davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-04-22

W. j. Bryan seemed to be bent on gain.
ing as much political capital as possible
from the Cuban situation in Congress-.
The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-04-22
NORTH

Daily except sunoa, Daily {
No. 1, 1919 a. m. No.
No. 3, 7:l5 p. m. No.
The age-herald., 1898-02-20
LIFE IN THE KLONKIKE
 auu@NOT "A HAPPY ONE
BY AUGUSTA PRESCOTT

We came down from Circle City in De- cember, because we got afraid of the cli- mate
 Along the first of January 1t gets pretty keen, as the winds come whistling down from the pole, where the ice and snow lie.
 My comrade, Albert Cecil Gildie, and I feared to risk the March winds. In March the iceburgs float down and bring with them a stark cold air that stiffens you as you breath it.
 Besides we'd got our pilei Albert had his bag of nuggets, great gold Jumps all ore, packed with paper between them; and I had a trunk of them so heavy that I couldn't carry it. We drew our load on sleds.
 It wasn't exactly safe to travel down from Circle City to the coast with your nuggets spread out upon @ hand sled, but Albert and I bundled them up in rags like they were cooking utensils and started out.
 Circle City is only camp, no matter what they call, it. And when we left for the downward trip, skirting the Yukon, we felt as though we were breaking loose from @ camp in the mountains.
 The path after we left Circle City to travel southward led along the foot hills covered with snow for several miles, then miles further along into a plateau that stretched perfectly level with the eye, five miles or more. Beyond the plateau the
The age-herald., 1898-02-20
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and one foot drawn to one quarter of tho cell, and the other to the other. and on his body be put a piece of iron as much as he can bear and more and the first day after he shall have three morsels of barley bread without any drink and the second day he shall thrice drink, without any bread, as much as he can of water stand. Ing near the prison, and this shall be his diet until he be dead.. Blackstone says that cases had been known where prisoners had lived forty days under this torture. He does not give the details, and it is prob- able that he referred to a less narrowing form of the penalty for "standing mute" This barbarity, which appears to have been improved by placing a rough piece of wood or iron under the prisoner, pre- vailed at Newgate as late as TAO. How firmly the practice was imbedded may be Judged from the fact that in 1709 statute, providing that in Scotland no accused perl son should be tortured, contained the pro. vso that the law should mot extend to take away that judgment which is given in England against persons indicted of felony who shall refuse to plead or decline trial.n
 A non-extant statute of Henry II. apA pears to have placed jurata patriae, or ir- quistion of twelve, upon a firm footing in public favor. Though at first it was only applicable to cases which had been, up to the time of this king, decided by wager Qf battle, 1t grew in popularity, and came tq be called the recognition of assize," in which four knights selected the jurors, to distinguish it from the jurata ex consensu. In this latter the jurors, by permission of the assize, were selected by the parties to the action This jurata ex consensu is the modern jury trial in it's most important characteristics.
 It will be seen that the lawbooks are by no means dull reading especially if notej are followed up. One of the quaintest things in Blackstone is his mention of q law giving the queen the tail of all whales killed in certain waters, thus furnishing the ladies of the court with whalebone To this Chitty replies that the law is not so curious the explanation, since thu bone used in stays Is found in the head not in the tail, of the animal.
The age-herald., 1898-02-20

