Asheville daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1890-1900, 1894-01-19
THE MOCK TRIAL.
A Large Crowd And an Evening
of Fun at r he Y. M. G.. "A.

1
The much talked of mock trial came
up last evening in the Triangle Court OF
Common Sense, held in the lecture hall OF
the Y. M. c. A. The hall was packed
and the proceedings were watched with
great interest.
The case was entered on the docket as
Scruggins VS.. Cornjuice," and was for
breach of promise. Amanda Scrugpins
q. L. Rich the plaintiff, was in court
with her attorneys prepared to make
stubborn fight for her rights, while Silas
Cornluice Geo. W. Rapson), the defend
ant, was there prepared by the help of
shrewd and unscrupulous counsel to
resist the charges brought against him.
His Honor Judge Hiram L. Horn
blower (Prof. j. D. Eggleston) entered
court with allIthe dignity at an undistin.
guished jurist's command, and court
was opened in due form. Those sum-
m ned as jurors we're called and passed
or objected to to the amusement ofevery-
body. Alderman Cosby was asked if he
read OF the case in THE CITIZEN. He
replied he had. and he was objected to
on the ground that man who had read
IHE CITIZEN should not do jury duty. |
ne prejudiced court sustained the OBJ. |
lection. Clarence F. Ray was rejected
because he admitted be had not used
Fears soap. The objection to R. U.I
Jarrett was that he had not paid all his
w taxes, but the objection was over
ruled by the court because of the hard
times. Finally tue jury was complete,
With the following in the box: W.R.
deston. w. F. Randolph, X. U. Garrett,
:: T.. Mitchell. H. T. Rumbough, !. H.
Weaver, X. S. Gibbs, ]. H. Law, i. E.
sagan, L. A. Coulter, W. A. Blair and
:. ]. Foller.
The examination of witnesses by Col.
Jriah Heep Sellars (Nat. S. Rogers) and
'ir Charles Russell Geo. l.. Hackney
or the defendant and Col. Fellows Il. ,
Y. Gudgef and Hon. Chauncey M.
'epew wv: Z. Montgomery was neatly
nd illegally done, the questions being |
humorous and productive of roars OF
aughter. 1t was claimed by the defend 9
mt that he and Miss Scruggins entered ,
darkened parlor, and that the principal I,
fitness, Martin Chuzzlewit U.N. Rog.
rs), being concealed there. proposed, L
1iss Scruggins thinking meanwhile it q
.as Cornjuice. She accepted. A ring .
iven her by Cornjuice, with appropriate :,
ngraving on the inside, was in evidence. "
ut the defendant contended he had y
ought the ring in a prize candy package a
nd that the plaintiff had had the en- II
ravIng. done after he gave it to her. y y
ne pleadings of the counsel were as n
irrlng as cyclone and the listeners in h
le court room hung upon every word u
II the rope broke. 1t was a battle ofl =,
-atory and the legal gentlemen covered h
lemselves with glory and obsolete 9,
ords. Col. Scllars was in fine form. .,
I'd his oratorical pyrotechnics and 6
light sallies were freely commented 10
)on as having been taken from back "a
lmbers of Puck aud Judge. The ~;
'eeches concluded, the Judge charged the m 81
ry IN words OF sound sense, showing r.,
ter lack of legal knowledge. There u u
as not enough of it to make large r. r.
'ok, but it glittered with gems OF truth u
I'd inaccuracy and scintilated with l.;
outhiuls of kind of equity never cc
ard before. =:
The jury i'll its purchased verdict de. ~
led that Chuzzlewit. Cornjuice S friend,
ouid marry the plaintiff and that
'rnluice should pay damages to the 1t
Mount Of $3.50 to the plaintiff. The
urt was then adjourned without dav
grace.
During the trial objection was made 81
cause Col. Sellars placed his No. IL feet nc
the table. This was overruled, the IN,
urt holding that the attorney had =,
mt to keep his braius nearest the iury. VI
Fitch Taylor was fined eight cents for Wv Wv
oking with one eye at the plaintiff and st sa
tn the other at the Judge. al al
8esides those mentioned the following 81
ntiemen had part in the proceedings, ne n.,
d deserve the -execration of the pub al.
Tarheel, James S. Moody; Ia Ia
omas Hangem, Mark Erwin; William aes ao
lem, Edwin Davidson; Lieut.. Dumont 20 70
rowsmythe, !. G. Stiseleather; N,cho- ~, ~,
Nicklebv, Cicero Nichols; Weary w, W.
agg!es. Eugene Gudger; Hon. Buck .a' .a
me Miller, Geo II. Mills; Hurrie Uppe eo' .n'
lukenphast, A. V. Jones; Hans Dinkie. se. se.
lm. W. O. Wolfe, jr.; Emery Hetta se'
son. r. ]. Tighe; Samuel Weller, A. c. 10
lton; Elridge Townsend dc Forrest,
. Bowie.