Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1894-04-14
POLAR BRECKENRIDGE TRIAL.

Washington yesterday, after the GA
zErrE's report closed, Judge Wilson
continued his argument for the plain
tiff.
MIR. Wilson said that the jury had
heard o most remarkable argument
from one of the defendants friends,
Colonel Phil. Thompson. 1t was, in
substance, that as all men were bad as
all men were laying snares for women,
why should the defendant be condemn
ed. He was no worse than the rest.
Solomon and David had been held up
a. parallels of the defendant. 1t had
been said that David was man ofgreat
education; be may not have practiccd
law all his life, but he had been edu-
Gated in the best schools of his land !;
he had silvery tongue; he was man
of passion. But Israel had come from
his loins, and he had not been con-
demned, and therefore why should the
defendant be condemned One story
had been overlooked by Phil. Thomp-
son in his biblical researches. That
was the story of Tamir, who was a
country girl, and of Anon. vhc E.'c,S5 {;
man OF passion. That episode had end
ed in {: tragedy. There were no juries
in those days. But since then the
Prince of Peace had come. There were
methods of peace, and juries provided,
and those methods were being followed
by the plaintiff. But when juries failed
TO do their duty. moro violent methods
were resorted to by outraged people,
the first old barbarous methods.
There were some things which showed
the character of the defendant in this
suit, and Mr.. Wilson spoke of the high
character of Mrs. Blackburn and how
Col. Thompson had slurred her.
1t had been said that the woman in
this case was a bawd, wanton, and
woman of the town, but he promised TO
show the jury before he finished that
whatever this woman was the defend
ant was responsible for, and for the life
she had led.
"After putting the spurs to Pegasus
seven hours up among the clouds until
the steed was all afoam, Mr.. Butter
worth had said he would come down to
tell the jury what the case was; and
then he had remarked that it was
about time for a recess; had gone out
and meditated: had come back and had
given not five minutes to telling what
was the case and what was the defense
Of it. Mr.. Butterworth had concluded
that there was muddy bottom to it,
and that he had better stand on the
bank and shoot of lire-crackers.
Before he Judge WILSON, had end
ed his talk he hoped to show but one
thing-"that this woman, standing
alone, friendless, with all this world
and its beauty as desert waste before
her, stood thus through the machina-
tons of the defendant. The case was
one for q breach of promise of marriage,
such case as was being daily brought
into the courts of the country, and
rightly brought. The defendant replied
to it with what was q general denial
that such contract existed, and claim
ing the right to prove whatever he
could detrimental TO the character of
the plaintiff.
''The plaintiff, it has been argued,
was an interested party. So was the
defendant. Her testimony was en-
titled to as much weight as his con-
corning that day in August, 1892, when
she said that he met her in carriage
and proposed marriage. That meeting
vas probable, for ali the testimony in
that case had gone to show that wher-
ever Madeline went that lamb was
sure to CO."
Mr.. Wilson went on to analyze the
evidence regarding the marriage con-
tract, and there was slight clash when
be asserted that the colonel had taken
Miss Pollard from the house of Mrs
Thomas to visit his Kentucky friends.
After reviewing the testimony OF
Francis and recalling how the engage
ment had been commonly talked of in
Mrs. Thomas's house, how the colonel
had called three or four times day
with flowers, the attorney passed on 10
a review of Mrs. Blackburn's testimony,
and then discussed the secret marriage.
He thought that the defendant had in
tended to set up that marriage as bar
to any possible contract thereafter, but
unfortunately for them the law was
against them, for not only did the
secret marriage constitute breach of
the contract in itself, but it was no
defense against the promises made
thereafter. 1t was peculiar that the
certificate of that marriage, which had
been withheld from record at the re-
quest of the defendant, had also been
fled at particular point in the case in
the recorders Office at the defendants
request. Describing the two scenes in
the office of Major Moore, when the
colonel sat beside the plaintiff on the
sofa, Mr.. Wilson remarked, "Where he
ought to be to-day, gentlemen. He
ought to be her guardian, rather than
her defamer." If that statement before
Major Moore had been made in the
State of New York, or in many juris-
dictions, it would have made the woman
the defendants legal wife, and had
another marriage q few days before
been proved, he would have been guilty
of an olfense which would have put
him behind barred doors. The attorney
commented on the circumstances that
no witnesses had been brought from
Kentucky to testify regarding the
general character of Col. Breckenridge
as man who kept his contracts and
was chaste. On the other hand, every
one from Kentucky or Washington who
had been asked concerning the char
acter Of Madeline, had said that she
was woman, from girlhood, of the
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