Evening star., 1896-06-25
READY FOR VERDICT
Jury Will Take Holt Case Some
Time This. Afternoon.
Mr.. BUrrERVOR1H CLOSES TO-DAY
Mr.. Wilson's Argument for the
Heis-atLsm,
TRIAL NEARBY ENDED

With the opening of the Holt will trial this
morning the public interest in this famous
case reached climax, for the general opin-
ion was that this would .be the last day.
There was but little left to do. except to
finish the arguments and to deliver
the charge to the jury. It was impos-
sible to say just when the case would go to
the jury, and no one was willing to venture
a guess as to how long the twelve good men
and true might take to reach verdict.
The trial began Monday, May Is, and con-
sequently has lasted not quite six full
weeks. Tomorrow would just round out
that length of time. and even If the case
should go to the jury, there was more than
a likelihood that a verdict might not be
given before tomorrow morning. anyhow.
Some curiosity has been expressed as to
the legal form the verdict will take. Ac-
cording to the issues of the case, the jury
is called upon to pronounce answers to four
set questionS-whether Judge Holt wrote the
will, whether there was a revocation, fraud
undue influence The last two questions
may be left out Of consideration, and the
jury will only be called upon to make cate
gorical answers to the first and second. A
negative answer to the first would, OF
course settle the matter once and for all,
barring the possibility of new trial
1t Is scarcely necessary to say that the
-
to the case in their closing arguments to
the jury. There has been little in the way
OF eloquence, for the speakers have devoted
their attention solely to the matter of sum-
ming up the testimony and drawing their
different conclusions from the facts that
have been presented. The lawyers for the
caveatees left full two hours for Mr.. But
terworth to make the final appeal to the
jury He Is recognized an able orator.
and the constant attendants upon the trial
have felt all along that he was being kept
back for closing burst of eloquence, which
would leave a favorable impression of the
claims or the caHeateeS in the minds of the
jury.
Mr.. Worthington used up large part of
the time allotted to his side yesterday, and
there was some talk Of his being the only
speaker for the heirS-at-law, owing to the
fact that Mr. Wilson was not feeling well
enough to stand the strain of speaking.
Called 1t n Forgery.
Yesterday afternoon, after The Stars re-
port of the case closed. Mr.. Worthington
went on with his argument that the i'm
portant words in the alleged will were all
traced directly from corresponding words
in letters from Judge Holt to the members
of the Throckmorton family He called
especial attention to the fact that in his let
ter of September "a, 1879, Judge Holt wrote
writer was a standard of the highest char
acter.' while in the will occur the words
whose character is of the highest stand
ard The words STANDARD he said could
be placed one above another, and one
matches the other exactly.
so it is said the lawyer. that we
claim that this will is forgery, and that
the man who forged it had these letters in
his possession A man who cannot believe
that is not open to the light of reason"
Mr. Worthington insisted that the alb
sence of proper punctuation marks in the
alleged will was good preof that Judge
Holt never wrote the paper. for he was un-
usually careful in that respect.