The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-11
CARLISLE'S TALK CLOSED.
Col. Phil Thompson Then Gives the
Plaintiff Fits.


The Plaintiffs Attorney Asserts That
the Defendant Has Denied None of
Her Assertions and Alludes to the
Colonel as a Hypoorite-Col. Thomp-
son on the Other Hand Pictures
Madeline as an Adventures of Easy
Virtue Whose Only Aim is to Obtain
Money.
Washington, April 1O.-Mr. Carlisle
continued his argument for the plaintiff
in the Pollard -Breckinridge suit to a very
small audience to-day. In addition to
those whose business compelled them to
be there not more than twenty persons
were in the court room, including the
plaintiff and defendant. The day was
very stormy and the court room dark and
dismal.
Finally, in his narrative, for it was
more of narrative than an argument,
MIR. Carlisle came to the promise of mar
riage made before Mrs. Blackburn. Mr..
Carlisle quoted Mrs. Blackburn's ac-
count of the first interview, on Good Fri
day night, 1898, when, according to the
witness, Col. Breckinridge asked her to
take charge of Miss Pollard as his future
wife. He has not spoken one word in
contradiction of Mrs. Blackburn's state
ment, said Mr. Carlisle. ''He tells you
her testimony is true,'
Mr.. Carlisle also referred to the letters
that had been written by the parties in
the case. Col. Breckenridge swore that
no letters had been exchanged between
Miss Pollard and himself in 1885, and yet
a typewriter testified that she had ad-
dressed envelopes to Miss Pollard for the
defendant during that year, and the
plaintiff had said that she received many
letters from him.
TIE LITTLE BASKET.
Mr.. Carlisle laid great stress on the
little decorative basket which belonged
TO the late Mrs. Breckenridge. MISS Pol
lard testified that it had been given to
her by the defendant with the remark,
Madeline, this was poor Issa's, and /
want you to have it," Col. Breckinridge
denied this and limited that it had been
Pollard. Sometimes a little thing like
this proves to be the most
important item in a case" said Mr.. Car
Isle. "A witness has told you that it
was on Miss Pollard's lap while Col
Breckenridge was sitting by her side. and
it has been shown thathe saw it many
times, and that fact proves that there
was degree of affectionate intimacy be-
tween the defendant and the plaintiff
that presaged marriage"
Rapidly reviewing the testimony about
the. outward appearance of an engage
ment, Mr.. Carlisle summed up the feat
ures by saying that there was a contract
of marriage between the plaintiff and the
defendant, as was shown by the produc-
tion of an invitation he addressed TO her,
to attend a reception in his honor at a
young ladies' seminary; it had been
further shown by his visits to
was staying; by what Claude
de LaRoche Francis overheard between
the two; and by the positive, clear and
explicit statement of Mrs. Blackburn
1t was further confirmed by visits in May,
1893. to the plaintiff, and by two visits to
the chief Of police. 1.-The history of this
form of action, said MIR. Carlisle, with
emphasis, will not present more COM
plete chain of evidence than has been pre-
sented here Of breach of contract of
marriage"
SCORED FOR HYPoCRIsY.
Mr.. Carlisle proceeded to score the de-
I
man Of great standing in the church,
said the lawyer, had been leader In the
Sunday school and had addressed reli-
gious gatherings and yet he came into
court and admitted that in telling Mrs.
Blackburn and Maj. Moore ofhis engage
ment to the plaintiff, he had lied, and that
both he and the plaintiff had
| agreed to lie about the whole matter.
He came here, gentlemen" said Mr..
IA eli acl nj fp h0li
supported word that there was no con-
tract of marriage between them-his un-
supported word against that of reputable
witnesses and of the plaintiff; he asks
you to believe his word after he has con-
fessed that he arranged and acted lies
concerning that engagement"
In conclusion, Mr.. Carlisle said: ''It
has been shown that this man of power
and influence and distinction, social and
over this plaintiff, that he did have an in
fluence over her life. and did promise to
repair that injury he had done. If you
think this, gentlemen you are authorized,
as the court tells you in its instructions,
not only to give compensating dam
ages, taking into consideration the
previous relations of the parties and
what the social advancement of such a
marriage would have been to this plain
,
exemplary damages. You are allowed to
give punitive damages, to punish the de-
fendant as an offender against the rights
of man, and in dong this there is only
one limit to your action, and that is
the full amount claimed in the decla-
ration-S50, 600 This l ask you 70
give, gentlemen, in the name of right and
Justice, reason and purity; in the name
of our mothers, of our sisters, and our
brothers, and if the whole amount should
be given, you will have done your part to
put stigma on such conduct and effect
the only reparation that can be asked by
this injured plaintiff"
THOMPSON OPENS FOR THE DEFENSE.
When MIR. Carlisle sat down, Col. Phil
Thompson began his opening for the de-
fense. He was impassioned from the be-
ginning, and spoke in a manner entirely
different from the colloquial. matter OF
fact way in which Mr.. Carlisle addressed
the Jury. Just before he began to speak,
Miss Pollard and Miss Ellis left the court
room. Col Thompson said he did not
extenuate the fault of any man who had
been guilty of seducing a young
girl, but he did not think
that man should be held responsible in
a suit of this kind for having been init
mate with a woman who was Of ill-repute.
Speaking in his high, keen voice, with
his pronounced southern accent, he ap-
pealed to the jury to regard the plaintiff
as a lewd and wanton woman, and not Ia