The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1879-06-07
HOW THE POOR WITNESS FARES

: The manner in which attorneys qucstiG
witnesses is exaspcrating to the intelliger
,, listener, beyond expression. The grea
purpose Of the average criminal lawyer 70
instance, is to draw from the witness al
the facts in his possession, excepting tn
, facts touching the case under consideration
A countryman choppng down tree
stops his work and burrics hsaxe up to the
eve, in the brain of his brother-in-law. The
witness who saw the whole bloody trans
action, is brought into court, and his exam
ination runs about this:
"You say that the prisoner was choppinS
a 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 me-now, sir
do you say, upon your oath, that you don't
know that the defendant stole that axe be.
fore he left Padcuahl"
"You do say so, ah2 Well now mark
me sir. How many feet was it from the
tree the defendant was chopping to the
nearest grist minl You can't say
WAS it ten feetl"
Certainly, a great deal more"
"Well, then, was it thousand milel"
"Oh, certainly not"
The court and jury will please observe
the stubbornness of this witness. 1t is
manifestly his purpose to keep from the
jury the facts they ought to know"
New, sir, who owned that mill!"
The witness innocently inquiries ''what
MILF" but soon repents it.
1.-THE jury will please observe the exas-
perating contumaciousness of this witness
his evasion, and his manifest purpose to
confuse your minds as to the facts involved
IN this terrible murder.
"Now sir, look me in the face. You have
solemnly sworn that the man was chopping
near mill. Will you now da:e say-look
at the Jury, sir-that there was no mill
within thousand miles of the tree the de-
PENDANT was telling!"
II don't say anything of the kind"
"The jury will please ncte.that answer
Nov, see here, my friend we've had,
about enough of this. You first
declared there was no mill and
now you brazenly avow there
was mill near the wood chopper
II SAID there was no mill within ten
| fee"
Never do you mind what you said. l
know what you said, and the jury knows;
and now, sir, you 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 perhaps 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 there9"
The witness timedly asks, "lived where"
when the attorney springs to his feet:
MAY it please the court and jury: I find
this witness utterly incorrigible-stubborn.
mulish and bent upon keeping back the
very facts the jury must have. lie has clearly
been tempered with, and comes here with the
manifest intention brow-beating and worry
in both the jury and the bar. l have tenn
porzed with him; have led HIM gently
from point to point, in the hope Of beguil-
ing him into true recital Of the facts con.
nected with this dreadful murder, and what
is my reward for this considerate kindness
and forbearancel 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 a-like-and not overcome u.s."
ask your honor, that this witness be sent to
Jail for contumacy, to remain there until he
expresses willingness to tell what ht
knows about this drcdful murder"
The court then admonishes .he witness
that further tri1ng will not be permitted
that he must answer the GENTLEMAN's qucs
TONS or he'll certainly feel called upol
to commit him to prison.
The witness, by this time, is bewildered