The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-04-04
" e J. 70 w

his expectation that the letter would
have been offered in evidence at the
close of the expert testimony. His argu-
ment was that this case differed radi-
cally from one in which the authenticity
of some paper or legal document was at
tackled by a plaintiff. Here was a de-
PENDANT endeavoring to introduce in evil
dence a letter alleged to be from the
plaintiff which was absolutely denied.
Until the court had passed upon the
question whether ii was competent evil
dence the letter could not go to the jury
1t was a question, according to the
attorney, between the testimony of the
two experts based merely upon their
opinions, and the fiat denial of one who
knew and the only one who could know
whether she had written it. This train
of thought led up to the discussion Of
the value of expert testimony, against
which Mr.. Wilson opened the batteries
Of his eloquence. fortified by an opinion
from the late Chief Justice Carter of the
district supreme court.
Miss Pollard AgItated.
Meantime upon Mr.. Calderon Carlisle
devolved the duty of keeping an eye
upon his client beside him, whose breast
was heaving, whose cheeks were flushed
and whose manner betoken agitation.
One of the opinions quoted by Judge
Wilson dealt with the testimony Of Ex-
pert Edwin B. Hay. of whom the court
had said that he gave himself a sus-
picious Introduction.
Now we are coming to our friend"
Mr.. Wilson remarked. and Col. Breckin-
ridges face broke into a quiet smile while
the rest Of the court room laughed.
And now We come TO that Washburn-
Springer report which you wrote" said
Mr.. Wilson. turning to Mr. Butterworth.
That was q good report, but did not
write II - Tatnrte1 p,,ff !,
My dear friend, that is in your own
handwriting; L am expert enough to
know that" Mr.. Wilson replied.
Messrs Butterworth and Wilson. 1t
may be remarked Internationally, were
in congress together. The substance of
the opinions quoted by Mr.. Wilson was
that expert evidence was the most I'M
satisfactory sort with which courts had
To deal. and that experts were prone to
be warped in their opinions by their fees
After the argument Judge Bradley said
that the testimony of the experts tended
10 show the authorship of the letter and
inquired what would there be for the
court to 10 if there had been no expert
testimony. in view Of defendants testi-
mory that he had received it in due
course Of the correspondence and had
afterward held a conversation with plain
tiff based ON its contents, either the tes-
timony of the defendant or that of the
experts, he thought, would justify the
admission of the letter to the sight of
the jurors, allowing them to judge of
the evidence for and against its anthem
ITCHY fer themselves, aided by their own
powers of observation and comparison
with the admitted specimens of the plain
tin's handwriting. lie continued: 1T
appears that this is largely a dispute
over a shadow. as the contents of this
letter have been published by the press
and the jury are probably intelligent men
and readers. Newspaper enterprise is a
good thing. but i'm this instance ii was
enterprise with a vengeance. 1t was "a
contempt Of court and was a gross i'm
pIopriety to publish IL before il was
given to the jury. l presume the re-
porters were not aware of the impro-
priety of their act, which must have been
committed within the precincts of the
court. The letter would have been adj
mitted anyway. but suppose it had not
been and the jury had read it. Great
harm might have been done by the
action"
After these admonitions Mr.. Butter
worth read the letter which has already
been published.
This finished. Col. breckenridge rose
again and described what had become
of the letters. He had kept three files
one at his house. one AT his office and
one partnership file. 1t was his recOl-
lection that the two had been placed i'm
the file at his office Returning to his
WISH To the W GSleNdn seminary. the Qe-
PENDANT explained that it had been made
while on a business trip to Covington.
on Friday. the 10th of August. There
being no hotel accommodation in Coving
ton. he had gone TO Cincinnati to stay
over night. After dinner. remembering
the letter of Miss Pollard, he strolled
up to the college
Il sent my name up" he said, was
invited into room and in few mo-
ments the plaintiff came down. We
shook hands. She said she supposed
she had astonished me by the substance
of her letter; that it was worse than n
divorce case. We took seats, she on
divan, 1 on a chair in the rear of the
room. She narrated the circumstances
under which she had made the agree
ment with Mr.. Rhodes. Until then 1
had not known who her mother was. /
had known her father but not whom he
married AS soon as she told me she
was living with her aunt, Mrs. York
Keene l knew who her mother was be-
cause her uncle York Keene, had been
In my brothers regiment. Because her
father had died in Strengthened circum-
stances and her life with her aunt had
not been pleasant she wanted to leave.
Mr.. Rhodes had fallen in love with her,
but she had respected him as an older
man but did not love him. She wanted
to know whether he could compel her
to marry him. / treated the matter with
some levity, and said | knew of no law
in this day by which she could be COM
PEELED to the specific performance of a
marriage contract. She grew grave,
looked as though she felt like crying,
took out her handkerchief, put it to her
face and l got up and walked the room.
asked her if her mother was alive. L
had not seen her mother, / have never
in fact: but she said her mother had not
approved of the contract and it had
made unpleasantness in the family. 1
spoke of her grandfather. l knew her
grandfather and her uncles. She had
ceased to walk the room, she was sit
beside her / started to leave after
some expressions of sympathy but she.
delayed me. She said, the plaintiff did:
It's much worse than that; it's much
worse than that He insisted on marry
ing me. / did not want to be like Aunt
Lou. with a house full of children and
unable TO educate them She put her
handkerchief to her face"
An Alleged Confession.
Here Col Breckenridge spoke very
slowly and reproduced the mournful
tones which a young woman might use
In making such confession: 'She said:
I gave him a higher proof than that
contract Then 1 said she ought to
marry him anyway. She said: L can't.
have grown away from him. 1 know
what other men are and his very
presence is offensive TO me- / replied:
You can't afford not to marry him;
young girl as you are Then the con-
versation drifted away. There was
nothing more 1 could say. She seemed TO