Los Angeles herald., 1892-08-04
ACTING SAVES LIVES.
COUNSEL FOR MuRoERERs EMPLOY
THEATRICAL METHODS.


Strive to Make an Impression ON tn.
sympathies of Jurymen-some NotabI.
Cases Where Lawyers Succeeded.
For years it has been generally known
among lawyers that all sorts of desper.
ate and theatrical devices are constantly
resorted to in order to save the lives of
accused persons, But Mr.. Wellman
was the first prosecutor to make the
charge in open court and quote an in
stance to fortify his allegation.
Is the practice right or wrong?
Perhaps the most moving part of
Lawyer William F. Howe's elegant sum-
ming up on behalf of Annie Walden
was where he besought the jurymen to
consider her youth, her beauty and her
helplessness.
When Francis l.. Wellman, assistant
district attorney, began his summing M
for the prosecution, he urged the jurors
not to be moved by his adversary's
emotional appeals. He called Mr.. Howe
an actor He said
'f you had seen him, as have, go
behind woman defendant and pinch
her to make her scream and SO arouse
sympathy, you would not be so much in
fuenced by his theatrical display"
"Whom did Mr.. Howe pinch?' asked
Mr.. Wellman.
ELLA Nelson, was his prompt reply.
'fYou recall that she had shot her lover
dead because he was packing his trunk
and preparing to leave her. She was on
trial for her life. Mr.. Howe got her ac-
quilted.
when he had got to that part of his
summing up where he called upon the
jury to look at her, Ella was sitting be-
hind table, her face toward the jury,
but resting in her hands. She had been
weeping for some minutes, but now she
was composed
"'Look at that facet pleaded Mr..
Howe in impassioned tones. He strobe
rapidly behind her. Again he cried,
Look at that facer and as he did so he
seized Elias soft wrists in his strong
hand and wrenched her arms apart.
The woman screamed with pain and
terror.
THAT scream was enough to freeze
the blood of anybody who heard it.
cannot help thinking that it had much
to do with the verdict. =,
II do not say that it is wrong for
counsel to employ theatrical methods in
defending their clients. | think it is
part of the duty of the prosecuting officer
to expose this sort of thing to the jury.
Frederick B. House was defending a
man named Becker in the general ses-
sions. Becker had clothing store in
Baxter street. He arranged candle so
that when it burned down to certain
lot of bagging soaked with kerosene,
and so burn the store and earn Becker a
big amount of insurance. Firemen
quenched the flames and so saved the
lives of seventy-six men, women and
children who were sleeping in the tene-
ments above the store.
when Mr.. House summed up he
was in a quandary. Becker couldn't
understand one word in English, there
fore how could the poor devil weep at
the proper moment? That little diff
Guilty was solved all right. Becker rested
his face in his hands and peeped through
his interlaced fingers at his eloquent de-
fender.
"Think, gentleman said Mr.. House,
if you send this wretched man to prison
you will punish those innocent little
ones At that instant Mr.. House drop
ped his handkerchief
"'Wowr came a shrek from Becker.
1t began like the scream of catamount.
1t died away in a long drawn wall and
choking sobs. Beckers tears were like
a shower. Mrs. Becker's and the little
Beckers' tears were cloudburst. Human
nature couldn't stand it. Juror No. 8
was nice old fellow, retired from bust
ness and living at home surrounded by
sons and daughters and chubby grand
children. He broke down at the second
drop of Fred Houses handkerchief. At
the third drop OF the cambria the jurors
tears gushed out beyond the railing.
Answering sniff1es and gasps came from
two other jurors.
sit seems hard to believe, but it is a
matter of record that in the face of the
clear evidence against Becker the jury
stood three for acquittal and nine for
conviction. The tears and howls and
the little Beckers saved the guilty man.
And in proof Of his guiltlet me add that
Becker was released under 81, 500 bail,
but he ran away, although the case was
soon brought up for retrial
"Often the question of makeup tests
the counsel stage managers ability and
ingenuity. There was Alphonse Steph-
ami, the young man who deliberately
murdered Lawyer Clinton G. Reynolds
for not surrendering Stephani's fathers
estate fast enough to be squandered. The 1
defense was insanity.
Perhaps you recall the Stephani who
came to trial. Instead of the handsome,
neatly dressed rich mans son, the jury
saw wild, unkempt creature, a Caliban
in ugliness. Stephani's hair had been
untouched by shears or brush for months.
He had not bathed or shaved. He still |
wore the clothes he had on when ar
rested. His linen was in tatters and
almost black. His outer garments were
greasy and crusted with accumulations
of spilled food. Stephani was good
actor. Not word did he speak to any
one. With large black eyes,, as deep
and mournful as Edwin Booths, he
stared gloomily at nothing. Lear was a
model of sanity beside him. There was
more or less testimony to show that