Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-15

anything but the truth. He il not q com
mander IN the navy to order Jack tars around
at his VIII, but Is that any reason to think be
was not telling the truth as well as the great
Commander Evans2 What reason has that
captain OF shell barge to lie any more than
the commander of one of the finest vessels in
our navy In the court room all men are OF
an equality. and Gray tells you that the col
orec man smith called his attention to the
quarrel III the canoe. and later in the evening
III the cabin OF the barge again referred to the
trouble IN the boat The evidence of Capt
Gray, witness for the government, as to the
canoe being 300 feet off shore bears out the
statement of Smith and Of the defendant him.
sell Commander Evans saw the occurrence
through the telescope of bias and malice, and
was looking through the small end that brough,
'he scene so close to the view.
If Lincoln Smith story was q manufactured
one, why was he permitted to say he saw the
defendant struck with the oar? Hams himself
says the oar did not actually strike him. and
believe that Smith was telling the story Of what
When you are making up q lie it is Just easy
TO make up good one Capt. Evans says the
man who was shot finished up the stroke and
possibly q second one. Do you thinks a man
with his heart pierced and wounded arm
could row two strokes? The witness told toe
much He described more than he saw. Gen.
tlemen, the dead do not row nor do the dying
row. l say it was all the reriest nonsense
and rubbish. Mr.. Evans described the
tragic step forward that Hams made
before the shooting SO as to throw himself into
relief against the background Of the sail The
sail did not reach back to the locker, which was
seventeen inches high. Hams was standing on
the locker, and a step or two forward that he
must have taken to bring his body out agains,
the sail would have brought him off the locker
and in all probability would have caused him
to fall In heap. The whole affair could not
possibly have occurred Commander Evans
testified. 1t was physical imposeibility for
the ball to have wounded the arm unless the
wounded man was standing or In a rising posi-
ton at TIE time, for the defendant was standing
ON this seyenteen-inch locker and DIR. Peek
testified that the course OF the bullet was in a
horizontal line"
THE QUARREL.
Here Mr.. Shillington read extracts from the
testimony of Hams as to the events preceding
the shooting, and asked the jury if anything
could be more reasonable or fair than the de-
1endants own account OF the shooting. The
defendant had stated on the stand that he fired
the shots because he believed his life was in
danger. A blow from the oar would have
Knocked him overheard, stunned, to a watery
grave. 1t was no time to parley or consider.
lhe man upon the stern had to act and to act
quickly in order to preserve his own life.
he question, said Mr.. Shillington, for you
10 decide is not whether the oar was long
enough to reach from the center seat to the
stern locker and to strike fatal blow. 1t is
whether Hams believed and had reason to be-
ileve that his life was in imminent peril, and he
has sworn upon the stand that he did 30 believe.
1t matters not whether the oar was six inches
too short to reach from the center seat to the
stern locker. Hams was the man to think and
to act and you must put yourself in his place
and consider how the situation looked to him.
He had no time to take out a tape measure
and measure the length OF the oar and then OF
the boat. Put yourself in his place.
Much has been said of the fact that two
shots were fired. Remember the man who was
shooting was excited. he fired the hrst shot to
save bis life. The second shot was mechanical
natural, and what nine men out of
ten would have done under the circumstances
Ihe second shot was SO quick upon the first
that 1t was really part OF it. II there had
been minutes interval between the two shots
1t would have been very different AS to his
sailing out into the roads after the shooting it
was simple enough. lie could not stem the
irresistible current around the jetty. All he
could do was to let his boat drift out with the
tide and then to beach her opposite the water
battery. ask you, would You send a man to
the gallows on the testimony of Commander