The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-04-05
TIE OBLIGATION or Az OATH,
n High D"bate Between Inger,oll and
McrriCk.


Merrick.
"AsiIiN"iUN, March 26. In the Star
route ,ria! to-day, after considerable time
had been spent upon - number of unim.
p'ttant witnesses, Stephen ". Dor-ey
took the stand The clerk WA, anon, -
administer the usual oath, wien Merrick
rose ana asked permission from the Cour,
10 question tic witness regarding his be
liei in lis binding force. The ,ro,,as,
was granted and Merrick inquired if the
witness regarded the oath as bindiup
upon his conscience. He iiercely shaE:
ing hl' finger a: Nerrick answered that
me me oath was As binding upon him As upon
Merrick. lie regarded it as binding upon
nis conscience. Merrick asked if in tax
ny .he oa'h the witness had in mind tie
enect o. failure TO observe it upon his
'utu'e state OF reward and punishment.
Instantly lnger-ol was upon his feet.
i o9Ject. Sit down." said he Ia Mr..
dorsey, and then proceeded 20 pour out
an imrassioncd address.
lie objected to the preparation Of this
h'oIs'f"sity OF the dark ages The coun-
'iy mas passed that point in nearly every
1Na'e. IN every civilized State every man
"as allowed t" testify whether he believed
| !" iutufe punishment and a personal God
| VI not. Here was one defendant in the
case lhe Government had taunted him
ioF year for not taking the stand, and
"heh ne came here thcy sought to pre-.
vent MS testimony because he did not be.
lieVe III their Jehovah He admitted
'hat IN many states gentleman could
not testify, that Humboldt, who knew
more than all the State, would not have
1een allowed to testify if his own brother
mad been murdered before his ewes; SO
Win lyndall and with Huxley. But in
nose States, said Ingersoll, with extreme
bitterness, man who beat his wife could
20 upon the stand and testify. He did
not believe that his Honor would allow
SUCH procedure. The last time he had
seen IT tried was before Judge Drummoud
aICh!cago, and the Judge said that the
examination concerned matters of this
"ofio: lhe witness WAS to testify about
what he knew here.
.Merrick replied that the religion of
nineteen centuries needed no defence
from him. He was acting under the rules
OF law. lie referred to Ingersoll's charge
that the Government did not wish Dorsey
to testify, and declared that it WAS un.
true. What ne did desire was that the
Court and jury might know what weight
TO attach To his testimony when he invo-
Eed the Supreme Being. Witnesses we're
under Obligations Of personal honor and
| integrity, but in addition tl.ey had the
obligation tha; they ha'l invoked the Jus
| tlce OF Heaven and the wrath of men if
they falsiiied and the Court and iury
should have the witness opinion of the
weight of that obligation. He wanted to
know if in taking the oath he felt that
his conscience was involved and that
there was an obligation to tell ,he truth.
lie read from Grecnlcaf in support Of
his position.
lnger,oll said that If there was anoth.
er world and he had acted badly in this
he would expect To fare badly there, and
SO he would expect TO fare we'll if he act
Ed we'll acre. lie regarded truth as the
most sacred of all obligations. If he
was on the stand and all he held most
dear was at stake, still would he be com
PEELED To express his belief and say that
he did not believe in i personal Diety;
and there were many excellent, generous
people of that belief. In the dark ages
the people were so given to lying that
nobody was expected to tell the truth
unless they were scared The gentleman
lMerrick) hal quoted law. Laws were
not always right. Many people believed
many laws to be wrong as there are
many laws that are not right They had
such laws under the old Inguisition with
its thumbscrcws and racks and fires and
other nideous mon-trosities. They had
laws against witches aud wizards in davs
when they dug up babies corpscs aud
made ointment OF them, and in some
States there were still laws that barred n
man from telling the t!.,h because he
did not believe as some other man or
some holy book, and this, too, after Oar
win had lived and died. There used to
be i law to make q man catch poor
negro woman with her child in her arms
and give her back to the bloodhounds and
lash. He hoped that the Court would not
entertain the proposition.
The Court said that with men not in
official position it was private matter
as to what they thought of the law. If
they undertook to violate it they were
responsible. But Judge was not at lib
erty to say that he liked this law and dis
liked that. That he would administer
this one and ignore that. They were not
made by the Court, and it could only
apply them. AS to the theological ques-
tion discussed at such length the Court
would not go into that. it was unneces-
sary. The Act Of March 1G, 1878, made
the defendant witness, and that settled
that point. So then the only question Of
competency was whether Dorsey was
defendant. When new law was intro
duced, and without Limitation said "the
defendant shall be witness" no other
competency was required. The other
view the Court would not pass upon. 1t
would not go into the theological view nor
beyond the law of 1878.
Mr.. Merrick inquired what was the
necessity for swearing the witness under
this view.
The Court replied, 80 that he may be
punished for perjury, if he does not tell
truth.
Mr.. Merrick acknowledged that the
answer was sufficient. He then went on
to dsavow any intention of preventing
the witness from testifying. The Gov
ernment was desirous that he should tes-
tify.
Court: Administer the oath.
Ingersoll: He may swear or affirm.
Witness: Oh, l had justa as soon swear.
The oath was then administered, and
Ingersoll began the examination.
A MAN WHO HAS HAD NINE
WIvEs-An old gentleman residing in
Simmons Gap, GA, has about as wide,
varied and full an experience Of domestic