National Republican., 1883-03-27
DORSEY'S DEBUT.
Distinguished Defendant in the Star
Route Trial Takes the Stand.
rlMerck Raises a Question as to His
Religious Convictions.
r. hgersoll Vigorously Objects and Spirited Dis
cussion FollOwS-The Witness Sworn.
Ion,c Exhibitions OF Temper on the Stand
Tho Grand Jury at Work.

The feature of the star route trial yester-
day, and, in fact, what will probably stand
out as prominent feature in the entire his
tory of the case, was the calling of Stephen
W. Dorsey to the witness stand. Through all
the weary weeks of examination there have
! been occasional wonderings why Dorsey was
not present in court, and whether he would
be called as u witness. Suggestions that the
defense did not dare put him on the stand,
and such other remarks as tended to make
his appearance at last in the chair to be ques-
toned, was an event to wake up the dull court
room and turn everybody's best ear toward
the judge
Mr.. Dorsey was sitting beside Col Ingersoll,
of his counsel, and when called arose and went
to the stand, his eyes protected by the very
dark goggles he has been wearing for nearly
year. He was evidently not in tho best of
humor, and when the question of competency
to testify was raised, spoke quickly and de-
family to Mr. Merrick, who was addressing
the court. Then, at a word from his counsel,
he said no more until the close of the discus
sion on the point raised
II was u rare instance of clashing between a
stickler for tho letter of the law and for all
Its ancient forms on the one hand, and n
modern innovator ON the other. Col. Inger-
soil may fairly be classed as in the front ranks
of modern free thought and iconoclasm, while
Judge Merrick represents the extreme oppo-
slte-the old beliefs as cherished and
revered in the Roman Catholic church.
What Mr.. Dorsey believes or does
not believe did not appear, as the
issue Of the brief discussion showed. The
judge found no difficulty in keeping his re-
ligious views entirely in the background, re-
fusing to pass upon the theological view of
H ha xubi IN xyith In
soil that the fact that Dorsey was defendant
made him competent to testify, regardless of
his beliefs or unbeliefs. Judge Merrick is
not only the extreme opposite to Mr.. lngersoll
on the religious question, but in ap-
pcarance, tone, gesture, and manner as
well. He combined the dignity of the court
with the solemnity of the church in his al
most unctuous reference to the awful respon-
sibility of testifying with the fear of the
penitentiary before ono in this world aud
eternal damnation in the world to come. He
pointed to heaven, and measured his words
with effective time and cadence. The two
speakers were alike admirable and opposite.
Col Ingersoll, with the easy grace of the
lecture room and the intensity of sharp
shooter, let go Of the words / objectW in a
tone almost conversational, and warmed up
rs he went on, shading artistically from the
beauties of truth for its own sake" to the
fires of hell rekindled."
The objection came as the clerk was about
TO administer the usual oath.
Mr.. Merrick arose, and asked permission
from the court TO question the witness re-
garding his belief in its binding force. The
request was granted, and Mr.. Merrick in
quired IL the witness regarded the oath as
binding upon his conscience.
Mr.. Dorsey answered that the oath was as
binding upon him as upon Mr. Merrick. He
regarded it as binding upon his conscience
Cly a1 in fnl Il ino ha oath tha
( witness had In mind the effect of a failure to
observe it upon his future state of reward and
punishment?
Instantly Mr.. Ingersoll was upon his feet.
81 object; sit down." said he to Mr.. Dorsey,
and then proceeded to pour out an impas-
stoned address.
"lf." said he, "the fires of hell are to be re-
kindled right here in the court room in
order to bolster up the Christian religion, and
if n real devil is to be brought in with a
three tined fork to frighten people into tell
ing the truth, then we might rs we'll throw
modern discovery, science, literature, scholar
ship -all-aside, and go back three
hundred years for guidance in conducting q
case like this" He objected to the perpetra-
tion of this monstrosity of the dark ages.
The country had passed that point. In
nearly every state, in every civilized state,
overy man was allowed to testify, whether he
believed in future punishment and a personal
God or not. There was one defendant
. in the case the government had taunted him
for year for not taking the stand, and when
he came here they sought to prevent his tes-
timony because he did not believe in their
Jehovah. He admitted that in many states u
gentleman could not testify; that Humboldt
who knew more than all of the state, would
not have'been allowed to testify if his own
brother had been murdered before his eyes.
So with Tyndall and with Huxley. But in
Mr u,if
bitterness, man who beat his wife could go
upon the stand and testify. He did not be-
lieve that his honor would allow such
. procedure. The last time he had
seen 1t tried was before Judge Drummond, at
Chicago and the judge said the examination
concerned matters ofthis world the witness
was to testify about what he knew here.
Mr.. Merrick replied that the religion of
nineteen centuries needed no defense from
him. He was acting under the rules of law.
He referred to Mr.. Ingersoll's charge that tho
government did not wish Dorsey to testify,
and declared that it was untrue What he
did desire was, that the court and jury might
know what weight to attach to his
testimony when he invoked the Supreme
Being. Witnesses were under obligations of
personal honor and integrity. but in addition
they had the obligation that they had in
voked the justice of heaven and the wrath of
men If they falsifcd, and the court and jury
should have the witness opinion of tho 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 obliga-
tion to tell the truth. He read from Green
leaf in support of his position
Mr. Ingersoll said that II there was another
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 acted we'll here. He
regarded truth as the most sacred of all obi.
cations. If he was ON the stand and all he
held most dear was at stake, still would he be
compelled to express his belief, and say that
he did not believe in personal deity and
there were many excellent, generous people of
that belief In the dark ages people were so
given to lying that nobody was expected to
tell the truth unless they were scared. The
gentleman (Mr. Merrick) had quoted law.
Now, laws were not always right. Many people
believed many laws to be wrong, as there
were many laws that were not right. They
had such laws under the old inquistion, with
its thumbscrews, and racks, and fires, and
other hideous monstrOsities. They had laws
against witches and wizards in the days when
they dug up babies corpses and made ont-
ment out of them. And in some states there
were still laws that barred Il man from tell
ing the truth because he did not believe as
some other man, or some holy book and this,
too after Darwin had lived and died. There
used to be law to make a man catch poor
negro woman, with her child in her arms, and
give her back to bloodhounds and the lash.
He hoped that the court would not entertain
the proposition.
The court said that with men not in official
positions it was private matter as to what
they thought of the law; If they undertook
to violate 1t they We're responsible, But