The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-04-04

Haired Defendant Makes n Pictur-
esquc Spectacle i'm the Witness ROx
His Narrative n Most Remarkable
One.
WASHINGTON, March 29.-Had an
alien, untutored in the kings English,
dropped into the circuit court this after
noon he might have received the i'm
preston that the benevolent, elderly
looking gentleman. with rudy face and
waves of snowy hair and beard. who
held the open-mouthed attention OF 200
men while he discoursed in slow. mel
lifuous tones. was preaching sermon
from the gospel of peace.
The mistake would have been a nat
ural one, but it would have been a mis-
scripturaI head was the siIver-tongued
orator Of Kentucky, Congressman and
Col W. c. P Breckinridge-an he was
tellir-s TO twelve of his peers and Incl
IDENTIFY to the world at large the story Of
his intrigue with Madeline Pollard.
The colonel stood in the little witness
box, his left elbow resting on Judge
Bradley's desk with his left hand "a
pillow for his head, and his right hand
thrust careleSsly into his trousers pocket
He smiled occasionally as he spoke At
first he was evidently a little tremu-
lous in his utterances. but he lost that
trace of nervousness before he pro-
ceeded far with his story. Once he
glanced down at tie slender young wo-
man in the first row of seats before
him: that was when he was assuring
the court that her manner toward him
had been perfectly respectful and very
deferenual. but for the most part he
addressed himself 10 his attorney Ben
Butterworth, VINO did the questioning.
As for Madeline Pollard. she never
took her eyes from his face. Part Of
the time she rested her head on her
hand and for half an hour she vigor-
ously welded a fan. When Col. Brock
inridge was telling how he made her ac-
cept a ten-dollar bill after the first in
terview. she shut her ps tightly and
would have made motion to rise but
for the restraining words of Attorney
Carlisle, who sat beside her.
Elevated above the scene sat Judge
Bradley with his chair turned away from
the defendant. his head tilted back, his
eyes closed and his features cast into
an utterly bored expression.
\ Change of Program.
The attorneys for Madeline Pollard be-
gan the proceedings in the great trial
today with a request that the regular
order of proceedings might be varied by
permitting two witnesses for the plaintiff
who had been waiting in the city for
manded their attention at home, to ties
tify at once. The lawyers retired for
q conference, and on their return an
nounced that the request had been
agreed to. The first of these witnesses
was q round-faced young man, John
Beckhart, of Lexington, Ky. Attorney
Farrell of the same city conducted the
examination. 1t developed that in 1882
the witness had lived at the northeast
corner of Third and Upper-sts. in that
town The witness described in detail
the houses on the block fronting on
Third and Upper-sts., and identified a
diagram of the locality. This is the
block on which Lena Singleton is said to
have lived, but the witness testified that
at no time between April, 1882 and 1888
had such a person lived there. Attorney
Stoll wanted to know what this had to
do with the case and Attorney Farrell
reminded him of the testimony of Your
friend Brandt" From cross-questioning
Il appeared that the neighborhood was
rather q shady one, there being two or
three houses which John termed sport
ing" houses IN the block. Some Of them
he had never visited. while to others he
had been an occasional visitor.
Have you ever been indicted down
there"
You need not answer that" inter-
posed Judge Bradley.
When Attorney Stoll dropped into the
Kentucky vernacular, asking about a
''nigger grocery kept by a Mr.. Farrell,
Judge Bradley eyed him askance. Then.
when Mr.. Stoll proceeded 10 ask how
many conferences the witnesses had held
with the attorneys since he came to
Washington, Judge Bradley said that ii
was entirely inconsequential and that a
lawyer who did not confer with his wit
nesses would be neglecting his duty.
Mr.. Stoll remarked that it would de-
pend upon how many conferences were
held, but let the line Of questioning
drop.
The second witness was a tall, be-
whiskered colored man, Stephen Dunn,
who deals in furniture and lives at 162
~. Upper-st-, between Third and Fourth,
Lexington. He gave the same line OF
testimony regarding the people who had
dwelt in the vicinity since 1879, when he
moved there. He was confident that
Lena Singleton had never lived there.
II she had he would have known il.
The Defendant ssvears.
The deposition Of Mrs. William j.
Miller Of Memphis, Tenn. who claimed
that she and Miss Pollard had been in
mates OF Lena SingIetoR's establishment
IN Lexington, occupied the court until
after the recess. Then Mr.. Butterworth
arose and said: ''Col Breckenridge, will
you take the stand?' and the commo-
ton which ensued required all the efforts
of the bailiff to quiet the noise.
Col. Breckenridge declared that he was
born near Baltimore in 1887; that his
father. John G. Breckenridge, soon after
ward moved to Jefferson. Pa, to accept
the presidency OF the college, and In 1847
TO Lexington to take the pastorate of
the presbyterian church. He had taken
his diploma at Center college. He had
practiced law only at Lexington. after
uft xrfrf IN he 90 ~