Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-06-12

crowded room rs the crler arose and
with sonorous voice announced the
opening cf the court for the trial of
criminal cases.
There were few minor cases, all
occupying some two or three hours,
when the attention of the Court and
the audience became fixed by the final
cause upon the day calendar. Under
the escort of Sheriff Jack, still ironed
and trihe paler than when last seen,
James Brownell was led into the room
and took his place in the prisoners
dock. The murmur of low converse
ton, the occasional squeak of a pen,
the shuffling of feet, all ceased as the
clerk arose to read the indictments.
Violation of the liquor laws, viola
tion of the gambling laws, horse steal
ing, robbery, burglary, and, last of
all, murder. One by one the black
record was spread before the Court, the
result of a series of years of iniquities,
the work of half dozen Grand Juries,
and now, for the first time, the much
indicted man was in the hands of the
law to answer its repeated summons.
Judge Gary looked towards Brownell.
"How does the prisoner plead?"
"Not guilty to every count in every
indictment, replied his attorney, one
of the younger lawyers in the city;
''and we demand separate trial upon
each charge"
Amurmur of disapproval ran through
the room. Was this notorious desper-
ado to escape through the very techni-
calities and delays of the laws he had
set Mt defiance.
"Then it becomes the right of the
District Attorney to move whichever of
the indictments he may choose" re-
piled the Judge. "Mr. Arnold, what
is the desire on the part of the peo-
ple?"
The gray haired prosecutor for the
county arose, and in deliberate and
dignified manner announced that he
would elect to try under the principal
indictment
'eHhe greater might be said in this
case, Your Honor, to include the less.
Should the prisoner be convicted of
murder, it will relieve both him and
the commonwealth from the WEAKNESS
and expense of trials for the lesser
crimes; should he be acquitted I shall
move an immediate trial under the in
dictment for burglary"
The crowd breathed more easily.
Brownell was not to escape after all.
''Old Arnold ii do him." whispered
one listener to another; ''the evidence
is dead sure thing! He's bound to
hang, an the Sheriff's posse thought
SO, or they'd never o. brought him in !"
The preliminaries were soon over, a
jury drawn and agreed to, the case
opened, and the trial begun.
Witness after witness WAS sworn iii
rapid succession, and the dark story of
the crime with which Brownell was
charged-a street riot, resulting in the
death of one of the rioters-was re-
told in all its hideousness. Tbs crowd
listened with eager ears, untiring for
hours, though the heat seemed to grow
with the day the lawyers bent more
closely over their notes; the Judge
forgot to lean back in his chair. and
even the prisoner, resting with man
ncled hands upon the rail of the crimi-
nails box wherein he sat, showed by
the gloom that gathered upon his
brutal face and the dull, angry glow in
his eye that he appreciated the desper-
ate strait in which he stood.
When the prosecution had rested,
the attorney for Brownell bent toward
him and whispered earnestly in his
ear. The man shook his head. Again
the lawyer addressed him, urging some
plan of defense newly thought, with q
gesture indicative of irritation, young
Stewart rose, and turned to'address the
jury.
He told them of his clients early
life, the lack of good influences, the
hard paths for childish feet, the temp
tations of youth, the struggles and
failures of manhood. He told them of
the fight for mere existence against
fate and fortune, with no one to lend
q helping hand or breathe heartening
word, of the frowning face of virtue
and the tempting one of vice, of aspi-
rations smothered, efforts unavailing,
good intentions trodden under foot,
and, at last, of hopeless, friendless, de-
spairing wickedness. He warned them
against circumstantial evidence only;
he spoke of the inherent right of self
defense; he prayed their pity and the
benefit of the smallest cloud that might
cast a shadow of doubt; he opened and
closed the case without witness ard
sat down.
Mr.. Arnold summed up for the peo-
ple-coldly, logically, convincingly;
| and when as he closed the level rays of
the western sun shot through the dusty
windows and lit the waiting faces of
the Court and jury wi,&iheir glory of
crimson and gold, tbs prisoner, un-
touched in the falling shadow where he
sat, seemed, to the breathless audience,
to rest beneath the gloom of a certain
punishment, desperate and without re-
prieve.
In few words the Court charged the
jury SO clearly, SO fairly, that even
81 ownell raised his ashen face from the
rail whereon he had bowed it, once
more to study, with cleaning eyes,
| the countenances of the erbiters of his