The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-11
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: WITH ENTIRE FRANKNESS.
HENRY JAMES
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. s. 81 a.aasaa 3. ~ % 9. 3. .
BY HENRY JAMES,

According to report, one Macfarlane,
| person concerned In the trial of Cur
tbs for the murder of Policeman Grant,
passed through this city as a member
of the Aston Battery. If this is true,
he should remain at Manila, whether
above or below ground does not par
ticularly matter. While, as a newspa-
per man, I have observed some trials
not marked by regard either for law
or justice, 1 think in all the history of
American Jurisprudence there was
never another trial so farcical, so rot
ten, such travesty as that Of Curtis.
That he was guilty nobody doubted, no
body who read the evidence could doubt;
and as for the jurymen who voted
to acquit, every one Of them should
have been sent to Jail. Not only was
the trial succession Of palpable per-
juries, but there was scarcely an at
tempt at secrecy concerning this fact.
There could not have been a clearer
case. That Curtis went UNPUBLISHED
was a lasting disgrace. Macfarlane
had to do. with fixing the matter.
Probably he did not accept this respon-
sibility for fun. Still, there is a
bright side to the affair. Since bun
kong the rallows Curtis has stayed
away from California.
have not the slightest ambition to
try the case of Mrs. Botkin. Last week
there were indications that the case
against her was groundless. At this
writing the shadows are gathering
about her. 1t may be they will van
ish as quickly as they came The strik-
ing point about the whole matter has
been the readiness of people to rush
forward with evidence apparently dam
aging, or designed to cloud the issue.
Most Of them were quickly proved to
be pretenders, but this does not &C
count for their eagerness to be known
as voluntary bearers of false witness.
Another thing has been the amateur
analysis of the woman's demeanor.
Whether she is innocent or guilty is a
conclusion not to be drawn from her
conduct as a prisoner. Charged with
an awful crime, 1t would not be sur
prising were she to break. down utter
ly, and it is not surprising that she
presents a cool and collected air. There
is no rule about these things. To say
she is guilty because she is calm as
Durrant is precisely as illogical as
for the same reason to proclaim her
innocence. She is to be pitied If her
fate Is in any measure to hang upon
the testimony of handwriting experts.
Probably they deserve the title, but
have observed that they will swear
warmly for the side that happens to
retain them. The only evidence upon
which a prisoner can be fairly tried
is that appealing to the senses. The
prisoner ought not to be judged either
by the dictum of an expert hired by
the other side or by the Mysteries in
which the police are indulging.
IAN Amertcan'-I have no words to
waste on an anonymous liar and cow
ard. Therefore I have none to waste
on you.
AS rule there cannot be sympathy
for the young woman who secures
pistol and sets out to redress her own
wrongs but 1 would make an excep-
ton in behalf of Evelyn Holt. who took
a shot at Carl Fecker. The gravest
error chargeable to her is that she did
not manage to reach a vital spot Not
that Evelyn is any rosebud Of inno-
| CGIlCt licIScll, Jul SliC oCCAAAo ACIA CUPS-
rior to the Fecker creature. He is one
of the cumberers of the earth who
ought to be killed on general princi-
pies. It would appear that he lived
by fraud, and that the Holt woman
was one of his most profitable victims.
She gave him her money, which he
was too lazy to earn, and she gave him
her affection. 1t was all she had.
II Itch 70 1oyyo
a brute of his unhallowed type is true,
| but in no measure excuses him. She
ought to be able to get out of her diff
ficulty. A female who believes the
man who tells her he will marry her
after while, meantime assuming to-
ward him the relations Of wifehood, is
so big a fool that the plea Of idiocy
surely would set her free.
Some Of the French officials claim
there Is evidence outside of the forged
! letter of Captain Henry sufficient to
convict Dreyfus. Reference Is doubt
less had to more forged letters. There
is a growing prejudice against evidence
Of this sort. Nobody outside of France
| ever considered Dreyfus guilty and no.
body, with the exception of a few who
were prosecuted for it, ever seemed to
care. There was a cry from the aris-
tocracy that the man be sacrificed, and
he was. There have been times in the
! history of France when the aristocracy
! has failed to have things it's own way,
and with all the ardor of absinthe, the
aristocracy is trying to induce history
| to hasten the inevitable repetition of it
self
For J. W. Bird Of Sacramento I con-
| fess lack of admiration. He has
put in a claim for 5000, the reward Of
fered for the arrest Of the murderer of
some relatives. The murderer was
Frank Belew, who was not only an as
sassin, but brother-in-law to Bird
Belew has been hanged, and Bird, the
betrayer, wants his pay. 1 suggest
that if he get 1t he devote part of
it to keeping green the grave Of Be-
| lew.
In a measure the Muser Of the Delta
| is mistaken. He says that when
| otbarc iurpn 1,pop him T ooma RI his