Bismarck daily tribune., 1902-12-19

his fellow men, with minds fair and
;divested of prejudice, then he is safe.
The same strange circumstances
which had involved the defendant
might involve any living man Taken
for granted that the injury to Hibbs
might be produced by a fall, is there a.
man in the room but, had he been at
the ranch, might have had the same
network of proof against him, for tie
case was bare Of every motive. Oh The
part of the state. If his wife had been.
alone with him at The ranch the same
circumstances might even have .ir-
Jyolved her.
Who was being tried here? What
was the reputation, which was the
shadow OF character, of the defendanto ?
He was surprised at the attempt of the
states attorney to belittle the. evidence
as to the defendant reputati ion. The
character of a man was the first of his
efforts. He would llather sit in jeff
Mays chair, with honest Job Taylor
testfying to his good character, than
have all the ability and eloquence Of
counsel, and of the witnesses produced.
The jury had a fright to start out with
the truth that jeff May was a good
man and had lived good life. lie
was among the thrifty, upright, con-
structive men, who would upbuild the
commonwealth. Against all the states
case he would put the bulwark Of
human character and say that this
mans life refutes it all.
It was incumbent upon the state to
prove what was charged in the infor-
nation. He read the information.
The man was taken out Of the we'll,
dead. May gave his account of it over
again to many witnesses. Where and
how is, his statement inconsistent with
truth and honesty? The circum-
stances and evidence attested the truth
of his statements; it was not disputed
by the state that Hibbsi and his wife
intended to come to Bismarck to stay
for a week or so. This was estab
lished by the diary; preparations were
made in the household for the tip
Hibbs had gotten this table to use al
the well and placed it the day before
The pulley had given more OF less
trouble, All these things were cor
roborative of Mays statements.
May came into breakfast; some con-
ye1sation was had why Harry lid not
come; May went out after him, making
remark which had been joke among
them fol. some. time. which, if not non
est, would never have been made. they
go to the well, and after. an attempt to
get the body out, May went in great
haste to the neighbo:s. There are
corroborative circumstances. Scovil
comes to the ranch and finds the
woman in great grief and suffering: at
that time May lrivsss in hot haste in
pursuit of help. These things are cor
roborated and certain.
The defendant does not have to show
Or explain how this injury occurred.
The state must prove that Harry Hlbbs
was killed by a human being; The rea-
sonable probability Of accident must be
excluded What is accident: There
Is no reasonable accident. 1t is the
unusual in life, that which befails con
trary to experience Of men in every
day life. The idea that the defense
must prove that it. was an accident
was absurd The state must prove it
was not an accident beyond a reason
able doubt.
man might fall one thousand
times, always under varying condi-
tions;; the unaccountable accidents
filled all history of the world; how frail
and falible is human life. Harry
Hhbbs, if he had fifty on a hundred
times or more shown himself fearless
about that well, might at last have
climbed about it once too often. The
defense could not explain his death
with any certainty, but could only s1lg-
gest how 1T might have been.
@ here was no direct evidence that
this injury ON the skull was done by q
blow. Expert testimony was infal-
lible Doctors were not perfect. AS
70 what might or might not produce a
certain injury. it was speculative The
state brought its physicians to prove
that possibility. it was little more
likely to be a blow or a fall. and rest
ing upon bare opinion the serious
auenees of this case. He cited
the testimony Of the sts,te's physicians
to show that there was no posit tive eyi-
dence OF q blow. and that it might have
been been fall The testimony of Dr.
Quadn was fair, straig -forward and
able, but merely stated that the Injury
might have been a fall or a blow. DR..
MaHCh91l'g i1o,u,y, :,