Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-01-14
A DRAMATIC SCENE.

A DRAMATIC SCENE.
Whatever may be said of the moral of
the thing, the trick George ". Tyler
played upon W. H. L. Barnes and Isaiah
w. Lees, the noted detective, will excite
something more than the curiosity of men.
There is in human nature an irresistible
disposition to admire sharp practice.
When two exceedingly shrewd lawyers
attempt to outwit one another, the winner
will receive measure of applause that is
not to be mistaken, however, for approval.
In the celebrated Hill-Sharon case, on an
application of the plaintiff for alimony'
there was enacted in Court in San Fran
| cisco, on Monday, a scene full Of dramatic
| interest. as the details elsewhere published
disclose Had such story been told in
fiction, or have been dramatized and pre-
scented upon the stage, the mass Of men
would have pronounced it unreal and
wholly improbable. But the facts give
point again to the well-worn proverb that
truth is stranger than fiction. The humor
of the whole thing is undeniable, and the
most marvellous part of it is that so expe-
rienced detective and so shrewd a lawyer
should have been so sadly taken in.
Neither will receive public sympathy.
The verdict of an IMPLYING world will be,
Served them right" There is food in
the story for moralizing, but the lessons it
teaches are too patent to demand recital
now 1t is the one phase of the Hill
Sharon infamy that is not vulgar and indie
cent in the telling. Barnes and Lees set
about to unearth what they assumed to be
an agreement between TYLER and an expert
in handwriting, by which the latter
contracted for lump sum to testify that
certain disputed words in the Dear Wife
letter." were in the handwriting of Sharon.
TYLER, shrewder than they, by the aid of Il
clerk and the expert, prepared just such a
contract as it was desired to find, and the
clerk sold it to Barnes for the pretty sum
of $4,000. Thereupen Barnes produces
it in Court as the final and conclusive evi-
dence of the infamy of the plaintiffs case.
At this Tyler takes the stand and tells the
whole story; and Barnes, convinced of its
truth, acknowledges the success of the
trick, confesses his defeat and withdraws
the spurious contract. The wonder will
continue to grow, that such man, backed
by such n Detective salaried official of
San Francisco, by the way-should not
have realized at the outset that if Tyler
and Gumpel had entered into any such
agreement to defraud, they never would
have put it in black and white" or have
taken an office clerk into their confidence.
In common self-defense against each other,
they would have permitted no one the
opportunity to be a witness to such a trans
action. The dramatic story will so down
in legal annals as one of the strangest and
most improbable, and will serve to give the
names of these adroit legal fencers an air
jay throughout the whole country. In the
meantime Captain Lees will be brought to
the bar of public inquiry to answer the
question, why he, a salaried detective,
should be engaged in private transaction
involving the buying Of testimony. 1t can
be replied, of course, that he was engaged
in unearthing what he assumed to be a
crime; but at the best ii VIII serve to very
much lower the popular estimate Of de-
tectiye ability as represented by Lees, and
to illustrate how even an officer of that
class, with a quarter century's experience
to back him, may make an egregious ass
of himself
II open Court in San Francisco young
woman presents a long affidavit confessing
that in the IIill-Sharon case she COM
mitted willful perjury, over and over again,
and engaged in the most despicable frauds
to cheat the ends of justice and despoil a
rich man of his money; that it was de-
liberate scheme to commit perjury, and
that she was a principal in the plot, and
went so far as to swear falsely over and
over again in the trial. 1t now remains
to be seen whether the young woman will
be treated rs periurers should be. Her
place, by her own confession, is in the
State Prison. But will Nellie Bracket be
punished for her infamous perjuries? By
no means. We do not indulge in such
luxuries in these days. Great wealth,
shrewd counsel and the laws delays will
keep Nellie Bracket safe outside prison
walls
Is IT not about time that Eastern au-
thorities set about to curb the playful
criminality of the bruiser John L. Suili-
van? At least the Associated Press agency
can spare us the disgusting details of the
drunken frolicksomencss and inhuman cru
city of this prize fighter To read the
dispatches of the day stranger to the
country might well conclude that Sullivan
is the most important of personaees, and
has the freedom Of the entire republic.
|
4 BILL has been introduced in the
Assembly to pay County Treasurers out of
State funds the sums they lost by reason
of the thieying of young January 1t is
good bill to kill The State cannot afford
to set such precedent, and put premium