The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-31
Mr.. BARNES ELOOUENCE,
Only Durrart Himself Remains IN
moved by the District Attorneys
Glowing and Scathing Words.

II was Mr.. Barnes day in court-Mr. Barnes
OF san Francisco-portly, genial, good-looking
sleek Mr.. Barnes, gifted with pleasing tluency
OF easy, graceful words, a picturesque magma
ton, apt metaphors and the voice and bearing
Of an orator.
He made the effort of his life-a life richer
in natural talents than in years or experience
and the effort won for him the unstinted
praise OF every man and woman who sat and
listened for three hours and 8 half without
WEAKNESS to his earnest, sonorous voice, and
his glowing, sometimes soaring, sometimes
hotly scathing words.
1t was by no means gallery speech-nor was
ii matter-ot-fact argument. 1t was as rich
in illustration as an address to a jury in such a
case could well afford to be, and the metaphors
were well chosen, being neither commonplace
nor obscure.
Mr.. Barnes is a heavyweight-that was the
verdict of the lawyers who heard him yester-
day. To the lay mind he was more than this,
he was an orator.
But ii one lauds good effort, why not criti-
cize as we'll? Mr. Barnes speech, then, was
not an unmixed good. There were weak
points in it as well as strong. At times it rose
TO heights OF true oratory. showing the poten-
ualities, even the realization of true eloquence.
But it fell again-into tautology, into repeti-
ton, even into faulty syntax, showing that
genius and talents need also the ripeness and
practice fyears All of which proves that Mr.
Barnes is not perfect orator, or that If he
were more nearly perfect than be is his effort
yesterday would have been less faulty than it
was.
once he said at don't stand to reason" and
once he said, "Chaff thrown out to try and
catch some juror"-and he spoke for three
hours ana half, using good English, with
these exceptions, and often commanding sem
fences and phrases that were not only musical
so much for how he said it. AS TO what he
said-wen that is a part OF the same story.
He began with a statement of the case at issue
This bore evidence of careful preparation 1t
was pitched 10 high key, but was admirably
sustained throughout, and it left behind it the
memory OF not single trite or commonplace
sentence. 1t combined a vivid and graphic
picture, Couched in chaste, well-chosen words
of the black crime in the belfry with power
full scathing of the monster whose cruel fingers
crushed out the life spark of the innocent
maid.
Then he turned to the black-robed wire form
upon which are draped the garments of the
murdered girl. 81 fill again that slender robe
with her girlish FORM" he said. "Above it 1
see her sweet face, haloed by its wealth OF hair
her gentle eyes, her smiling mouth dropping
kindly words, bubbling up from the unpolluted
depths of pure heart. have seen her as she
was when the defendant addressed her at the
door of the Normal School. have so seen her
every day; l see her now. There she stands
behind him at this hour; notpraying for venge-
ance for her deep and .remediless wrongs,
not for the laws retribution upon her muir
derer, but with uplifted hands and streaming
eyes, praying that God will not put it into your
hearts, by the mockery of a verdict of not
guilty, TO set free this monster to prey upon
other gentle souls, pollute with vile hands the
unsunned snow of other children, and defy
anew that God of justice whose ministers you
are"
There was no forced or labored pathos in
this picture, and the power of it moved the
great audience as effectively as the most i'm
FASHIONED outburst Of Mr.. Deuprey. Durrant
looked around to his mother and smiled and
exchanged whispers.
In analyzing the evidence Mr.. Barnes was as
much at home as in his flights of rhetoric and
eloquence. He took up each fact proven in
chronological order and dissected it thor.
oughly.
This morning he win continue his argu-
ment, taking up the thread of his story at the
corner o. Market and Powell streets. where
Miss Edwards, when she alighted from the car
still saw Durrant and Blanche seated on the
dummy. 1t is not likely that he will conclude
In time to permit the courts charge to the
jury before the afternoon ad iournment