The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-13
FRENCH TRIAL is
AQOEER AFFAIR
Is Conducted in Many Of It's
Phases Like a Lunatic
Social.

PARIS, Jan. 1.-THE trial of the
Humberts, to which every one in
France is now looking forward, prom
ises to be almost as exiting as that
of Dreyfus. There are no great polit-
zeal or moral issues at stake as in the
Dreyfus case, but there is just as much
curiosity and probably all the excite
ment one could wish.
The Humbert case will bring out all
the beauties of the French judicial
system, which strikes the Anglo Saxon
as so extraordinary. That the Hum
bert trial may not be a profound puz-
Zle it may be we'll to explain what the
French are really trying to get at
when they have the case in court
Off-hand, it is little difficult to I'M
derstand why witnesses should make
stump speeches and why one man
should be called to tell what he heard
another man say, and what his gem
eral opinion is, anyhow. But France
has no rule Of evidence as we under
stand them. Instead, the object is to
give the jury everything, fact, opin-
ion, hearsay, speculation and what not,
and then ask for verdict which will
be a moral conviction though not nee
NTSull61OGu,
says the judge in effect, you have
heard all that everybody knows and
what everybody thinks; now as honest
men, what do you think?" Then the
jury decides by majority vote
Unaninity is not required.
Another popularity of French trials
is the CONFORMATION" This occurs
when a witness for the prosecution is
contradicted by a witness for the de-
Tense. In this case the first witness
is put on the stand with the second
one to thrash it out.
They call each other liars, wave their
arms about, sometimes spit in each
others faces and engage in a free
fight, but the jury, by looking on, is
supposed to determine which is tell
ing the truth. These episodes make a
trial much more Interesting than the
dull American or English procedure,
with only one witness at time. The
writer has seen, seven Frenchmen on
the stand at once, all yelling at the
tops of their voices. AS the witnesses
who have been confronted often adj
journ for duels, the excitement may be
continued for some time. OF course in
many cases a conformation will
smooth cut apparent contradictions.
The witnesses will agree in their evil
dencee and the truth be arrived at with
out difficulty.
Next to the conformation the great
est popularity is the stump speeches
no rules of evidence, the witness can
say anything he likes, and so feels he
has a great chance to distinguish him.
self. So the writes out his evidence
beforehand, making it as sounding and
rhetorical as possible.
Then he commits it to memory, and
when he gets into the witness box he
stands up, puts his hand into the
breast of his coat and let's fly at the
heads of the jury. He usually begins
with something about himself, with
due emphasis on his Importance Then
he launches into the history of the
case, as he knows it, giving his opinion
freely and making wise comments on
the other witnesses.
Occasionally the judge or lawyers
interrupt to ask questions and some
times there is a nice bit of cross-ex-
animation which pulls the stump
speech to pieces and leaves the wit
ness shattered and disappointed.
Or again, If his comments on the
other witnesses are too stringest, he
will have two or three of them in the
box with him, shaking their fists in
his face and calling him eight kinds
of q liar.
Even when there is a handwriting or
medical expert, there is small chance
for the jury to go to sleep, as the
learned men are sure to disagree and
call each other scientific names. When
the jury retireS for consultation they
usually get down to the point of say
ing, We'll, old so-and-so said he
thought the prisoner was guilty, and
he ought to know" Then verdict is
brought in accordingly.