Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-04-07
Lawing by Poetry,

Brooklyn poet lawyer, II have fire.
quently made use of verse In court l
have no method and do not know in
what percentage OF cases have used
verse.
81 do not form judgment concern
ing jury and discharge verse to pro-
duce effect, but during trial incidents
arise which shape themselves into
rhyme in my mind. Poetry ds not only
the highest form OF verbal expression,
but Is also the primitive and natural
form. All nature moves in harmony
and rythm; the birds are poets
"The first time ever used verse dn
law case was in 1880, when Mrs.
Bridget Rowan, wife of park police
man, sued Charles Bedell, who kept
the Plaza hotel at Prospect Park, for
$4,000 damages for setting dogs on her
and also having hose played upon
her. 1t struck me that this was a
dog case 1t would be proper to sum up
in doggerel. Accordingly my sum-
ming up consisted of the following
lines:
I'm July last about the time
That hungry mortals like to dine,
The plaintiff, being a married woman,
Went forth to seek her husband,
Rowan,
The frugal meal yet smoking warm
She had in a bucket on her arm,
For It's the plaintiffs chief delight
To quench her husbands appetite.
Now the defendant, Charles Bedell,
Keeps near the park, oh, sad to tell,
A low resort of vice and sin;
Where he dispenses rum and gin
Yet, not content with deadly cups,
He keeps two wild, ferocious pups
To slay those who escape his lair
With bite Of hydrophobia.
When plaintiff came into the park
This Charles Bedell, Just for lark,
AS he says in his defense,
By way of excuse or pretense,
Seeing she was but woman,
Set his puppies on Mrs. Rowan,
And as he saw her pale with fright,
He shouted, Bill, before she goes
Just play upon her with the hose.
Cursed, assaulted, all but drowned,
Bleeding from the puppies wound,
The plaintiff, gentlemen of the jury,
At last escaped the blackguard's fury
And has come into court to see IL you
Will do as you would have others do
"The jury gave Mrs. Rowan a ver-
dict for $500.
Another case was that if Mrs
Wilhelmina Goepel against the Long
Island Railroad company for $4,000
damages for injury to her knee. The
following is an extract from my sum-
ming up:
"'What swarms of memory are
aroused by the word knee! Upon
it's soft cushion the infant rests when
the cold air of this world first kisses
its cheek; kneeling, we receive the
fist instructive maternal care; there
the suitor wins his courtship, the lover
adores his mistress and the warrior
receives the charge OF his enemy, and
when the god of love shoots his last
bolt in vain against the obdurats
maidenhood upon the knee he mounts
as a charger to break through square.
of unyielding femininity. A woman'i
knee, ah, "a charming confguratioI o.
beauteous lines, traced in honey by
perfection's magic wand!
Breathes there man with soul SC
dead
Who never to himself hath said:
The faireSt thing on earth to me
Is lovely woman's beauteous knee?
Inspirer of ancient chivalry
A limb of lifeS outrageous tree,
Midst lace and brilliant foliage
Cleans the glorious garter of fruit,
The golden fleece for which this age
Makes Argonautic pilgrimage,
The modern warriors battle wage;
All, could l, in language hifalute
Thy need of praise would break my
lutte.
Another case which l summed UT
in verse was that OF Miss Clothildt
Thornley, against the Crosstown rail.
road for $4,000 damages on account ol
injuries alleged to have been inflicted
by a conductor thrusting his elbow
through car window and dashine
glass into Miss Thornley's eyes. The
defense was that baseball inflicted
the injuries. used verse to impress
our contention that the conductors ell.
bow did it. l made the point in the
following lines and said no more:
Miss Thornley,, the beautiful eyed,
Went out with her ma for ride,
But the conductors elbow,
Smashed in the window,
And the glass in ner two eyes was
SHE'D.
In morals and health she Wed
With the best ere the day OF that ride
Now the fraileSt of lasses,
Because so much glass is
In her, she's quite petrifed.
From ,he ends of her fingers and toes
From her eyes and the end of her nose
With her fingers and thumbs
She plucks it like plums.
And it oozes from all of her pores,
For her loss no money atones;
Though unbroken all of her bones,
No pleasures in life
Howeer hot the strife,
A glass maiden can never throw stones
Miss Thornley, got verdict fol
$1,000. 0."-Chicago Cronicle.
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