Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-27
The Chief Of the Star Reuters
TestifeS in His Own Behalf.
A General and Excited Denial
OF All Charges Of Cor-
ruption,
The Impious Pope Works in a
Denial of a Personal Deity.
The Rumored Reduction OF
Revenue Collectors Denied
at Headquarters.
The Grasping Cattle Men of Kan
sas Rebuked by Secretary
Teller,

bhS xte Du80u ny cocTctsfy
Teller,
STAR ROUTE TRIAL.
Special Dispatch to TnB BSs.
DoRsEY IN THE STAND.
WASHINGTON, March 26.--After the
examination of unimportant witnesses,
Ingersoll called Stephen ". Dorsey
to the stand. The clerk of the court
was about to administer the usual oath
when Merrick arose and asked per-
mission from the court to question
witness regarding his belief In Its
binding force. The request was
granted and Merrick inquired if the
oath as binding upon his conscience.
Dorsey (fercely shaking his finger at
MerrickS answered that the oath was %
binding upon him as upon Merrlok.
He regarded 1t as binding upon his
conscience.
Merrick aeked, If, In taking the
oath, witnesses had In mind the effect
of failure to observe Il upon his future
state of reward and punishment. In.
stantly Ingersoll was upon his feet,
exclaiming, II object" "Slt down."
said he to Dorsey, and then proceeded
to deliver an impassioned address. He
objected to the preparation of this
monstrosity of the dark age.
The country had passed that period.
In every civilized state every man waa
allowed to testify whether he believed
In future punishment or q personal
God or not. The government had
tainted him for q year for not taking
the stand, and when he came here they
sought to prevent his testimony be-
cause he did not believe in their Je'
hovah. He admitted that In many
states q gentleman could not tes-
tify; that Humboldt (who knew
more than all the s%tates would no
have been allowed to testify if his owr
brother had been murdered before hi
eyes; go with Tyndall and Huxley
but In these states, said Ingersoll with
extreme bitterness, a man who bea
his wife could go on the stand ant
testify. He did not believe his homo
would allow such procedure. tn,
last time he had seen it tried was be
fore Judge Drummond at Chicago
The judge said the s-A..rni-ssis3 sfl
cerned matters of this world and tn
witness wa to testify about what h
knew here.
Merrick replied that religion, whicl
had stood the test of centuries, need
ed no defense from him. He denie'
that the government desired to pre-
vent witness testifSing. What he di,
desire was that the court and jur,
might know what weight to attach t.
his testimony when he invoked tn
Supreme Being. He wanted to know
If, in taking the oath, he felt his con
science was involved; that there wa
an obligation to .ell the truth. FL
cited authorities to support his posi-
tlon.
IDgersoll said If he was ON the stan
and all he held most dear was a
stake, still would he be compelled t
express his belief and say he did no
believe In a personal Daily, and ther'
were many excellent, generous peopl
of that belief. In the dark ages PEG
pie were 80 given to lying that nobod
was expected to tell the truth unles
they were scared. The gsntlema
(Merrlck) had questioned the law
Now, laws were not. always righ'
Many people believed many laws t
be wrong, There were many law
that were not right. They had sue!
laws under the old lnquisition, with II
thumbscrews and racks and fires
|, They had laws. against witches an
wizards, In the dsys when they dui
up bodies and corpses and mad
ointment out of them, and In som
, states there were still laws that barre
q man from telling the truth becaus
he did not believe as some other mar
or some holy book, and ,this to
after Darwin had lived and dice
There used to be a law to make q ma
catch q poor negro woman with hi
! child In hor arms and give her back
. the b~loodhounds and the Lash. Ii
! hoped the court would not entertai
the proposition.
: The court said the Judge was not
liberty to say that he liked this la
aud disliked that; they were not mac
by the court and 1t could only app
them. The act of March 10th, 1877
{ made the defendant a witness. III
I only question was whether Dorsey w
a a defendant. The court would not
0 Into the logical views nor the reeel
q law of 1873,
a Merrick inquired the necessity
. swearing witness under the view.
The court replied. $50 that
d may be punished for perjury If
does not tell the truth"
Merrick acknowledged the answ
va, sufficient.
The oath vas administered to Il
= witness and Ingersoll began the Q
animation. Witness was visibly %
D tated and In many instances scarce
d waited for the conclusion of the que
a tion before answering.
h He testified 40 follows: / becar
B. acquainted with Miner In 1866 or l8
IF at Sandusky, o had known Peck {
fifteen years at the time of his deaf
1t was business relations at first, Pc
being secretary and witness treAsur
OF a railroad company; Peck subs
quently married q sister of witne
wife, and died In August, 1881; fl
IN saw Vail In the spring of 1873, b
did not make his acquaintance at tt
-. ~