The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-08-29
FLOWERY ADDRESS by
TEXAS ATTORNEY TO JURY

FLOWERY ADDRESS BY
TEXAS ATTORNEY TO JURY
The followingunique address was
delivered before a jury in Texas by
an attorney for the Rock Island road,
and is well worth time to peruse.
The case was one wherein dam
ages were asked by a Texas farmer
who had pig killed by a railroad
train. His claim for $40 was made
on the promise that the pig was a
pet pig.
The following is the address:
Speaking to you, gentlemen of the
jury, | would say that you have here
perhaps a more dignified and import
ant duty to perform than you have
been ed to realize. There are little
cases like this that on account of the
small amount involved appear half
ludicrous in their triviality, but on
closer scrutiny reveal vault filled
with CHASTITY horror. We walk into
them as light of neart as the SAN
guine warriors of the great Pharsal-
ia, or the untamed steer bounds
among the Corn especially reared to
At him for the butchers block.
We have it here, my learned pro-
fessor, torn from your work of pre-
pairing the future generations for a
higher citizenship; we have it here,
my skilled and impatient doctor, my
busy merchant, my prosperous far
mer You need not chafe at the ap-
parently unimportant position in the
great scheme of government which
you temporarily fill with so much
honor to the place. Instead of hav-
ing called six of the foremost men of
this fruitful country, whose names
are known and honored throughout
the sun-kissed vastness of this glori-
Gus and imperishable sovereign state,
to sit in patient judgment in a trifl-
ing case involving ten dirty dollars,
tainted by the touch of avarice, souls
of coming times.
Am | extravagant IN this feeble
presentation of an humble cause?
Was Dante extravagant when he
painted the hideous things of the
world of darkness? Was Solomon
extravagant when he described the
cankering wage of sin? Was the
great Bryan eXtravagant when he de-
scribed in tones that carried from
ocean to ocean when he denounced
the corrupt dominion of Unsuitable
greed? Then, / am not, but speak in
the candid impulse of sympathetic
heart to you who are here to ponder
the sSoignant details of an unstoried,
but revolving tragedy, such as
Shakespeare might have mourned in
immortal verse or great painter
have lain upon the unwilling canvas
to thrill the sympathetic, bring to
your discriminating view, in humble
and unadorned language the horrors
of an unpunishable crime.
So much by way of Introduction.
Why is this man here? He wants
SO for the death of pig. A pet
pig. A pig that loved him. A pig
that fed from his hand and knew no
greater thing than he, its guardian
and friend, created in the masters
own image-a Diety-for to it the
simple orthodoxy of the animal world
had revealed no greater, better, wiser
or godlier thing than this that min
istered to his daily wants-a pig that
squealed with joy at the first signal
of his approach, and grunted its
baby-like woe at his departure
that was happy in the sunlight of his
smile, that froliced about him upon
the last morning, happy in the sweet
recollection of a rude caress, feeling
that so long as he was nigh no harm
could come. Thus happy and secure
in the protection of its master it frol-
iced upon the railway track. Far
DER the plain a demon shrek and a
rumbling sound gave warning. A
stream of black smoke disclosed the
angel of death, riding upon the en-
CINE of destruction. The little in
nocent thing, confiding in the mas
ter's care, was happy still. The great
black mass of the engine arose with
ever increasing size above the plain,
and with clank and hiss and scream
swept down. Knowing naught of
death or harm the little thing was
happy still. On came the mighty
engine, hurrying like a shadow of
fate across the blanching face of sun
lit nature, bearing death to the I'M
whiting victim, but it was happy still
And this man, what of him? He
knew that it would harken to his
slightest word-come if he called; go
if he commanded; but he would not
say come" and he did not say 'go,
he hight nave odNcu lilC llHoSCHt,
trusting creature with a word, but he
didn't say the word; he stood with
voiceless mouth and idle hands meas
uring in dirty dollars the life of his
little friend and he wouldn't say
piggy" and he never said ''suie. y
He comes into this court with the in
nocent blood of a trusting creature
on his hands and asks you for mon
ey-blood money. viii you give it
to him? VIII you place a reward on
treachery and dishonor? l say no,