The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1898-01-01
NOVEL USES OF THE TELEPHONE.
Utilized In Legal Proceedings Its Help In
Conducting Sunday School Seryicea.

UOl1ze0 IN Leg0i frOcooOln8o--1tsn eAP IN
Conducting SUNDAY School Services.
Of late the telephone has been
utilized to q considerable extent in
legal proceedings. Afidavits have
been sworn to, acknowledgements have
been taken, and in one case at least
testimony has been received by tele-
phone. The last innovation must be
credited to Fort Scott, Kan, where
two witnesses, described as prominent
business men, were permitted to give
evidence in this manner, the attorneys
STIMULATING that no objection should
be taken to this unusual proceeding.
Another case that has attracted I'M
usual attention is reported from New
York, where an affidavit which had
been telephoned from Cincinnati and
acknowledged over the wire was ac-
cepted in the supreme court as sufi-
Gent ground for the issuance of an
attachment involving considerable
sum of money. The proceedings were
unusual and interesting. The facts
were telephoned from Cincinnati over
long distance telephone line, an affi-
dayit was prepared at the New York
end of the line and read to the COM
plainant, who was standing at the
telephone in Cincinnati, where in the
presence of witnesses he made the re-
quired acknowledgment. 1t was still
necessary to have some one in New
York talk with the complainant and
positively identify his voice. This
was done, the papers were filed and
the attachment issued. The interested
parties announced that several days
delay had been avoided by utilizing
the telephone, and by this prompt
action it was possible to have judg-
ment satisfied which it might have
been difficult otherwise to accomplish.
Many important transactions have
hinged upon telephone messages, and
the courts have long since recognized
their admissibility as evidence under
proper restrictions. Probably the
first instance of this kind, and at any
rate. the most notable early example
of the telephone in law, was the part
played in securing the conviction OF
Ferdinand Ward, Gen. Grants partner,
in 1885. On Oct. 26 of that year
James d. Fish, who had been con-
victed of wrecking the Marine national
bank of New York and was at that
time serving a term of ten years at
Sing Sing, testified that he had re-
ceived instructions from Ward by
telephone regarding the disposition of
certain securities amounting to $780,
600. Ward attorneys, General Tracy
and Bourke Cochran, objected siren
uously to the admission of this testi-
mony, but Justice Barrett decided
against them.' 1t may be interesting
to recall the fact that Benjamin Fish,
brother of the convicted president of
the Marine bank, in support of the
testimony already mentioned, de-
clared under oath that he had stood
within eighteen inches of the tele-
phone while his brother was talking
to Ward, and thathe heard the latter's
voice distinctly and recognized it.
When the attorneys for Ward de-
clared that this statement was ridicu-
lous the prosecution produced letter
that Ward had written to Fish, COM
planning that every one in the room
where the telephone was placed could
hear the conversation. The prosecu-
ton relied upon the telephone mes
sage to convict Ward, and when an
appeal was taken after Wards SEN
tence to ten years imprisonment
Justice Barrett's decision admitting
the telephone message was sustained
Another striking example of the
novel uses to which the telephone
may be put, but an entirely different
line from those mentioned, was af-
forded by remarkable session of
Sunday school at Wichita, Kan, where
the superintendent, who was confined
to his bed, conducted the services
without the slightest hitch, by means
of an unusually sensitive telephone.
The church and residence were con-
nected by telephone, and three mega
phones were employed-one at the
head of the superintendent bed, one
suspended from the centre of the
church and one in front of the pulpit.
The superintendent voice was dis
tinctly heard by the congregation as
he said "Good morning" and an
nounced the routine work of the
school. He called for his favorite
songs, and they were borne to his ear
with all their melody and volume. He
joined in them heartily, and at the
close of the service he told the scholors
that if they had enjoyed the hour as
much as he had it was the grandest
Sunday school session they had ever
had.