of seizin (title), an assze of Henry II. gave the tenant in a writ of right the alternative of battle or by a recognition of jurors'' to be selected by four knights. The dsad- vantages of this form of trial are obvious. It was always unpopular, and we find that the charter of Henry I. excepted the city .of London from it as a special boon. When a controversy arose to ownership of land between a rich man and a poor man the rich man hired the powerful champions and the poor man could obtain only inferior fighters to support his cause. Theoretical ly, the parties to a case were not allowed to hire champions, but this was the general practice nevertheless. The oldest books occasionally cite cases where men were convicted of being professional champions. Elias Pigon was one of these soldiers of fortune; he was convicted and sentenced to have his foot cut off-"consideratum est quod amittat pedem.'' So far as the rec ords show 1t was the champion and not the man who hired him, who was punished.
 In the eleventh century it appears that no trial was resorted to in certain cases. The records of Northumberland of about 1260 (preserved in the Staffordshire collec- 'tion), recite that Sermannus a hermit, and one Gilbert, stranger, were travelling to- gether, when Gilbert robbed and beat his companion and fled, leaving him quasi mor- tuum." Gilbert was apprehended at Am wick, where the mermit, having miracu- lously recovered from his half-dead state, came and accused Gilbert of the assault and robbery. Gilbert confessed. Where upon the said officer of the king (the bail iff) caused the hermit to behead Gilbert" The sheriff and coroner, being asked by what warrant he caused him to be be- headed, says that 1t is the custom of the county that as soon as anyone is taken with the mainor (the thing stolen), he is to be at once beheaded, and the party suing for his stolen chattels is to have his chat tels for beheading him" 4
 For standing mute,' that Is, for refusing to plead, the penalties were very severe. In "Fleta" it is told how such obstinate persons were tied to the bare floor, lone arm drawn with cord to one quarter of the cell and the other to the other quarter,
The age-herald., 1898-02-20

could not get through the low doorway, and finally giving it up, rolled it end over end up the stairs, the old couple eyeing me evilly all the while.
 I'm up safe," I called out as breath less I arrived with 1t at the top of the stairs, ''and as see my room ahead of me, will not trouble you any further tonight.
 The room as took a quick survey of it by the light of the open shutter, was a square one devoid of furniture except a rude bedstead and one chair. = There was no provision for bathing in the morning nor, as could see, was there a lamp or candle
 I felt in my baggage for a candle, but the last end was gone; "I'll have to ven-
 ture down." I said to myself, for don
 propose to be without light As I stepped to the narrow staircase some instinct prompted me to go quietly. ] I crept down the stairs one by one until I stood on a level with the sitting room. There seated comfortably at a pine table in the middle of the floor were the old
 couple. A lamp was between them As paused. to take survey of them, heard the old woman say, Did ye change the door knob?"
 "No, he got up stairs too quick for me-" A sound made the old woman turn around; What do ye want?' she snap ped at me.
 "Could you give me light?' said. Certainly" said she, springing to her feet, can I'll take it up fer ye." Ahead of me she sprang up the stair case showing remarkable agility for one so feeble; and by the time I had regafned the top she was coming out of my room, while within f1ickered the light of a sput- tering candle.
 A few minutes later with rebolted door.
The age-herald., 1898-02-20

From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
 Among all the curiosities found in the old law books, the most interesting are those connected with the growth Of trial by jury. The controversy as to the ori- gin, the nativity, of the jury is still open 1t is shown that the inquisitio patriae, or inouisition by body of twelve men, was occasionally resorted to in England before the conquest, and it is undisputed that furv trials in some form existed among the Scandinavians and later among the Normans Gin Normandy. Prof. James Bradley Thayer, of Harvard, who has ut- tered the last authoritative word upon this subject, says, without qualification, that swhen the Normans came into England they brought with them the prac- tice of ascertaining facts by summoning together by public authority number of people most likely to know and most com petent, as being neighbors, to know and fell the truth. This was the parent of the modern jury" But to the curious forerunners of the modern jury.
 Existing contemporaneously with the iurv of twelve men were the trial by wit nesses, by oath, by ordeal and by battle in the first form of trial 1t was permissi- ble, but not obligatory, for the parties 10 nroduce witnesses who swore to matters of fact In case the opposing witnesses were utterly at variance with each other, nothing remained for them to do but to fight 1t out together. This form Of trial, or more properly. proof, applied only 10 proof of age, proof of death, or proof of property in personal chattels. It was not
The age-herald., 1898-02-20

