Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-09-11
THE EGGS OF MURDER
New They Are Scattered About b,
ThouEhtiess and Gallons Men,

NEW They Are Scattered About By
Thoughtiess and Gallons Men,
'sThe causes of capital crimes" said
q Tombs lawyer to a party of friends
at a restaurant table the other night
ssthat is. the real and immediate causes
ARE frequently overlooked by juries
Just listen to that man at the table
over there. Got a voice like a horse
fiddle. he is letting the whole room
know the list of hereditary diseases
that affect his family. II would be a
blessing 70 humanity If that man "a
shot dead as a hammer. yet his slayer
would be charged with manslaughter
and probably convicted by a jury Of
the crime. | tell you that the words
Of that curio viii CRATE upon some ears
IN this room tonight. and will probably
derange for the time being some sensi
tive physical organism. under the influ-
ence of which a vindictive act viii be
committed thar will perhaps cause life
long regret if not a punishment by law.
"A client of mine was once charged
with murder in the first degree. The
statement presented by the prosecution
was that the prisoner had had a differ
nee with an acquaintance. Two weeks
afterward he met this acquaintanc com
ing out of an uptown cafe after dark,
drew a revolver INN ediately and shot
him to death The Inference referred
TO a IN itself absolutely trivial It
had resulted from an argument over
the relative merits f Langtry and Mrs.
Brown Potter tn y had actually part
ed good friends. Jut their high words
at one stage OF Il argument had been
overheard
Now, or the night in question my
client had gon into a restaurant for
dinner. One of those creatures with
the deiicacy Of a %rhinoceros sat at the
next table lie had been attached to a
sherifTs ofhce once upon a time. ano
Immediately upon sitting down he be
gan to tell the man near him of the
hangings that he had witnessed and the
details of the revolving crimes for which
the prisoners had been hanged My
friend was al about the middle of his
dinner The words of the brute were
like so many leaden balls dropping
down into my clients stomach. He
tried to continue. but he could nor
choke down more food In desperation
he called for a glass of brandy and then
another glass. and before he left the
place he had taken a half dozen large
doses in quick succession
That morning in starting out he
had put a revolver in his pocket. in
tending to sleep at the house of a friend
IN the country. the way TO which lay
through a lonesome piece of woods,
which he would have TO pass late at
night As he left the restaurant be
thought of taking the train. and put
ting his hand in his overcoat pocket he
found the weapon.
Just at that very moment the &C
quaintance approached. and what real.
ly happened was this My client went
up &c the other and said. Charley. |
feel so desperately miserable hat |
almost could commit murder or suicide.
See here. | have a pistol too. In try
ing to take the weapon from his pocket
1t became entangled in The cloth. An
explosion followed and one of the men
fed dead.
Il exhausted my powers Of speech
upon the jury. and after proving by
hygienic experts how talk Of the kind
referred to would act upon a sensitive
man, succeeded in securing a verdict Of
manslaughter. The man ought 70 have
been acquitted. New York Recorder.