The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-02-06

tract and Finance Company; that ne scarc - y
recollected its existence, and only knew IN. daa
it had gone ont OF existence pecause 'uuS r
Brown had told him So. why II !nat PoOt1{
dieraced. forgotten entity had been living ana
breathing 1t might have said with Lear
How sharper than serpent's tooth it is
TO have thankless child.
And vet the witness Huntington, VINO cr!es'
Non mi ricordoI non mi ricordo! about an I'M
norta Mt event occurring Jour montns UeIoIe, 10
able TO recollect with precision an lncoIlse o
tial detail of a business TRANSACTION seven yeoiS
old. .
But the most burning lnvectIve C oI az
that scathing address was when MI. Conen
summed ND and analysed the testimony OF
C. p Huntington. Listen to his arralgn-
ment of the railroad magnate:
have alluded to the nature of the memory
of Huntington, and ask your honor conSIu-
Grafton one minute 10 the c1aracte[ u ms
cross-examination. Now, sir, L appear 10 you
boldly and with confidence, whether YOU slt-
ting here impartially 10 Judge between the
plaintiff and myself, holding the scales OF
justice with an even ana firm hand, neither IN
clining to one side nor the other, whether from
what you saw OF that witness on the stand you
would allow his testimony 10 afect the balance
either way.
do not like to comment with any harshness
upon the testimony OF Huntington, because
after his examination and just at the ADJOURN
ment of the court he told me II this thing con-
unued-if he was cross-examlned any more
there would be GOODNESS between us. DO
not WISH 10 produce That QeplOraDle result DuL
do say that if in the course OF my limited ex;
perience, ever saw justice not only tempered
but diluted with mercy IL was when your
Honor allowed him to leave the courtroom
free man, instead OF sending him in charge OF
an officer to be examined by magistrate upon
charge of perjury.
say that one OF the most disgraceful incl
dents OF this whole trial was this one mans
eyldence-the yice-president of this great cor
porat1on-the man who has been foremost IN
administering the great trust which the Ma
ton connded to himself and his associates
coming here and, to question after question,
swearing that he did not recollect facts which
1t was impossible, in the nature of things, that
he ever could forget; and then, when he is
pressed, when the questions are coming thick
and close upon him. and they getting to be
decidedly inconvenient, what does he do?
He turns around and replies by impairment
and hlppant personal remarks. So we have
II from very nigh authority that no less per-
son than Mr.. (afterward Lord Brougham, who
was counsel in the celebrated trial of Queen
Caroline, and he makes the remark about
witness whose want of recollection has become
a matter OF history, and who has immortaliZed
and perpetuated term which he used so
many times IN the course OF the testimony in
that case; "Non mi ricordo!" that nothing
more surely discloses the testimony of false
witness than hippancy and impertinence in
this manner OF telling his story"
"a false witness is always hippant and i'm
pertinent when he is pressed" And that is
just what Mr.. Huntington was. l say that in
this case, where more than money is involved;
where you, sir, sitting as chancellor, are asked
to determine whether the plaintiff in this case
is entitled to a decree upon the ground of
fraud; no reliance, not one particle, should be
placed upon the testimony of such witness as
that man Huntington. l do not like TO say
anything that is harsh. l do not like to go be-
You'd the bounds OF decent and respectable lam
guage. do not like TO call men by opprobrious
epithets, but do say this, and hold myself re-
sponsible for it at all times and in all places,
that if ever a witness left the stand with the
brand of perjury indelibly impressed upon his
forehead, that witness was G. Z. Huntington.
What was true twenty years ago is true
to-day. Men do not change character as
chameleons their color.