The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-07-25

trial home just before they started for
San Francisco. 1t nearly broke my
wife's heart when the president of the
home informed us that by the advice of
counsel he must decline to tell us what
had become of the boy. He acknowl-
edged, however, that soon after the
Bartletts had entered him. under an as
sumed name, the lad had been removed
from the home. BY whom he refused to
say. And that Is the history of the law
suit which is to be tried next month"
/ went back to the office of Potter &,
Patterson wondering at the existence
of statutes which allowed such cruel
ties to be perpetrated in the name of
the law. Field & Tanning, the attor-
neys for the home. took the position
that he should not now be unsettled in
''his present family relations" having
grown up in absolute ignorance even
of his baptismal name. This was the
only hint we had had that the babe had
lived.
At the opening of the term the cal
endar, or list of cases to be heard, was
formally called. Peckham versus The
Children's Home would probably be
reached the third day. Field & Fan
ming protested, through q Junior part
ner, whom l had not seen before, that
they could not be ready at that time,
but the judge declared that the case
must be tried when reached. / took
this as an augury in our favor. Field
& Fanning's junior left the courtroom
when did, and was filled with envy
I sd 10 hn 0ninU f
the case. himself for his firm. 1t seemed
he had just been admitted to partner
ship and was very anxious to succeed
in this his first serious undertaking. l
was equally determined to relax no ef-
fort in behalf of Mr.. Peckham. OF
course. Mr.. Patterson was to bear the
brunt of our side of the case.
When court opened on the day of
trial neither old Mr.. Field nor Mr..
Tanning was present; they had left
everything to their Junior. President
Carter, of the Children's Home, ven-
erable-looking man of great wealth
and many charities. sat by his young
counsel with several of the board of
directors. Mr.. Carter was a retired
lawyer himself, and I was rather sur
prised to learn that Field & Fanning's s
junior was his son. and that President
Carter had been young Lawyer Cart
ers first client. The old man had asked
Field & Tanning If they We're willing
to trust his son with the conduct of the
case, and they, not without some mis-
givings, it turned out, agreed to let
young Carter manage 1t.
Well, we put in our evidence, and
Mrs. Peckham's story, told in court
much as she had told it to me. brought
tears to many eyes. Young Carter, as
handsome youth as ever saw, cross
examined her with dignity and intelli-
gence. His sympathetic yet searching
questions moved her greatly; when he
asked her If she did not think that Mrs.
Bartlett was warranted by her long
and unexplained absence in believing
she had abandoned her child, Mrs. Peck
hams emotion became uncomfortable.
She stretched her soft white hands ap-
pealingly out to him from the witness
box with such a look in her eyes of
agony as no beholder could forget. mo,
no, not that" she moaned. 1 thought
1 saw her cross-examiner turn pale. AS
his lip quivered for a moment imag-
ined he must have thought of his own
mother. Yet knew old Lawyer Car.