New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-06-01
THE SH1RON DIVORCE CASE.
PERJURY CONFESSED BY WITNESSES.

perjury CONFESSED 81 WI NLSSEo.
A GUSHING rENlrENT-TTDIOCs EXPERT TESrl-
MoyY-THE FAMOUS CONTRACT UNDER THE
MICROSCOPE.
SAN FRANCIsCo May 24.-Tho Sharon divorce
case has been diversified lately by some remarkable
confessions of perjury the part OF witnesses 1or
the plaintiff Among tho strongest testimony Oh
her behalf was that of an old man named True ana
a young man named Wells who swOre that they hab
met sharon one day OH Kearncyst. walking with
Sarah Althea. and that the ex-senator had intro
duced her to them as his wife. And now comes
son of old True with the story that his father who
died recently told him on his death-bed that this
narrative of the introduction was fiction. pon
learning this Young Tue says he went to Wells ana
advised him to confess and put himself III inc
hands of Sharon's lawyers who would see that no
harm came to him. and that Wells finally agreed to
this Young Wells was put on the witness stand
and at once began to cry, and confessed aud cried
and cried and confessed. until everybody In the
court room was laughing AT him. lie put all the
hlane mon old True who. being dead, could not
give his version of the affair Wells said that ola
TINE came TO him. and saying that he was too old TO
earn money honestly, and too poor to do without IT,
proposed that they should form an alliance to make
pile out of the Sharon case. Wells says that he
and Tine really did meet Sharon with young
woman one day. but that they had no acquaintance
with the Senator. and no introduction took place
Old True however. he alleged, declared that Miss
Hill would give them $3.50 900 to testify as he pro-
posed and so the arrangement was made.
OF course Wells was subjected to a scarcbng
cross-examination. and be was made TO admit that
he had expected to he paid by the Sharon side Tor
exposup his perjury. He does not appear to have
realized shat his liberty endangered by his CON
fession and when the Judge ordered him to he com
,nttcd for perjury he was evidently surprised and
very much discouraged. Then came Mrs. PeJslnts
a colorcd woman who had previously sworn that
Sarah Althca had shown her the contract IN 1850,
and said that her conscience would not pcrlilt8cr
to 20 deceiving the court, and that she too had
testified falsely. Characterization OF her ana her
husband revealed so much crookedneSS however
that in committing her Judge sullivan openly as
serted his belief that her first testimony was true
and her second false As to True and Wells his con
clusOns were precisely opposite, that each side
received setback" from these incidents.
Public opinion has by this time got into a hope
les, mudd!c concerning the case. The general I'M
preston is that there has been great deal OF
" hard swearing on both sides, and that neither
paiuth nor defendant is likely TO stop at anything
that may help. There is, however. much perpieXlty
as 10 the share taken by the lawyers in the ways
that are dark and tricks that are vain which have
characterized the case from the beginning OF
course it is toerably obvious that as the plaintIh
has no means her case must have been taken on
contingent fee and 1t is generally admitted that
TYLER her principal counsel, is making bold and
obstinate fight for her. But the phases Of life re-
yeaed throughout have been so peculiar that il is
impossible for any sincere sympathy to be aroused
on ethcr SIDE and nobody prctends to say what the
end will be.
During the last week the proceedings have been
couparatiyely dull, being confined almost entirely
to examination of handwriting by the experts.
and examination of the experts by the lawyers. The
experts have expressed the opinion that in the
letters written by Sharon in which the plaintiff is
addressed dear WIFE" the word wife" Is III most
if not all cases an interpolation. Mr.. Tyler fights
them inch by inch rather letter by letter on this
point. consuming whole day, for instance in
minute examinations of the letter W, and dong
his best to trap the experts into admissions which
will discredit their evidence, though apparently
without much success so far The celebrated mar
rage contract has also been the subject of prolonged
contest The expert theory is that SharOns sigma
ture which appears at the bottom of this precious
document was originally written on a sheet OF blank
paper; that this sheet of paper was folded up and
carried in some ones pocket for some tine and that
after fold, had thus been established in it and it
had become somewhat sOiled. the contract was
written upon the blank space over the signature.
OF course this theory Is hcrccly attacked by Tyler
and no end Of experiments have been made 10 SHOW
whether appearances similar 70 those on the con
tract would result from writing across folds IN
niece of paper. The microscope has been III con
slant use, and at brief .ntclN ais Court, lawyers
and experts would gather round the instrument,
and endcayOT 10 see Tor themselves the minute IN
dicatons whose presence alleged by the experts
A slight cnlivenmcnt of the proceedings was caused
one day by the imprudent pctulance OF Miss Ill,
who sent "A note to OF the experts AT the con
clusion of the session, speaking her mind freely
about the character of his testimony, and as was
charged. calling him some hard names. Tie Court
was appealed 20 10y the defence 10 protect the wit
ness and punish the fair offender, but he did not
appear anxious TO do anything very severe, and the
matter apparently dropped
The stage upon which the case has now entered
may continue almost indefinitely, for the plaintiff
evidently intends to examine great masses OF the de-
feudaDt's handwriting" two bushels" of checks.
for instance. having been already called form
order TO obtain the material Tor comparison with
the letters in the WOTd Z" wife" in the sO-caled
deaT-wiier letters. Meantime the reporters
hard put to il 10 make their daily reports sufficiently
amusing and latterly they have been driven to de-
scribe the costume worn by the plaintiff and the
dress of the various lawyers. As this kind of
writing does not bear closely upon the ii is not
worth while to give specimens Of It, The latest
rumOr is that a Judge Sullivan cannot fOrcsec the
termination of the trial he will adjourn il on June
until after his vacation recommending on July 10.
In that case the proceedings wall probably run
parallel with the Presidential campaign. aud may
come to a OucusiOn about the same time.
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NOT EXACTIY HIS MFANING.-The Hon.