The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-06


brother of third had been appointed OF
the police He showed who it was that
after the returns were all in save from
one district, took that midnight ride ul
to the old Ninth ward which caused
such fateful change in the official fig
| ures AL this point it became eviden
that some of the underlings would con
TESS to save themselves. The boss be-
came alarmed and sent for the contestee
| "For heavens sake withdraw" hi
begged, cor Slaughter will have a bal
and chain on every one of us"
There was double-leaded editorial ir
the leading party paper, the supreme
court held an inquest and Mr., Slaughter
was declared district-attorney for the
next three years-hence the title
Squire by which it seems so natural
to call him.
The squire's administration was
| unique. lie had no trouble at all with
| the ordinary criminals. They simply
pleaded guilty rather than suffer him to
roar at them. Such submission was jul
| dicious. When Mr.. Slaughter was not
opposed he was inclined to mercy;
hence, as a rule sentences We're mode
idte uuIlHS MS tSIHi. l. Ht lSSlillS VI
these unfortunates toward him, by the
way, was one of profound admiration.
They respect force, realizing how poor a
substitute for it is the cunning which
they possess. But the politicians had a
hard time of it. There was an emlgra-
ton just prior to his assumption of Of
fice and those who dared remain lost
credit with their constituents through
the utter futility of their pulls The
quickest way to make the squire fight q
case hammer and tongs and Poutrance
was to ask him not to do so. especially
if there was some material reason back
of the request
1t is not to be supposed, however, that
Mr.. Slaughter was always successful in
his battles, he handicapped himself like
a horse that overreaches. His agrees
sive qualities were too manifest; when
he attempted to be conciliatory he was
clumsy. Thus many a juryman kept a
grudge against him for some sneer in
ficted during the preliminary examina-
ton of talesmen. But an adverse ver-
diet was merely an incident to him and
not a conclusion. This was illustrated
by the notorious Williams case
In this murder trial appeared all the
persons of commonplace tragedy
There was the defendant a man of fifty
i'll educated, wealthy, as natural lead
er of men as he was slave of his own
passions; his wife, the victim, sickly,
prematurely aged and
jealjealous, and the temptress, young,
smiling, as heartlessly potent Of evil as
in the olden days when she dwelt in the
village of Sorek.
Williams was tried for shooting his
wife to death, a cowardly assassination,
of which he alone could be the beneficial
ry He had boasted Of what he would
do, and Of how his money and political
influence would protect him; and the re-
suit had followed, He was ablyand un- 4
defended. The few and
simple facts proved by the prosecution
Were fairly buried under mass of testi-
mony, sworn to by fifty different wit
nesses, establishing an alibi. The squire |
in closing the case for the people made |
the speech Of his life For thirty-six
hours he swung the hammer of Thor in |
a terrific denunciation' which left not a |
loophole of escape. And yet, after de- |
corous delay, the jury reported that they /
were unable to agree standing eleven to
one for acquittal; and Williams passed |
out of court on nominal BAIL with an |
evil smile on his face.
II say, Squire" said Judge March
mont, IF you had talked for another
lay | think you would have convinced |
the twelfth man.
Six years passed, and Williams again
.tf1nd in hltt iyo1o 1iyyiI nd
trembling, as Mr.. Slaughter, special
counsel for the state, at the conclusion
If a second trial, moved that the SEN
ence of death be now imposed on the
In the interim he never for
me moment had desisted from a grim
determination to bring the criminal to
Justice. 1t is said that in his secret, pa
lent tracing of the Vaccinations by
which that volume Of perjury had been
,iled up, he had spent ten thousand dol
ars of his own money If this was so,
'ou may be sure that he never regretted
he cost. He had smitten his enemies
Zip and thigh. The defendant was
ranged, his counsel was disbarred, his
Witnesses We're either fugitives or con-
'icted felons
Mr.. Slaughter acted on this occasion as
special counsel for the state it will be
oted; for at the expiration of his term ]
s district-attorney he had been relega- I
ed into private life by the unanimous
dice of his fellow citizens. True, he {
luckily ran again and made vigorous {
ampaign, but his opponent nominated {
y a coalition of the two parties, had a {
1ajority greater than the votes which I
e received :
Hard to beat indeed was Mr.. Slaugh- {
II; and yet delicate little hand once |
lid him low. 1t was while he was pre- !
airing the Grammont will case as coun-
II for the contestants. that the wife of {
harley Grammont, the prepayment, car !
ed off a bundle of letters and papers, \
ltal to her husbands cause, from I'M y
ar the squfre's very nose. She had y
aimed access to him, it seems, in the \
uise of a book agent; and a trim fig \
re, sympathetic voice and a pair of \
right eyes did the rest. / make haste ~
pass over so humiliating an incident, 1
I'd recall it solely because it was con- /
,cted with the one and only time in my !,
emory when the lion was too depressed
roar. ;
1t was about an hour after this fair =
,ceiver had made what proved to be
" last visit, and I had followed her U
smure passage through the middle u
ON with eyes of respectful admiration "