I don't suppose yell want any more than that,' he said.
 "Oh mo-" I responded cheerfully. ssand don't put yourself to any trouble. I'm used to roughing it."
 At this moment the old woman reap peared and beckoned me into the kitchen. There upon the table, as though she had been expecting guest, lay a plate, dark handled knife and fork and cup; "I seen ye coming" said she ''an' know'd ye was coming here, the same as all the others"
 The expression same as all the others" grated upon me. though l could not tell why.
 As finished eating leaned back in my chair and took out a small pocket mirror. Lifting it to my eyes, to take survey of my face, I was surprised to see in it's re- f1ectfon the old couple bending over some thing in the front room; and turning the glass the better to see, I was astonished to find that it was my sled. They were examining it. They had pulled off it's cov- erings and were bending over the leather trunk tapping 1t with anxious fingers and listening as they tapped. "Ho, ho," I said to myself, pocketing the glass, 'I will have to watch this old couple, as well as guard against outsiders"
 At the first sound they rose quickly and the old man stepped to the door with a candle; "Guess yell want to go to bed pretty early,' he sdrawled, wife an hev fixed the room fer yer"
 As he spoke he pointed up dark, nar- row, ladder like staircase which evidently led to my sleeping quarters up above.
 Thanks" said I, 'I guess I will turn in now; and by the way I added as if it were an afterthought, 1T will take my trunk up with me. I've got some things in it that may want" At this the old pair looked at each other. "I'll unpack 'em fer yer" said the old dame quickly "but I wouldn't take it up if I wuz you. The stairs is too narrow any, way"
 And too narrow they were. At first I endeavored to lift it on my shoulder But
The age-herald., 1898-02-20
FORERUNNERS OF=
 zTHE MODERN JURY Y

in use after the fourteenth century though. according to statute, it was appli- cable for 200 years later.
 Trial by oath was the simplest off all. It differed from the trial by witnesses only in that the "compurgators'' were called merely to substantiate the oath of the principal It seems to have been applied more often in criminal cases A case of this kind is found in Palgrave's commenta- ries where Agnes Archer is "endyted that thou felonly morderiste her (Alice Solin- bourge) with knyfe five tymes in the throate stekying, throwe the wheche stekyn the saide Ayes is deed" Agnes acquitted herself by thirty-six compurgat- ors chosen by her from the will of Win chelsea. This case was tried in LAO. Up to the reign of Henry III. the accused was allowed, in the event of the death of an important compurgator, to make up the deficiency by taking an oath over the de- ceased witness grave. Before this mode accused was deprived of the privilege of selecting his compurgators; they being chosen much as jurymen are now drawn. But the jurymen or compurga- tors were required to possess knowledge of the facts of the case; a reversal Of our requirement.. As late as 1895 this trial by oath or wager of law, as 1t was called, was pronounced valid in England, and it pre- vailed as late as 1900 in Massachusetts in exceptional cases. In 1924 Justice Story, in the case of Childress vs Emory, said that the wager of law, if it ever had a legal existence ip the United States, Is now completely abolished."
 The ordeal is by far the oldest form of trial of which we have any record. Traces of 1t are found In the primitive history o1 all nations. It's four forms were ordeal by
The age-herald., 1898-02-20

the frozen ground was thin pretense against thieves. They and knew that it Is not an empty sled that man drags af- ter him when bound southward from the gold regions.
 But there was no time for conjecture for the hill lay before me and two miles be- yond was the inn.
 Iceberg Inn was a resort well known to miners. It was kept by an old couple who tried their luck in the gold fields, but gave up to start the none the less remun- erative business of treating the miners well as they journeyed back and forth. As a half way house Iceberg Inn was well known, and to it's portals I was bound, for here could be found shelter and safety.
 On the other side of the hill Albert was travelling downward soon to find Camp Brill below.
 I could scarcely have travelled the two miles when I was agreeably surprised to see the Inn looming up on cliff before me. It was a much shorter distance than Albert had given me to understand, but there it was with its rude front and its little windows nearly hidden behind the wind break of brush and trees piled to northward to shelter it.
 With sigh of thankfulness turned my sled into the path that wound westward to the house and began the work of pull ing it steadily along the narrow way.
 To my surprise, for Al had told me great tales of the hospitality of the Inn, no one came out to welcome me; but trudged on thinking mine host of the Inn must be asleep. As I drew nearer was surprised to see all the shutters closed, and, although it was dark, not light shone from any ot the windows.
The age-herald., 1898-02-20
path turned to the left and found the river

