The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1892-11-24
THE ARGUMENTS
"A Day Full of Surprises in the
UmCritchlow Trial. ab
IT LOOKS LIKE ACQU1TTAL.
The Defense Seems to Have Shade the
Better Of 1t So Far.

ment for the CommonwealthLMr.
Erwin, of st. Paul, out-Dces Himself
in Another Address to the Jury--He
Had No Use for the AliDi, but Dealt
Mainly with the Plea of Justification,
The Other Homestead Cases to Go over
Untn the December Tern of Court,
which Opens Next Week.
PITTsBURd, Nov. 23.--The jury will
get the Critchlow murder trial this after.
noon, and there may be verdict before
night. AS it now looks, the defense is
several points ahead of the prosecution,
and this, with the we'll known sym.
pathy that exists among the working.
men, of whom the jury is made up, for
Homestead men, an acquittal is not
nearly so improbable as verdict Of
guilty in any degree. The jurymen re.
tired last night while there was still
echoing through the corridors of the
court house one Of the most eloquent ap.
peals ever made for a prisoner, the ad,
dress Of William NJ. Erwin, of st. Paul.
who outdid his opening speech of Mon.
day.
The opening Of the arguments yester.
day for both sides was feature that
crowded the court room as it had not
been crowded since the trial began.
Attorney Erwin, whom the other mem.
| bers of the bar call the Northern
Whirlwind, " was the chief attraction.
| On Monday he was a surprise: yester-
/ ,Jh,y ha ,vac n ,oyalntipn Tho oyratipng
of his willowy figure; his gestures, aud
| his wonderful facial expressions were as
eloquent as his silvery voice which
| flowed like meadow brook at times
| and again like Niagaras roaring catar-
| act. as if in his home he had trained it
| to drown the roar of the Falls of st.
| Anthony.
John s. Robb made the opening argu-
ment for the prosecution, an able analy-
SIS of the law and fact, and in it he made
| pointed illusions to Mr.. Erwin and his
remarkable speech on Monday that were
| calculated to warm the Scotch. Irish
blood of the chilled orator of the north
west and to cause him to deal with Mr..
Robb as he did with the eagle on Mon
| day. 1t was expected that he would
| pay so much attention to this after he
| got himself limbered up that he would
scarcely know where he was at" when
| the court called time on him at the end
| of the two hours allotted for his speech
| When Mr.. Robb was saying some harsh
| things about him for his speech the gen.
| tleman from st. Paul raised that cold
pale face, fixed those icy eyes on the elO.
| Quent counsel for the prosecution and
went calmly on chewing gum.
When Mr. Robb had finished, and Mr..
| Erwin stepped ont, there was a fore
| boding silence in the court room and all
were wondering why the daring Mr..
| Robb did not retire from within the
| reach of the mild looking man, who had
| shown himself to be such fire eater
| the day before. In q low, clear voice.
| with no trace of passion, as calmly as u
man would order a meal, and with
| depth of charitable feeling in his voice,
| he said a few words in reply to Mr..
| Robb and then directed his attention to
| his clients interest, avoiding all side
| issues that would detract from his argu-
ment. The strategy Of the prosecution
| to lead him into a by-path bad failed
and ne stuck to the high road, and
trampled defiantly along the very high
| est part of it.
| The other counsel for the defense en-
| tered the argument with the assumption
that an allDl nau Deen eStaDllSneu, DuG
he did not. He had his own ideas about
the case and his argument was based on
| the proposition that the Pinkertors were
| foreign invaders at war against the
peace of Homestead, and the Homestead
men were exercising the highest right of
man, the right of self-defense. Before
he finished his speech Thomas NJ Mar
shall whispered to him that he was neg
lecting the alibi, a strong point of the
defense, and both in words and manner
alibi; it's the principle involved that we
must fight for" But he spoke short
time OIL the alibi, though he explained
he only did so out of respect 70 his friend
Judge" Marshall, who had requested
him to do SO.
| John s. Robbs Address.
| John S. RObb began his address for
the commonwealth on the reconvening