The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-10-26
PROSECUTION WENT ENTIRELY TOO FAR

bearing on ner past life was asked tho
senior counsel Tor the defendant rose 10
speak. But the judge was q little before
MIN and was already instTuctnE the Wit
ness that she need not answer any QueS-
ton the answer 10 which might. In her
opinion. tend TO incrininate or degrade
her.
g I was about to ask your honor to so
instruct the witness. said the detendants
lawyer OF course we have no objection
to her telling anything about herself
which she sees fit, we simply desired TO
have her informed Of her rights In the
matter
II don't know what sort OF coaching he
mad given the woman before that, but
that struck me as being about as clever
an invitation 20 a witness to go on as
could wen be given in court Whether il
was hit or not, the woman took the cue.
She squared herself TO face the district
attorney and began 20 answer his ques-
carefully and now he took her from one
affair to another with the persistency OF
a hound on the trail
That Is one Of the most dangerous
things that "a lawyer can do. Tor i'm the
excitement of driving home his questions
and bringing out what he is after he is
likely TO overlook the effect he IS prOduc-
ING on the jury. ] remember noting after
he had been on this line for some time
that some Of the jurymen were looking
at the witness with evident sympathy To
was a terrible ordeal for any woman TO
undergo. no matter how abandoned she
might have Deen-
much nerve as that witness She stuck
20 IL Ike major. She was very quiet
and white-faced. and sometimes her voice
was SO low lhaC IL could be heard only
with difficulty. but an the time she
seemed to be animated only by the desire
TO answer frankly any question the dis
lrlcL attorney might ask Tt seemed so
surprise him little to have her meet him
In tnat manner instead of fighting and
beng sulNy. and perhaps that drove him
Iartner than he would have gone other
wise
But whatever the reason. he kept at
it until the inevitable happened and he
went TOO far. one question the woman
answered straight and with evident sin
cerlty. AT the next which was no worse
than many that had preceded it, she
claSped her hands over her face and
broke down utterly. sObbing like q child
IN spite of her efforts to restrain herself.
IN an instant the district attorney saw
what he had done. The fat was am in
the fire. There were looks FIN the faces
n OF the jurymen that showed very plainly
where their sympathies lay. The district
attorney stood waiting for the woman to
recover her COmpOSure and the LAWYERS
Tor the defense sat stl and said nothing.
AFTER niue the woman quieted down
and presently faced the district attorney
again with the same old simple manner.
little apologize. If anything. for having
broken down. but ready 20 go on with
the ordeal The district attorney funbIed
around a little, asked a few unimpOrtant
and sat down.
Then the senior counsel for the defense
got up.
' 1t has been stated here i'm the open.
ing Of this case he said. that since thii
shooting, and during the time that vOt
have been held awaiting this trial vol
have been converted TO the Christian re.
! ligion and have Joined a church. is that
true2'
The woman simply nodded her head il
assent
90 And are YOU still a member Of that
church, asked the lawyer
" am she said
"a n
down
He had driven home what he wanted
and the district attorney saw that his.
case was gone. IL took the jury only
four minutes to find a verdict of not
guilty"