path turned to the left and found the river again.
 But at the further end of the plateau AL bert and I were to separate; he to go to the Canada side where he lived and to travel to the states. We had fallen to- gether by accident, he an Englshman and I a Yankee, but we liked each other none the less, nor found the poorer fortune for each others company Home we were going with our pile" For you cannot mine without getting moderate sum- His was near fifty thousand; mine but little less.
 I shall never forget how reluctantly we shook hands at the further end of the plateau; we had travelled across the level stretch together, taking two days for the five slippery miles, and were loath to part now that the minute had come for it. I remember we shook hands twice for the last time and when he had gone I stood looking after him. He turned to the left and went down the. steep mountain path. I turned to the right.
 Scarcely had he gone fifty feet when heard him shout, "Remember old man, that you are to take the first right hand path Travel along until you see log house set up in the cliff and then make a bee line for it. You're safe there."
 We hated to separate. Together we had fought our battles, but how would we do apart! Klondike marauders hesitate about tackling two well fed, we'll armed men, but how would they feel about one! and the little sled that drew behind me over
The age-herald., 1898-02-20

I stepped boldly up to the door and knocked.
 No answer came but from above there was a creakng sound of shutter thrown open.
 'Is this Iceberg Inn?' I called out.
 For answer the voice at the window asked, How many of you are there?"
 "Only one man, but a mighty tired and hungry one. Come, hurry down and let me in.''
 There was a clattering sound and in a minute the door was pulled cautiously open. Behind it stood an old man and back of him crouched an old woman, a pistol in her hand.
 Don't shoot yet,' I laughed, stepping into the room and hauling my sled in after me, because I've heard of you and know enough to expect better treatment Still laughing I pulled off my coat and threw it on the floor, the old man mean while closing and carefully relocking the door.
 '.What do ye want?" he asked sourly
 Want! Why I wapt to stay all night the same as all the others have done and maybe day or two longer''
 The old couple looked at each other Suppose we let him." said the old woman but he'll have ter take things as he finds 'em.'
 That had made a mistake in the place was now evident to me, but as the fire was warm within and night bitter cold with out, thought 1t best. to stay. The house was safe enough-of that had little doubt and as for the feeble old couple, l had little to fear from them. While I was engaged in my meditations and pulling off my heavy overboots and wrappings, the old woman disappeared leaving the old man to assist me. aF "We can give ye supper and a bed; an
The age-herald., 1898-02-20

the balance, by fire, by water and by poi son. "He whom the blazing fire burns not, whom the water soon forces not up, or who meets with no speedy misfortune, must be held veracious in his testimony on oath" The trial by balance proceeded in this wise: The accused was weighed and then the balance was "ad1ured by inn precautions" in the name of the deity. The person accused was then again placed In the balance and the judge intoned, "Oh, Balance, thou only knowest what mortals do not comprehend. This man being. ar raigned in a cause is weighed upon thee. Therefore mayest thou deliver him lawfully from his perplexity." If the accused in- creased in weight he was adjudged guilty, but if his weight did not change, or if 1t de- creased, he was innocent. The principle upon which the other ordeals were carried out were similar but the trial by water appears to be the most ingenious. In this ordeal the accused waded into a. stream up to his waist. At signal the strongest bowman shot an arrow and the fieetest runner started to fetch the arrow back to the point from which it was shot. As the arrow left the bow the accused dived into the water, and if he remained wholly immersed until the runner returned with the arrow no guilt was shown; other wise he was guilty.
 r Tn the trial by fire seven circles were marked upon the ground three feet distant from each other Through these the prts- oner walked slowly with a smooth red- hot ball of iron laid upon seven green leaves fastened upon the the palm of his uplifted hand. If the last circle was sur- rounded before the fire burned the hand through the leaves the accused was held to be innocent. ''If he is burnt his guilt is proved; but if he remain wholly un- burnt he Is undoubtedly innocent" "Thou oh, Fire, dwellest in the interior of all crea- lures, like a witness Thou only know est what mortals do not comprehend. This man is arraigned iH a cause and desires acquittal. Therefore mayest thou deliver him." etc.
 The trial by poison is very intricate in its
The age-herald., 1898-02-20

