The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-09-16
LAWYER, PIN AND BABY.
How the Dean of the Criminal Bar
Sought to Stir the Sympathy of II
Jury.

How the Dean of the Criminal Bar
Sought to Stir the Sympathy of 1t
Jury.
There was a group of lawyers in the
rotunda of the Criminal Court build
ing, New York, when the news of the
death of William F. Howe, the famous
criminal lawyer, was announced the
other day, and naturally they began
recalling incidents in his career.
Yes" said one of the lawyers in the
group, Howe would have won as great
fame on the stage as he did at the
criminal bar" and then he told the
following story:
1T was when John K. Hackett was
Recorder, and Howe was counsel for
man who had been charged with MUIR
der. OF course, the wife and children
were there, so that the jury could see
them to the best advantage. In the
midst of the plea of the district attor-
ney, asking that the jury return a
verdict of murder in the first degree,
the baby, which was sitting on the
knee of the prisoners wife, began to
sob as if its little heart would break.
Finally Recorder Hackett interrupted
the district attorney by shouting, so
as to be hear above the infants
screams:
stop that. If counsel for defend
ant pushes that pin deeper that baby
will do more than yell.'"
Other such incidents were called to
mind by different members of the
group. One told the story of how Mr..
Howe defended Ella Wilson, as anoth-
er example of the dramatic effect
which the lawyer used witfA-such a
measure of success. Ella Wilson, who
was charged with having shot the man
who had betrayed her, was seated next
to her counsel. In the middle of his
impassioned appeal he suddenly stop
ped, turned on his heel and gazed at
her. The woman was dressed in black,
with her faces buried in her hands.
There was a hush, as if everybody had
stopped breathing, when, to the sur
prise of all, Mr.. Howe leaped forward
seized her wrists, quickly pulled them
apart, held her arms extended, so that
the features were exposed to the gaze
of the jury, and then exclaimed: y3w
Look at those features, proclaimine
broken hearth" The CELEBRITY of the
action had frightened the woman Her
face, which was ashy pale, was delug-
ed with tears, and the aroused sympa-
my OF many juror could De seen in
the spasmodic working of his mouth
and .eyelids. Despite the pleas of the
district attorney, the jury found her
mot guilty"
Several of the little circle then COM
mented on the alertness of the law
yer's mind, and his ability to make
what appeared to be the most direct
evidence stepping stones for his own
argument. Thus ore told how in the
trial of the famous Edward Unger,
who was accused of having cut off q
mans head and further mutilating
him. for the purpose of getting the
bank book of his roommate, Mr.. Howe
turned to the prisoner, on whose knee
a 7year-old daughter was sitting,
twining her fingers through his hair.
and said:
Gentlemen of the jury, Edward Ia
ger did not cut that mans head off. He
did not send the mutilated trunk in a
box to Baltimore" AS the judge and
each juryman gaZed at him in a sort
of stupor, the lawyer added:
mo, it was that little girl who did
it. Unger confessed that he killed the
man, but it was in self-defense. TIL en-
to hide the deed from this innocent lit
tie daughter he sought to cover up the
act. 1t was his love for that little girl
which caused him to do it. and there
fore, say, she did it," The jury after