Evening star., 1894-03-24
HEARD IN SECRET
Arguments Before Judge Bradley as
to Certain Dispositions.
THE POLLARD-BRECKINRIDGE CASE
Three That the Plaintiff Especially
Objects to.
SOME GENERAL GOSSIP

There were a number Of arguments nre-
sented by the counsel in the BRECKENRIDGE
Pollard case this morning before Judge
Bradley, but, much to the disappointment Of
small audience that had gathered To
hear as much as possible Of this famous
case In all its details, the hearing was held
behind closed doors Even the newsnaner
men who were present were not allowed
TO enter the sacred precincts of the consul
tation room where the talking was done.
AS stated In The Star yesterday, the ar
guments presented were as to the admissi-
Diiity OF certain dispositions which the de-
iehse are anxious to get before the jury
Ia some form or other. As is usual in such
cases, the dispositions We're submitted 70 the
lawyers for the plainti1, ana they at once
OBJECTED to the admission of these cocu-
ments. They asked the opportunity 20 ar
que the point before the Judge in the ab-
sence OF the jury, so that the twelve men
VINO Will hnally decide the suit should NOT
KNOW What the nature of the Testimony is
ss unless Judge Bradley decides that IL may
properly go before them. This accoun led
Tor the fact that the newspaper men were
excluded from the room.
1t was known that certain portions
OF the depositions would have TO be read
evidence. - e
Promptly at 10 o'clock this morning tho
lawyers in the case were ON hand in the
criminal Court where the trial is being
held. There they learned that The ca so
would go on in the Circuit Court room.
on the other side of the corridor Their,
Vas a small group of people there waiting
lor tne case TO go on. Six or eight of
them were reporters and there were a
score or more Of lawyers and others who
We're attracted simply by curiosity Mr.
BreckInridge was on hand. but Miss Pol
Of
scene. as there was TO need Of her pres
ence at all. The white-haired defendant In
this sensational case looked a little tired
and as though he were not enjoying in the
slightest degree the ordeal to which he
has been subjected.
The reporters had their paper and pencils
all ready to note every turn, and one OF
them, who has a predilection for Ink had
succeeded In putting the contents of a bot
tie OF IL all over himself No one notice.
that Judge Bradley and the lawyers had
given them the slip and had gone into an
adjoining room.
one of the bailiffs announced in a STEM
torian tone that no motions would be heart
this morning in this court. and then he
tipped The newspaper men the information
that the door leading into the little room,
which is used a consultation chamber,
was locked, and that no persuasion could
open t-nothing but a key. They had to
content themselves with the feeling that
the arguments were not OF much news
value anyway. The dispositions that were
admitted will be presented in open court In
good time and in proper order. while those
tnat are rejected are probably immateriA1
and unimportant
The Three Dispositions Objected to.
There are understood to be three deposi.
tons TO which Miss Pollard's attorneys
make their principal objections. the point
involved being the relevancy of testimony
bearing upon Miss Pollard's character. one
of these dispositions was made by Alex.
Julian, the young blind man to whom Miss
Pollard alluded in her letter to Wesste
Brown as her blind Barnabas." He as
serts in the affidavit taken in Kentucky
that a mock marriage was performed ee-
tween Miss Pollard and himself at Squire
Tinsley's, in Bridgeport, on Christmas day,
1888; that after drinking egg nog freely he
suggested that married couples usually
went to bed, and that thereupon the two
went upstairs and got into bed together.
Miss Pollard testified on cross-examina-
ton that her uncle accompanied her TO
Squire Tinsley's on that day, and denied
the incident of the mock marriage.
The second deposition was made by w.
W. Rossell, TO whom Miss Pollard was en-
gagged TO be married in 1854. when she was
a student at Wesleyan Seminary, and at
which time she was Intimate with Col
Breckenridge. Rossell has deposed that he
took liberties with Miss Pollard In the libra
ry OF Wesleyan Seminary. and that when
he left that town for Chicago Miss Pollard
begged him TO take her with him. When
asked about this matter on cross-examina-
ton Miss Pollard denied that Rossell had
done more than kiss her. and denied that
she had asked him to take her to Chicago.
In one Of the most characteristicaly spicy
dialogues between herself and Attorney
Butterworth she attributed RosselIs mo-
tive in opposing her to the fact that he 10
a candidate for the position OF collector OF
Internal revenue in Representative Breck-
inridge's district.
The other denosifiar to which the r,iatn.
tiff is particularly opposed was made by
DIR. Lewis of Lexington, who affirms that
Col. Swope once approached him with a re-
quest that he perform a criminal operation
on a woman. whom he called Miss POL
lard" The doctor did not see the woman,
nor could he Identify her with the plaintiff,
so the objection was made that there is
nothing to connect the deposition with the
principal In this case.
Col Swope was the republican candidate
for Congress against Col. Breckinridee IN
the Lexington district and was killed IN
dud with Cash Goodloe. which resulted
fatally TO both men. Parts OF other deposi-
tions are also objected to.
One Reason for Exclusion.
1t was stated that one reason judge
Bradley has decided to exclude the public
was that some newspapers had made the
statement that the Judge himself had said
that he had no right to exclude repre-
sentatives OF the press from the trial.
What Judge Bradley actually did say was
ir reference to the full reports that all
papers contain of the details of the casa
A number of lawyers were discussing in
his presence the question of the propriety
of going at such length into the testimony
and he remarked that as the press had a
perfect right to he represented at the trial
he did not see how their reports could be
limited as to length. This was a matter
for the papers themselves to settle and
he supposed that IL one paper went at
length into the case all others would have
TO do the same The only thing 10 do was
to get them 10 make agreement among
themselves that no would go beyond
a certain point This. OF course. was out
of the question. lie had his own views as
to the merits of the question. however. and
these he EXPRESSED quite freely.
A good deal of interest is taken in the
course the prosecution will take in rebuff
ting the depostiOns Of the defense to Irove
that Miss Pollard was not an inmate Of the
Norwood Founding Asylum, and In other
WAYS to cast a doubt upon her story.
The course they will follOw, so one OF the
lawyers for the plaintiff told a Star re-
porter this morning. is a simple and natural
one. They viii simply meet these deposit
tions with others which they have in their
Much of The evidence Of the
defense, so far. has been Of a negative sort.
that they did not recognize the plaintiff as
a woman who was at the asylum in 1855
and did not remember ever having seen her
before. The plaintiff, so her lawyers say,
will introduce positive testimony 81 those