details as to preparation of the drug, the methods of administering it, etc. The in vocation was as follows:. Thou, 0 Poi son, art persistent in truth and justice; re- lieve this man from sin, and by thy virtue become as ambrosia to him. On account of thy venomous nature thou art the de- struction of all living creatures" etc., etc., as in the case of the balance and fire.
 These invocations are taken from Jolly's translation of the Institutes of Narada, quoted in Thayer's "Evidence." They are Indian documents supposed to date back five centuries before Christ. Granvill mem tions ordeal by fire as applied in England in the twelfth century to cases of mayhem But 1t was resorted to, according to an- other authority, only when, because com purgators were not obtainable, no other form of trial or proof was possible. Henry II. established the ordeal In certain cases as late as 1176, but by this end of the cen tury it was done away with altogether, in practice, by the efforts of the clergy. Brac- ton. does no give any cases of trial by orr deal In chapter of the Mirror (about 12S5) writer is quoted by Maitland as declaring that "it is an abuse that proofs and purgations are not made by the mira cle of God where no other proof can pc had" and Stephen, in -his history of the common law, recites that defendant In 1879 "astonished the court by being asking to be tried by the ordeal"
 These forms of trial supplied need that we occasionally feel now in cases where there is only circumstantial evidence, or where the evidence is about evenly bal anced for and against the accused. They were ingenious expedients to place the re- sponsibility of judgment upon God-or chance.
 The trial by battle was an innovation in- troduced into England by William the Con- queror. "The question of mere right" says a note in Taylor's "Stephen on Plead ing" twas from the earliest period decided by wager of battle" If, by earliest pe- riod, the author meant prior to the con- quest, he was wrong according to the pest authorities. In. cases involving questions
The age-herald., 1898-02-20

ried it softly to the false door, then fum- bling ats3the knob, opened 1t noisily ana in a minute. my precious trunk went crashing ito the rocks below. I counted and 1t was nearly a minute before I heard it striker Then it went bounding ana bounding downward.
 "Safer gthere than here," I thought.
 Scarcely had time to put my hand upon my pistel than I heard a prying in the wall and in a second a hand came through and slid back the bolt Then the door opened "He opened it sooner than we thought . cackled the old woman.
 ''Yes, his; fine quarters didn't suit him. Wanted ter ask for something better, l
 He gotsfio; further, for with the but of my pistol. feled him to the floor.
 With a shriek the old woman bounded upon mes but I sprang past her and down the stairs, taking them at jump.
 At the- door -fumbled a minute with the loclx and she was nearly upon me again, bBt-I escaped into the night bare headed and breathless, but without the stain of w6man's blood upon my hands.
 It was noon the next day before l over took Al Oh the other side of the plateau, for [ hadst to, retrace my path of the night before; but. worn and spent, I staggered into canlB Brill as he was leaving.
 They act hastily Klondikeway and by night,, with teams and rifles, we were back for raid upon the inn, only to find our old birds had flown! Whither, we knew not!
 But we got the treasure all right, 1ower- ing each other by ropes to the rocks be- low until the nuggets by. actual count were all found.
 But it will be many day before I for get that night on the cliff.