Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-06-28

The manner In which attorneys question wit
nesses is exasperating to the Intelligent ns-
of the average criminal lawyer, for instance, is
to draw from the witness all the facts in his
exceRtng the facts touching the
his work, and buries his ak up to the eye in the
who saw the whole bloody transaction is
brought into court, and his examination runs
about this:
tree down. Now, will you please tell the Court
ard jury where he bought the AK,
You don't know; very WELL sir, Wen see
"Now, sir, look at the 1ury,-don,t stare in
that helpless manner at me,-now air. do Won
say, upon your oath, that you don't know that
the defendant stole that Ak before he LETT Padu-
cal?'
"You do say so. ah2 Well, now mark me
sir. How many feet was it from the tree the
mill? You can't say"
"WaS 1t ten feet?"
"Certainly, good deal more"
wen, then, was 1t a thousand miles?"
"The Court and jury will please observe the
stubbornness OF this witness. 1t is manifesfIy
bis purpose to keep from the jury the facts they
Now, Sir, who owned that millsr
The witness innocently inquiries, "What MILF"
"The jury will please observe the exasperat.
ing contumaciousness of this witness, his eva
sion, and bis manifest purpose to confuse your
minds as to the facts involved in this terrible
"New, sir, look me in the face. You have
solemnly sworn that the man was chopping
he jury, sir-that there was no mill within
1,G0o miles Of the tree the defendant was fell
lng?"
1.-THE jury Will please note that answer"
Now, see here, my FRIEND, we've had about
enough of this. You first declared that there
was mill near the wood-chopper-'
81 said there was no mill within ten fee
"Never do you mind what you sa1d,-I know
what you said, and the jury knows; and now,
sir, 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 jury,-not at me. And now per-
haps you can tell the jury what your name is?
The witness tells his name.
Now, sir,-look at the Jury!-how long did
you live there?"
The witness timidly asks, I" Lived where?
when the attorney springs to his feet:
May 1t please the Court and jury: find this
witness utterly incorrigIble, -stubborn mulish,
and bent upon keeping back the very facts the
jury must have. He has clearly been tempered
with, and comes here with the manifest inten-
ton OF browbeating and worrying both the
Jury ana the bar. l 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;
kindness and forbearance? Speaking under
the sanctity of an oath, he tells this Court and
Jury that he doesn't know where he lives, and
has asked me to tell him! Great God! can such
things be- and not overcome us like Alike
and not overcome us? 1 ask your honor that
this witness be sent to Jail for contumacy, to
remain there until he expresses Willingness
10 tell what he knows about this dreadful
murder
The court then admonishes the witness that
further trifiing will not be permitted; that he
must answer the gentleman's questions or he'll
certainly feel called upon to commit him to
prison.
The witness by this time is bewildered, scared,
daZed; and INDUCES In Contradictions and alb
surdities as fast and as often as the attorney
requires him to; and, finally leaving the stand,
1T is quarter OF an hour at least before he can
recall his own name or fix his own Identity
The attorney then gets upon his feet, tears the
Wretched witness terrible 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 our aver
age criminal lawyers adopt ito draw out the
facts In great murder cases.-[ Cairo Bulletin.