Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1896-06-25


which resulted in his hanging, you may
be mistaken in this case, and Ellis
shall not hang on your miserable testi-
mony. l thank God that the people Of
Nevada did not mob you last year; and
I hope that you may escape with your
life on this occasion. You may get off
the witness stand. Your testimony is
worthless"
"Then the other witness was sum-
moned. He was excited with the ordeal
of his predecessor, and l saw that he
could scarcely stutter, much less talk.
l went right at him and said: You saw
the man O'Brien raise shovel to brain
Ellis. You saw the defendant try to
run away from him. You saw O'Brien
rush after Ellis to the edge of the pit.
Your own eyes witnessed the fact that
Ellis only drew his gun and fired in
self-defense. Now tell the jury the
truth without quibbling, without equiv
ocation or hesitation
'The poor fellow began to stutter and
stammer. / went after him and de-
manded prompt answer without any
mental reservation or time for consid-
Grafton. The jury did not know that
he was sufferer. They saw before
them man who was struck almost
speechless when confronted with de-
termined attorney. The poor fellow
! tried in vain to deny the story. He
could not utter word. He refused
to leave the witness stand. He tried to
say that he was a sufferer, but his
tongue wobbled all over both of his
cheeks He was finally ordered off the
stand by the judge, and my case was
won. The jury believed that Ellis was
innocent. 1t took them only five min
utes in the jury room to reach verdict
of acquittal.
"As soon as the verdict was rendered
Ellis came to me and asked if his life
was saved l replied: Yes, your life
is safe for just ten minutes. These
people here are going now to the sa-
looms. and as soon as their whisky takes
effect they will come here and run you
up on a rope. While they are drinking
you must scoot up the side of the noun
tain and disappear. Now get out as fast
as your legs will carry YOU
mo man ever Skinned up a mountain
side with more expedition than Ellis.
He disappeared in the brush, and no.
body ever saw him again in those dig
gings. 1 got onto my horse and dis
appeared olso, because the crowd might
have been inclined to mob me, when
they failed to find Ellis. Of course,
after they cooled down none of them
| hi n1; II
though they all were satisfied that he
was guilty.
"After that case quit criminal prac-
tice," continued the senator. II de-
clared that would never again defend
q man for an extreme crime. Then I
went into politics and have never since
been bothered with criminal cases.
| But i had not seen the last of Ellis.
1 made no inquiry concerning him, and
had dismissed him and his case from
my mind for several years. But one
evening in Salt Lake City, after had
attended public meeting and was
walking to my hotel, man rushed out
of a little alley way, stopped me, hand
ed me a purse of money, and said:
Take it, It's yours. You earned more;
but that is all now have. You saved
my life. I'm Ellis
with that he disappeared, and
have never seen or heard of him since.
Maybe he was innocent, All of the cir
cumstances were against him. Maybe
he ought to have been convicted. But
a man who will go out of his way to
pay n debt us Ellis did must have some
good qualities in him. When opened
the purse found in it the neat sum OF
$3.50. which must have been his saw
ings for long time. Ipresume that
he had been watching my movements,
and followed me on that occasion in
order to pay for my services. Whether
he was innocent or guilty did my duty
in defending him. know that no othe.
sort of defense would have saved him,
for the entire community was con-
vinced of his guilt; and you know that
in frontier communities they general
ly deal with men according to popular
opinion regardless of law. Those
were almost lawless days, but the
courts We're respected to & degree
Therefore it was possible for Ellis &c
get up the mountain side before the
crowds were ready TO mob him. If hi
is now alive, he will not blame me fol
telling the story. If he was innocent
he will be glad to have it told"
. - ~ .