The sun., 1901-08-11
BROTHER SPEARSS SINGING.
A BIT OF Evidence That Acquitted Those
VINO Laughed In Church.
From tho Mdcon Republican

From fhG Maroon HPpuONCdN.
Col, c. c, Fogle. attorncy-at-law OF Lam
caster, Mo-, related the following incident:
-One Of the most original lawyers ever met
in my life was Sam Dysart. who some twenty
years ago was q resident Of our county. Sam,
when he lived up our way, engaged to defend
n lot Of boys and girls charged with disturb
ing q religious assembly out In the country.
by laughing and gigglng.' The case at
tracted an immense crowd from the vicinity.
Il. c. Tadlock prosecuted. and he was in
structed by the church people TO spare no
pains to convict the disturbers. who were
OF good families and 1t was their first offence
They oandidly admitted they laughed out
in church, and the State insisted that by
their own mouths they were condemned.
Brother TiCe Spears. righteous man
OF Puritanlo type. was the main prosecuting
witness. He had conducted the services.
and he testified that his peace was sadly
disturbed by the unseemly behavior OF tho
rioters After he told his story in chief
he sat down with ciasped hands waiting Tor
the defendants attorney to begin on him.
He didn't have long to wait. The exami-
nation went ike thls:
Brother spears. you led tho meetln'
last nlghtr
"'You prayedr
"idid. sir
And preachcd'
81 tried TO
And sungr
sung
What did you sing'
'"There il a Fountain Filled with Blood :
Here Mr. Dysart pulled q hymn-book
from his pocket and handed 1t to the wit
"' Please turn to that song. Brother
Spen ts ,,,.
That's what you sang last night'
is sir
"'Well, stand up and sing It now, II you
please 1%t,,r
You heard what 7 said. Brother Spea RS :
But cant sing before this sort or crowd :
Brother Spears, with much apparent
indignation. do understand that you re-
fuse to furnish legitimate evidence to this
jury. ,., so.
"'Your Honor said Dysart i Insist that
the witness shall sing the song referred TO
lust as he did on the nj ght Of alleged dis
turbance IL Is a part OF our evidence, and
very important. The reason Tor II VIII be
II here was a long inngle between the
LAWYERS, and tho Court finally ordered the
"'And, mind you Brother Spears,' said
Dysart, seriously, you must sing II Just as
you did that night. II YOU change note you
will have TO go back and do II all over again.
There is a vast difference between inging
10 congregation In sympathy with YOU and
crowd OF court IpoUl ndblNue~, pEOlHrT
Spears was painfully conscious Of the fact.
You know how those od-time hymns are
sung IN the backwoods settlements? You
begin In tho basement and work up 70 the
roof and then leap OF from the dizzy hei ght
and finally finish the line In the basement:
That's the way tho witness sang. lie had
a good voice that is II vas strong IL seemed
to m reaten the window lights.
The crowd didn't smile-it lust yelled
with laughter, The jurymen bent double
and almost rolled from their seats. The
Court biz his cob pipe hnrder and looked u Z,
two straight faces in the house. One belon ged
20 a deaf nan and the other 70 sam pysart;
tired. sam Immediately. excused him When
the time for speechmaking came. sam re-
marked to the Jury
"'If you gentlemen think You could go
70 one Of Brother Spears's meetings and
behave better than you have here, why Won
may be justified IN conVicting these boys
and girls
THAT was all lie said. but the jury brought
in a verdict Of not guilty, with the request
that Brother Spears sing another song. But
that gentleman had gone home. and court
ad lourned."