Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1891-04-11

By 4. RIDER HAGGARD.

1,-;1I u ~ " OculueHL1 Is as much a valid
~ ~ s - though it had been engrossed upon
witnessed in the Temple. ''--N
And now will come 70 +bo soo,
r. 80 ~ Is the evidence of Miss Smitbers
~ - pgileVed! First, let us see where II
I'M No roo0fated 1t Is clear, from the tes
haaDa ~ ~, % lazy holmhurst, that when on
oTs ~ - Iiie ~ lated kangaroo, Miss Smith
6ars - 10 laCCoo marks upon her shout
SLaI- Is equally clear from the m.
I So testimony of Mrs. Thomas, that
, III sne was rescued by the American
;,, - ti nei oacK was marked with tattoo
tn ei ,nen mn n the healing stage-with tat
49, s Mnlcn could not possibly have
81 -llAIIGted py herself or by the child
o ~ 80 was her sole living companion. 1t is
Island by Mrs. Thomas the dead bd pTr " rPe
HI0ul, Whlch she was informed was t6ot of
i lio, Heeson' and which she here in court
iuenIined by means of a photorronb
Also, this same witness p+ +"Ia pn.
shell which she picked up in one Of 4ha
nuts, said to be the shell used b1 t tho
sailors to drink the rum that IA 't 4e
ther destruction; and she swora +bot
~ saw d sailors hat lying on the shore.
,,,l 40 CO1IOUOrdJlVo evidence.
a" "aiu ol a sort not to be despised. Indeed,
% " que polnt' that Of the approximate
uate OF the execution of the taftooino- II
70 70 my mind final. Still, there does re.
l hDnl an enormous amount that must be
" ~. ~ OF not according to whether
VI not credence can be placed in the un-
SSuPPorteo testimony of Miss Smithers.
tOr we cannot call on O. child so vounr nc
present | Ip1,,,
ness Ia a court Of justice. If Miss Smith
-, 'or instance, Is not speaking the
truth when she declares that the Siona.
i tuIe oI the testator was tattooed upon
ner pack under his immediate direction or
tu@C u was tattooed in the presence Of the
Two sailors, Butt and Jones, whose signa-
CeIGS were also tattooed in the presence
OF the testator and of each other, no will
aC an was executed, and the Plaintiffs
case coAapses utterly, since, from the very
nature of the facts, evidence as to hand.
Wlltng would, of course, be useless
Now, approach the decision of this noint
AFTER anxious thought and some bqsita-
ton. 1t is not a light thing to set asi5a
a formally executed document such as the
will of Nov 10, upon which the defend
anus rely, and to entirely alter the deyolu
the unsupported testimony Of a sinple
witness Ii seems to me, however that
there are two tests which the court can
more or less set up as standards where.
with to measure the truth of the matter
The first Of these is the accepted proba-
bility of the action of an individual under
any given set Of circumstances, as drawn
from our common knowledge of human
nature; and second, the behavior and tone
OF the witness, both in the box and in the
course of circumstances that led to her
appearance there. will take the last of
those two first, and | may as well state,
without further dely, that | am convinced
of the truth of the story told by Miss
Smithers. 1t would to my mind be i'm
possible for any man, whose intelligence
had been trained by years of experience in
this and other courts, and whose daily
duty it is to discriminate as to the credi-
bility Of testimony, to disbelieve the his
tory so circumstantially detailed in the
box by Miss Smithers." [Sensation q
watched her demeanor both under ex-
animation and cross examination very
closely indeed, and | am convinced that
she has been telling the absolute truth so
far as she knew it.
And now to come to the second point.
1t has been suggested, as throwing doubt
upon Miss Smithers' story, that the exist
ence of an engagement to marry, between
her and the plaintiff, may have prompted
her to cOncOct a mOnstrouS fraud for his
benefit; and this is suggested, although
at the time of the execution of the tat
tooing no such engagement did, as a mat
ter of fact, exist, or was within measur-
able distance of the parties. It did not
exist, said the attorney general; but the
disposing mind existed; in other words,
that she was then in love'-if, notwith-
standing Mr.. Attorneys difficulty in de-
fning it, may use the term-with the
plaintiff. This may or may not have been
the case. TheTe are some things which
it is quite beyond the power of any judge
or Jury to decide and one of them GER
tainly is, at what exact period of her &C
ouaintance with a future husband
young lady's regard turns into warmer
feeling. But supposing that the attorney
general is right, and that although she at
that moment clearly had no prospect of
marrying him, since she had left England
to seek her fortunes at the antipodes, the
plaintiff was looked upon by this lady
with that kind Of regard which is sup
posed to precede the matrimonial contract,
fbe circumstance, in my mind, tells
rather in his favor than against him.
For in passing may remark that this
Young lady has done a thing which is,
in its way, little short of heroic; the more
50. Iecause it has ludicrous side. She has
submitted to an operation which must not
only have been painful, but which is and
WAYS will be blot upon her beauty l
ON inclined to agree with the attorney
General when he says that she did not
1nake this sacrifice without motive,
which NAV have sprung from a keen sense
Of iusfice and of gratitude to the PLAIN
Az FOR his interference on her behalf, or
eron, q warmer feeling. In either case,
+bo-a is nothing discreditable about 1t,
thor +be reverse, in fact; and, taken by
&C. ~ there is certainly nothing here to
ao,(ea me to disbelieve the evidence OF
Miss Smithers. ~ 10
-oin Is there ANYTHING to show that the
+or+a+or was not, at the time or the eAecu-
80 t;,5.' Of the will, of a sound and disposnS
t - and is there anything IN his con
- - ~ history to render the hypothesis
~ 10 having executed this will SO I'M
u Ill that the court should take the
PLoD 1abobilitv into account? AS to the
i mp ,,oint I can find nothing. MISS
G gIsitbers expressly swore that It was not not
the case, nor was her statement oiS Sn4n9n
She admitted indeed, that shortly Iiyd Oe, and
death he wandered i in his ipq BY the the
t sho9es of authors waiting to be revengea
SHaoeS I'm ~ But it is no uncommon Il "a
t fR1a for the mind .t thqs ito ry that at
tbs thf Dying man should oon wb be sOo of
% Sfo he N to d 6oTf consider asas It
curing Nav impossible that when po ne i Wished