Sunday morning globe., 1901-09-15


nished tale" OF lie in modern penitentiary.
-EDITURJ
AS in all murder trials, the State
opened the case to the jury, outlining
what 1t proposed to prove in establish
ing its charge of murder in the 1rst
degree. Among other things upon
which the prosecutor laid stress was
the allegation that / fred the first
shot, thus cutting the ground from un-
der the defense i'm its proposed plea OF
self.defense; or at least anticipating
and weakening such plea, If offered.
The defense replied in an opening
statement BY Hon. Geo. J.. Converse OF
great force and oldtime ability but
it}-deHvery left the State in doubt as
TO our line OF defense. IL would be te-
dious and is not the aim Of these pa
pers TO give even a synopsis OF the
testimony adduced in the trial Every
inch of ground was fought over a
dozen times and more the defense was
ruled against in every instance, and
even the article i'm the Sunday World
causing the tragedy was ruled out by
Judge Pugh Time and time again
during the progress Of the trial, my
counsel, under one preteXt or another,
tried to get this article to the jury
but each time It was offered the prose
ton promptly objected and the OBJ
lection was sustained by the trial
Judge. Thus the motive for the crime
charged was excluded from the jury,
and the State ingeniously supplied
one. viz: That ] was jealous Of the ri
yalry of the Sunday World and feared
the disclosures of Osborne in that pa
per. which he had threatened to make
concerning the inner workings, or the
manner and methods of conducting the
Sunday Capital under my manage
ment. or course, this was buncombe.
as Osborne had been for six months
engaged In nothing else but abuse OF
the Capital and its editor, myself, leav-
ing nothing unsaid and repeating what
he had already written over and over
again. In all his charges there was
nothing more serious alleged, much
less established than the main accu-
sation that ] had no principles or con-
victions politically other than high
tariff and the Grand Army Of the Re.
public. That / was not a Democrat
as my paper pretended; neither was
Republican nor anything else but
a tariff fiend and a G. A. r. crank.
have forgotten to mention one in
cident in connection with the jury, or
rather it's completion. 1t will be re-
rnenbered that / stated the defense
had one peremptory challenge lett
This my counsel was about to exercise
when 1 asked for a conference in the
consulting room. We retired to the
room and / asked that juror named
Aubert, who had qualified, be challeng'
ed and stricken off the panel. My
counsel asked me If / had any special
reason, as they had determined to
strike off or challenge a different man,
who forced himself in the box by per
Jury in testifying to the fact that he
had no opinion, knew nothing about
the case, had not read the newspapers,
etc. | objected to Aubert simply be-
cause of his actions while in the box.
He had qualified a few weeks previous
w. and / daily noticed his conduct.
\, nenever | looked in his direction /
found his large, black and bushy eye
brows bent in frOwn over pair OF
piercing and hostile black eyes fixed in
Intensity Of stare on my person.
was satisfied Of his hostility and want
ed him challenged out Of the box. This
Aubert was a school teacher, and about
the only educated man in the box, the
other eleven, with the exception Of the
foreman, could barely read and write.
They we're farmers from the back
townships. and an ideal hanging jury
for the State. After much wrangling
with my counsel / consented to let Au-
bert remain, as less dangerous than
the A. p. A. individual who had sworn
right and left to get on the panel.
Fortunate, indeed. was it for me, as
this Juror Aubert has made possible
the writing Of these papers and post
poned my translation to the other
world. He alone voted me not guilty
and held the jury six days before he
would consent to a compromise verdict
of murder in the second degree, thus
saving nv neck. For this he paid
dearly. however, as the press Of Colum-
bus bounded him from the city, and
the unfortunate man had to give up
his school and leave the State, settling
in a distant State on the Pacific slope.
The trial dragged its slow length
along, day after day, witness succeed
ing witness In picturesque perjury,
until all semblance to the real facts
had vanished and were forgotten. As
an instance OF this, the State placed
in the witness chair the young street
walker over whose shoulder 1t was al
legged / fired at Osborne, holding her
firmly as a shield, and that Osborne
was too chivalrOus to return the fre
for fear Of hitting her. VIII II be be-
lieved that Notwithstanding the phys
ician on the passing street car, who
was hit by Osborne's bullet which tip
ped my ear. and who was present and
lame for life. limped into court on
crutches as an evidence that Osborne
did FIRE that the State persisted In
giving countenance to this Infamous
canard until its own witnesses dis
proved the story! The young street
walker, Blanche Wilson, testified that
rested my hand on her shoulder with
my back to hers-that / backed In