The Worthington advance., 1880-10-14

I thought to myself, Well, gentlemen, il
you can disregard that eiteml of evi-
dence," you are made Of different mate
rial from any jury I ever selected - - -
Tho witnesses were called and the
facts proven in substance as have mar
rated, up to the Identification of:sthe
handkerchief. When the District At
torney called the name Of William
w. I felt the blood rush to my heart
in a way that almost silenced. it's beat
ing. The crisis was at hand. I knew
if I failed the young girl would be heart
broken, and believed it would kill the
old mother, whose heart was bound up
in her .idolized son. Not only this, but
the defendant-as honest and worthy q
young man as there was in the country
would be branded as q felon, sent to
prison, and ruined for life and all this
because the infamous license law had
spread it's poisonous influence over the
little village of s.. and tempted it's
young men to vice and crime. ~.
The witness, William w., came
upon the stand with supercilious air,
full Of the importance of his position as
principal witness against defendant IN
case that excited 80 much interest in
the county. 1knew he was q deep-dyed
villain at heart, whose loftiest thoughts
and best acts were 80 mean and low that
the lowest and worst thoughts and acts
of the prisoner at the bar had never vet
descended to their level.
In my practice I have observed that
there are two kinds of witnesses who
appear in our courts. One class will
tell a lie so adroitly that it will look Just
like the truth tho other will tell the
truth SO bunglingly that it will look Just
like lie. Fortunately for my client,
William belonged to the latter class,
and, when he tried to mix truth and
falsehood together, he made most lam
entable failure. The fact was that he
had tried to become o suitor of Ellen,
and, moved by jealous hatred toward his
successful rival, believed he would hes
itate at nothing that would procure that
rivals conviction.
The witness narrated the occurrence
at the ball, the broken glasses and bleed
ing hand and, when the handkerchief
was handed him, he identified it without
hesitation as the one he had taken from
Henry's pocket and wrapped around his
hand. When the Commonwealth had
ended the examination in chief, the wit
ness was handed over to me for cross-ex-
animation. I sat behind the counsel
table. Close to me, on one side, sat the
mother; on the other, Henry and Ellen,
to whom, my impression is. I had given
some instructions before the trial com.
menced. It is so long ago, however,
that I may have forgotten it.
The handkerchief lay upon the table.
The one Ellen brought me was in g
small roll in my lap under the table. ]
took the right handkerchief in my hand
and proceeded with the ross-examina.
tion. Ny first object was to get William
! angry. In this I succeeded most com.
pletely; for, when I proceeded to ask
him about his store, and if it were not 9
place of nightly resort for canal-thieves,
gamblers, and canal-boat cooks, to say
that he was angry conveys very faint
idea of his mental condition.
While our amiable interview had been
proceeding, I accidentally dropped the
right handkerchief in my lap, and some.
how, by mistake perhaps, picked up the
wrong one and laid it upon the table in
sight Of the jury. The court, audience,
and jury had become so interested in the
"unpleasantness between the witness
and counsel that the mistake was moi
discovered. Henry took the right hand
kerchief and put it in his pocket. By
this time the amiable William woulc
have testified to anything-that the
moon was q cheese, for instance, or any
other equally credible statement -hao
he deemed it necessary to secure yer.
dict of guilty.
then took the handkerchief from the
table, and passed around in front, nea,
to him, and asked the following ques
tions as rapidly as the answers woulG
permit:
Question-"D I understand you t.
say that you were positive that this
handkerchief is the one you tied arounl
the defendants hand the night of the
ball ?"
Answer-"I don't know what you I'M
derstood, but I said So"
q. (still holding the handkerchief ir
! my hand" What is there about this
handkerchief that makes you so posi-
tive?"
A.-"The spots of blood; and it is o.
white silk with raised flowers on it.
know it is the same one."
Q.-"Now, sir, did you not say to Mr.
q. that, If necessary, you would swea1
to lie to send Henry to the peniten
tiary?"
A. (witness in greater rage, if pos.
sible, than before No, sir, I did not
say so. It's lie I never said it,
Q. (handing the witness the handker.
chief)-"Now take this handkerchie1
and show the jury any marks there orc
on it that make you willing to swear tc
it, if you Gun, and tell the truth"
Witness took the handkerchief. opened
it, and pointed out the blood-spots to
the jury, and said: II know it is the
handkerchief 7 cannot be mistaken"
o." You can't! Don't you some.
times make mistakes, or are you always
right and never wrong?"
A." You need not try to make me
say anything else. I know this is the
O." Now, sir, is not this the hand
kerchief? Henry (turning to the de
fendant), give me your handkerchief."
He took the right handkerchief out of
his pocket and handed it to me. I took
it, and, holding it out to witness, asked,
with all the severity of tone I could
"Now, sir, is not this the handker-
chief?"
To say that the witness was astonished.
is mild. That he was confounded, was
certain. He took the handkerchief.
looked at it, and, completely broken
down, said he could not tell, but he be-
lieved the one he held in his hand was
the ono This xvaa tho ono E11or bo1