The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-21

thought came to me Admitting, for
the sake of argument said I 10 the
jury, in my most persuasive way, that
Senior Garcia did shoot this man. where
IS the evidence that Jose Garcia is the
Jose Garcia now on trial in this court p
1 went on TO declare that, while the
prosecution had offered considera bic
testimony TO the effect that Jose Garcia
had done The shooting, it had not in
the least particular identified this Jose
Garcia with the crime Suppose, 1
asked. a hundred witnesses were to
come into court and swear they had
seen John Smith shoot Bill Brown, and
then suppose a John Smith was on
trial for his life, accused of the crime.
Would II not be necessary. gentlemen
Of the jury. to offer proof that this
John Smith was the very John Smith
who had committed the crime?' It
CHANGED to be an unusually intelligent
jury, said Mr. Reed. in conclusion,
and it saw the point very quickly and
acquitted my man. This is the way in
which l tried and won my first case
in court
Biggest Liar in Maine.
Probably the funniest lawsuit Tom
Reed ever had 10 try came into court
III Portland shortly after he returned
from his extremely peaceful experiences
in the war. He defended a newspaper
III an action for libel brought by citi-
zen of Portland who had been charged
in print with being ION record as the
biggest liar in the state of Maine" This
was Mr.. Reeds first important case at
home. and he was naturally eager to
win it. When he announced his in
tention OF pleading the truth of the
charge in justification, his friends,
Judge Howard, SeweIl Strout and
others, told him he was making a great
mistake. You never can justify such
sweeping charge as that" they said,
and if you attempt it you will only
make the damages so much the heavier
for your client to pay" Reed admitted
1t was hard task TO prove that any
particular man was the biggest liar
in state which has been famous for
its production OF liars, but he thought
he would chance it. He put on the
stand a great number of witnesses
whose testimony tended TO establish
the reputation of the plaintiff as an
habitual and artistic liar. When the
evidence was all in, Reed addressed
the jury. After reviewing the teSti-
mony he said he believed every one
OF the Jurors would agree with him
they had shown the plaintiff to be
as big liar as any self-respecting
state ought to have within its bor-
ders, and the oTlus of producing a big
ger liar than this plaintiff, with the
consequent disgrace to the fair state
OF Maine. would have to rest upon the
prosecution. This captivated the jury,
and from that on the young lawyer had
things all his own way. 1t CHANGED that
one of the witnesses had brought out
the fact that Colonel Jones, the plain
tlff's lawyer, had himself certified on
more than one occasion to the plain
tiff's habit of prevarication, and so in
the course of his argument young Reed
frequently made use of such express
sions as these: "TWenty-se wit
nesses. including Colonel Jones, swear
so-and-so." Eight witnesses, excIu-
sive of Colonel Jones. swear to the con-
trary-" By these means the ambitious
young lawyer managed to keep a grin
on the faces of the jury from start to
finish, and a verdict was promptly rem
dered for the defense. When this anus
ing and somewhat celebrated case came
TO an end young Reed developed one
of those characteristics which have
marked him from that day to this In
view of this verdict he had the pleas
ure of writing to a number of fellows