Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-06-30
ACTING SAVES LIVES.
COUNSEL FOR MURDERERS EMPLOY
THEATRICAL METHODS.

Strive to Make AN Impression on the
sympathIes of Jurymen-Some Notable
Cases Where Lawyers Succeeded.
For years it has been generally known
among lawyers that all sorts of despeT-
ate and theatrical deTices 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 up
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:
IF you had seen him, as | have, go
behind a woman defendant and pinch
her to make her scream and so arouse
sympathy, you would not be so much in
tiuenced by his theatrical display"
Whom did MIR. Howe pinch?' asked
Mr.. Wellman.
Ella Nelson" was his prompt reply
You 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 facet 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.
Il do not say that it is wrong for
counsel to employ theatrical methods in
defending their clients. | think it is
partof 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 a clothing store in
Baxter street. He arranged a candle so
that when it burned down to certain
point at midnight it would set fire to
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 quahdary. 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 acatamount. |
1t died away in long drawn wall and |
choking sobs Becker's tears were like |
a shower. Mrs. Becker's and the little |
Beckers' tears were cloudburst. Human |
nature couldn't stand it. Juror No. |
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 sniffles and gasps came from
two other jurors.
at seems hard to believe, but it is |
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 guilt let me add that |
Becker was released under So 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 q. Reynolds |
for not surrendering Stephani's fathers |
estate fast enough to be squandered. The |
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 Accommodations |
Vt spilled food. Stephan 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
Stephani had fallen off a pony very
many years ago and hurt his head, and
that he had always been high tempered,
like any spoiled child No one had
bothered about his alleged insanity,
though, until after he had killed his
fathers old friend.
Insane was the jury's judgment
after listening to the testimony and
watching the gloomy makeup of the
prisoner. They found him guilty Of
murder in the second degree. and he was
sent to prison for life. Today he is
neat. well behaved and short haired con-
vlct--New York Herald