Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-25


the common law; beast him as hanged
| ter"
Lord Stowell waved his hand to the clerk
from hand to hand along the faces Of the
jury, the clerk gambling all the while. The
oid judge said suddenly, in an astonishing
deep, majestic voice:
Prisoner at the bar YOU must UNDER
stand that we are here to give you an i'm
partial trial according to the laws of this
land. II you desire advice as to the pro-
cedure OF this court you can have it."
said, Il still protest against that jury.
am an innocent man, and
He answered iqueruousy, Yes, yes, af-
,nd,camsnt And then creaked. Now the
Some one hidden from me by three bar
| risters began to read in a loud voice not
very easy to follow. 1 caught:
For that the said John Kemp. alias Mich
OILS, alias Nikola ell Escoces, alias ell Demo-
Mo, alias ell Diabletto on the 18th of Nav
last, did feloniously and upon the high seas
piraucally seize certain ship called the
victoria UNI UNI, the prop
critics of Hyman Cohen and others I. =
ana did steal and take therefrom six hun
cred and thirty barrels of coffee of the val
ue OF UNI UNI "um
the value of ninety-four half kegs
and divers others
gave an immense sigh That was
1t, then. l had heard at Horton that the
news VI Ief loss reached US. OlQ Macdonald
had sworn; it was the day a negro called
Apollo had taken to the bush. / ought to
De aDle TO prove that Afterward one OF
the judges asked me If 1 pleaded guilty or
being John Kemp, but not Nikola ell
Escoces. l was going to fight every inch
of the way. They said:
1ou will have your say afterward. At
present, guilty or not guilty."
refused to plead at all; l was not the
man: The third judge woke up and said
hurriedly:
That is a plea of not guilty, enter it as
such" Then he went to sleep again. The
young girl on the bench beside him laughed
1oyously and Mr.. Baron Garrow nodded
round at her. then snapped viciously at
me:
You don't make your case any better by
this sort Of foolery." His eyes glared at
me like an awakened owls.
l said. I'm fighting for my neck
and you'll have to fight, too. to get it,
The old judge said angrily. "silence. or
you will have to be removed"
l said. II am fighting for my life"
There was sort of buzz all round the
court.
Lord stowell said Eyes. yes" and then,
I Now, Mr.. Kings Advocate. ! suppose Mr..
Alfonso Jervis opens for you"
A dusty wig swan up from just below my
left hand, almost to level with the dock.
The old judge shut his eyes, with an air
of a man who IS going a long journey in
post-chaise. Mr.. Baron Garrow dipped his
pen into an invisible ink pot. and scratched
it his desk. A long story began to
drone from under the wig, an interminable
farrago of dull nonsense. IN hypochon-
driacal voice; a long tale about piracy in
general: piracy in the times of the Greeks,
piracy In the times of William the Conquer
or pirata nequissima Eustachio and
thanking God that a case of the sort had
not been heard in that court for an i'm
menSe lapse of years. Below me was an
array of wigs. on each side a compressed
mass of humanity, squeezed so sight that
all the eyeballs seemed to be starting out
of the heads toward me. From the wig be-
low, translation Of the florid phrases of
the Spanish papers was coming:
His very catholic majesty, out of his
great love for his ancient friend and ally.
his Britannia majesty. did surrender the
body of the notorious Ell Demonio, called
began to wonder who had composed
that precious document. whether 1t was the
juez de la primeria instancia, bending his
paper over there IN Havana--or whether
1t was O'Brien. who was dead since the
writing.
All the while the barrister was droning
on. did not listen. because I had heard
all that before-in the room of the judge
Of the first instance at Havana. Suddenly
appearing behind the backs of the row of
gentlefolk on the bench was the pale, thin
face Of my father l wondered which OF
his great friends had got him his seat. He
was nodding to me and smiling family. 1
nodded, too, and smiled back. / was going
to show them that 1 was not cowed. The
voice of the barrfster said:
Minds and gentlemen of the jury, that
finishes the Spanish evidence. which was
taken on commission on the Island of Cuba.
We shall produce the officer of II. NJ. S.
ELEPHANT to whom he was surrendered by
the Spanish authorities at Havana, thus
proving the prisoner to be the pirate N1ko-
Ia. and no other We come now to the spe-
cific instance. minds and gentlemen, an In
stance as vile = ="
1t was some little time before I had
grasped how absolutely the Spanish evil
dence damned me. 1t was as If, once fell
into the hands of the English OFFICER on
Havana uuays the identity Of Nikola could
by no manner of means be shaken from
round my neck. The barrister came to the
facts.
A Kingston ship had been boarded
and there was the old story over again.
seemed to see the Rio Medic schooner rush.
ing toward where I and old Lumsden look
ed back from the poop to see her come
alongside: the strings OF brown plrates
pour in empty handed. and out laden Only
In the case Of the Victoria there were add
ed the ferocities of the prisoner at the
bar. minds and gentlemen of the jury.
fend in human shape, as we shall prove
with the aid of the most Respectable VIII
nesses "
The man In the wig sat down. and before
7 understood what was happening rat,
rosy mantle attorney general-whose
blance to a sucking pig was calling Ed
ward Sadler" and the name blared like
sudden fire leaping up all over the court.
The attorney general wagged his gown
into a kind of bunch behind his hips, and
man. Young. fair, with a reddish beard and
n shiny suit of clothes, sprang into lit
tie box facing the Jury. He bowed nerv-
ously in several directions and laughed
gently: then he looked at me and scowled.
The attorney general cleared his throat
| pleasantly ,,o,
25th. chief mate Of the good ship Veto
ria ."
The fair man with the beard told his
| story. the old story of the. ship with Its
| cargo of coffee and dye-wood: Its good
| passage past the Gran Caymanos; the be-
| calming off the Cuban shore in latitude so
| and so. and the boarding Of a black schoon-
err. calling itself Mexican privateer. l
| could see all that.
| '"rhe prisoner at the bar came alongside
| in a boat with seventeen Spaniards. he
| said in a clear expressonless voice, looking
| me full in the face.
| I called out to the old Judge. my Lord
- I protest. This is perjury. I was
| not the man. 1t was Nichols. Nova SEQ
| tian."
| Mr.. Baron Garrow roared Silence" his