemen Of the jury; as you
love honesty and industry, and as
you abhor ssoa!ity and fraud, con-
jure you, in behalf Of my clients, to
find for them, as l have no doubt but
you will, verdict that they have
restitution of the premises, and the
lead Of which this defendant has
wrongfully robbed them"
When Counsellor Shave had closed
the case, Justice Gosling walked up,
and the jurors yawned, and every
soul wished himself at home sleeping
in warm bed, like the thirteen
white haired urchins that were snor.
ing in one. corner of the court room,
upon an old she bed and its foal
trundle bed. The little new brass
clock tollea four. The fire in the
huge chimney was nearly extinct.
This was circumstance favorable to
a speedy verdict. The jury was Civ
On in charge of constable, and ev.
cry body else went out to await their
verdict. The weather had suddenly
changed and grown cold as hell 70.
versed. From thawing to freezing,
the change was almost instantaneous.
The frost penetrated and chilled ev.
erything. II stung like fire. All ca
loric seemed snnihilated. In FIVE
minutes the earth began to crack a.
il it would be shivered; and the teeth
chartered SO that no man could ar
ticulate; and the FIVE hundred and
odd spectre swine laying between
the double log stables, squealsd and
growled and groaned IS If they we're
in the sgonies Of death. The prairie
hens upon the stacks were 30 torpid
thut they might have been brushed
of with q stick.
Some were trying to listen at the
door and learn what the jury were
about. The cold vas increasing and
became intolerable. Buff and Black
went to get their horses where they
had left them tied 10 the cold to nib
BILE at some prairie hay. There
efood the horace with fbo;, 6xad