The courier., 1902-12-27
memories Of a
WMrdes Gridg

demonstrated by experiences encoun-
tered by courts and lawyers since the
administration OF laws began. One of
them IL that II is not safe always to ac-
cept as conclusive evidence of guilt the
confession OF one accused of crime, for
men have been known to confess even so
serious a crime as murder when the
penalty was death, even though they
were never in fact In the least degree
guilty. Lawyers realize that 1t is not
always safe to trust human testimony,
even though II comes from a source the
reliability Of which cannot be questioned
and Ii given in most positive terms.
Among the lawyers in attendance at
the session OF the supreme court during
the current week was James e. Morri-
son. now a resident of Candy, Logan
county, but formerly for many years en-
gagged In practice at Plattsmouth. He
was standing at the corner of Eleventh
and D streets the other day conversing
with several acquaintance when his at
tention was attracted by a passing fig
ure. It was that Of an old-time Lincoln
printer, Marion Armstrong, who had just
strolled u.ck to the city after an alb
sence Of considerable duration. The
sight Of him recalled to Mr.. Morrison
memories Of q murder trial that excited
considerable interest in this city nearly
a quarter OF a century ago. 1t was one
wherein one Charles Wall was accused
Of tie murder Of william Armstrong by
send ng to him through the express Office
a bottle Of whisky doped with arsenic.
That case" said Mr.. Morrison.
taught me the utter unreliability of
human testimony. I was associated in
the defense of Wall with T. NJ Mar
Quett, d. G. Courtnay and ]. e. Philpott,
while George s. Smith, formerly of
Plattsmouth. then district attorney, was
aided BY d. G. Hull i'm the prosecution.
There were a large number Of witnesses,
many Of whom were called to prove that
there had been jealousy between the two
over a woman in order to show a motive
on the part Of Wall. AS the trial, which
was held before Judge s. B. Pound, pro-
ceeded. II looked pretty dark for our
client, who was badly frightened at the
prnspect.
'9t appeared from the circumstances
that whoever had sent the poisoned
whisky to Armstrong had himself taken
II to the express office marked simply
AZ "A present from a friend and much
Of consequence hinged upon the identi-
fcation by the express agent of the man
who brought It in.
During the dinner intermission Mar
quett and I went to dinner together at a
downtown restaurant and talked over
the probability OF the identification Of
our client, Marquett suggested that the
express agent, whose name was Chap
man. was near-sighted. and that we
might introduce another man for his
Identification with a chance of success.
We tried to get a man named Metteer
to serve US In that capacity. He was re-
lated to Wall, but was not on good terms
with him and refused to do 30.
"Just after we returned to the court
room Express Agent Chapman was
called to testify. and Wall was noticed
to be as livid as a newly-laundered
sheet. Without attracting attention we
had Wall move over to another seat a
short distance away. while sat down
next to Narquett and was whispering to
him. After the usual preliminaries
Prosecuting Attorney Smith went
straight at the Identification by asking
Chapman II the man who brought that
bottle Of whisky into the express ONCE
was In the room. The witness responded
that he was. and when the district at
torney asked him to point him out.
looked straight down at me and without
q moments hesitation pointed his finger
at me and declared that was the man.
Everyone In the court room was as
founded. and none Of them more than
was myself. who had half wished that
he might make the mistake. Counsel for
the state were confused and almost en-
ragged. They invited Mr. Chapman to
step down close to me. examine me
closely ard make his Identification posi-