Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-06-04

AT this point the prosecuting attor-
ney interrupted me, and demanded that
the witness be protected from insult by
the court. The Judge, who had de-
Tended poor Barney the previous year,
said that no protection could be given
to the man who had sworn away the life
of Barney.
THAT decision had good effect upon
the jury. Twas not defending Ellis, but
prejudicing the minds of the jurymen
against the witness, by calling up the
Barney case. / kept Mt the witness, un-
til he finally confessed that he had been
mistaken in the Barney trial of the pre-
ceding year. Then ranted and shout
ed: Here you come into court to swear
away human life; but you can't fool
with this jury of intelligent men. II
you were mistaken in the Barney case,
which resulted in his hanging, you may
be mistaken in this case, and Ellis
shall not hang on your miserable testi-
mony. i thank God that the people of
Nevada did not mob you last year; and
l hope that you may escape with your
life on this occasion. You may get off
the witness stand. Your testimony Ii
worthless"
"Then the other witness was sum-
moned. He was excited with the ordeal
of his predecessor, and saw that no
could scarcely stutter, much less talk.
/ went right ut him and said: You saw
the man O'Brien raise a 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. l went after him and de-
manded a prompt answer without any
mental reservation or time for consid-
GRAFTON. The jury did not know that
he was a sufferer. They saw before
them a 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. 1 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 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 .. ..r'n
mo man ever Skinned up mountain
side with more expedition than Ellis
He, disappeared in the brush, and no.
body ever saw him again in those dig.
gings. / got onto my horse and dis
appeared also, because the crowd IL. light
have been inclined to mob me, when
they failed to find Ellis. OF course,
after they cooled down none of them
blamed me for saving my client, al.
though they all were satisfied that he
was guilty.
"After that case quit criminal prac-
tice," continued the senator. "I de-
clared that would never again defend
a man for an extreme crime. Then
went into politics and have never since
been bothered with criminal cases.
But had not seen the last of Ellis.
l 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