Louisiana capitolian., 1879-08-16


Our lawyer had been sitting down oil
the time the trial had been going on
without saying word; but now hc got
up and SAID:
If you please, your Honor, ] am here
to defend this man. Yon are trying him
for murder, and before YOU pass sentence
| should like to call your attention to
the fact that, III orr conrts Of justice, it
is customary to give a prisoner a chance
to defend himself; and lso you entirely
ignore the jury. 1t isf customary, too,
to give prisoners time'fo get their Wit
nesses, but I, to-day representing the
prisoner at the bar, wsive that privilege
and am quite ready to- advance the de-
Tense of my client J
His Honor appeared. highly astonished
at this, and turned to whisper to one OF
the jury,
Il beg your Honor''g PARDON said our
lawyer, that is very unusual thing to
see Judge whisper to the jury. 1t is
not only unbecoming to the court, but
affords good ground fbr an impeachment.
] recognize the distance we are from
civilization, but rely upon these noble
men around me to see fair play and JUS
tice DONE i
He was touching our sentiments-es-
pecially Red Smith'r who Thought the
closing remark favorable to his mob
idea-and his Honor considered within
himself before attempting anything more
in the presence of one who understood
these fine points o. court proceedings
much better than lie did. So, putting
on dignity that looked funny to us
who had seen him as a cheap stable
hand at the opposition stage barns, he
allowed the defense the right to proceed
with his arguments.
And he did proceed. Our lawyer
made the sheriff ard his posse tell their
whole lives, and wound up by asking
them if they saw the shot fired that had
killed the stranger.
Every one of them was compelled to
answer, No.
Somewhere at about this time of the
trial Pete left the room, much to our
surprise and wonder.
Our lawyer then opened on his argu-
ment. 1t was delivered in just the
style to catch the fancy of the jury. He
used nearly our own lingo, and utter
making more than one man sqnirm by
talking of mothers, sisters, wives and
daughters, he wound up With:
And now, gentlomen of the jury,
have alluded to all but one point | can
think of in the prisoners favor. That
one is, might there not have been some
enemy of the deceased present who may
have taken advantage of the prisoners
peculiar situation and fired the shot that
killed the stranger' You know that there
were more than one in the room at the
time, and why not among them some
one who desired the strangers death
and took the opportunity tc kill him
when there was a possibility of another
man having to- answer for the crime ;
tell you, gentlemen Of
But Pete (wlo had returned as sud
denly as he had lefty interrupted him
here by handing a note to the Judge.
On reading it the Judge got up hasts
like and told the sheriff, jury, prisoner
and all to follow him.
He took us to Niger Georges shanty,
and there, lying OH the floor with his
boots for a pillow, we saw q man with
piece of paper by his side and a pencil
in his hand. He had just finished wri
ting, and, as the Judge entered, he ask
ed in q weak, painful voice:
BE you the Judge7
Yes his Honor replied:
4 am dying--m old bullet wound in
my lungs-have made a confession
here--this PAPER
The judge took it, read it and handed
it to the jury, who read and handed il
to the sheriff.
The sheriff read it out to US. 1t ran:
Il am the man that killed Brit Gun
ningham, the prisoner for whose murder
Bill Budsore is Oh trial. / followed the
man here, and revengcd myself for the
wound of which an now dying, Bill
Budsore is innocent, so held me God.
Signed, JAMES DRoGAN.'
'Do you swear to that p asked tho
Judge, as soon as, it was read.
We all saw him nod yes and close
his eyes, and give the kick and shudde1
of a dying man. The man, we thought