Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-07-03
CHAPTER XIII.

within the glossy old wal
nut bar that ran from wall to
wall the eyes of the lawyers
4 and reporters wandered often |
10 Ariel as she sat in the packed court
room watching Louden's fight for the
life and liberty of Happy Fear. She
had always three escorts, and, though
she did not miss session and the
same three never failed to attend her.
no whisper of scandal arose. But not
upon them did the glanceS Of the mem
bers of the bar and the Journalists
with tender frequency linger, nor We're
the younger members of these two pro-
fesslons all who gaZed that way. Joe
had fought out the selection of the
jury with the prosecutor at great
length and with infinite pains. 1t was
not young jury, and it stared at her.
The court" wore a gray beard with
which a flock of sparrows might have
villaged grove, and yet in spite of
the vital necessity for watchfulness
over this fighting case, 1t once needed
to be stirred from a trancelike gaze in
Miss Tabor's direction and aroused to
the realization that it was there to
''sit" and not to dream.
The August air was warm outside
the windows, inviting to the open
country, to swimmin' hole, to orchard
reveries or shaded pool wherein to
drop meditatlve line You would
have thought no one could willingly
coop himself in this hot room for three
hours twice a day while lawyers
wranglea, often unintelligibly. over
the life Of dingy little creature like
Happy Fear, yet the struggle to swell
ter there was almost like riot, and
the bailiffs Were busy men.
1t was fighting case throughout,
fought to a finish on each tiny point
MS it came up, dragging, in the mere
matter of time. Unfortunately, yet the
people of Canaan mot only those who
succeeded in penetrating to the court
room, but the Others who hung about
the corridors or outside the building
and the great mass of stay at homes
who read the story in the Tocsin
found each moment of 1t enthralllng
enough. The states attorney, fearful
of losing SO notorious n case and not
Understanding his opponent. had
modestly summoned others to his aid,
and the attorney for the defense sin
gle handed faced IAN array of legal
talent such as seldom indeed had hol-
Tered at this BAR faced it good ma
turedly, an eyebrow crooked up and
his head on one side most of the time,
vet faced it indomitably. He had a
certain careless and disarming smile
when he lost point, which carried
off the defeat as of only humorous
account and not at all part of the Sc
rious business in hand, and in his
treatment of witnesses he was plausi-
Bile, kindly, knowing that in this case
he had no Intending periurer to en-
trap; brought into play the rare and
delicate art of which he was a master,
employing in his questions subtle sug-
gestions and shadings of tone and
manner and avoiding words of debat-
able and dangerous meanings-a fine
! craft, often attempted by blunderers
to their own undoing, but which, prac-
tlced by Joseph Louden, made inartic-
ulate witnesses articulate to the pre-
else effects Which he desired This he
accomplished as much by the help of
the continuous fire of objections from
the o.her side as in spite of them.
He was infinitely careful, asking never
an Ill advised question for the other
side to use to his hurt and. though ex-
hibiting only a pleasant easiness of
manner, was electrically alert.
A hundred things had shown Ariel
that the feeling of the place, influenced
by public sentiment without. was
subtly and profoundly hostile to Joe
and his client. She read this in the
spectators, in the jury. even in the
judge but 1t seemed to her that day
by day the inimical spirit gradually
failed inside the railing and also in
those spectators who, like herself, were
enabled by special favor to be present
throughout the trial, and that now and
then kindller sentiment began to be
iliuhlleSleu. SSle WIS ulluWsiEe HOW
strongly she contributed to effect this
herself not only through the glow of
visible sympathy which radiated from
her, but by particular action. Claud-
Inc was called by the state and told as
much of her story as the law permitted
her to tell, interlarding her replies with
fervent protestntons, too quick to be
prevented, that she never meant to
bring no trouble to Mr.. Fear" and that
she did hate to have gentlemen start
ing things on her account" When the
defense took this perturbed witness
her interpretations became less fire.
quent, and she described straightfor-
wardly how she had found the pistol
on the floor near the PROSTATE figure
of Cory and hidden it in her own dress.
The attorneys for the state listened
with somewhat cynical amusement
to this portion of her testimony, be-
lieving it of no account, uncorroborat-
ed. and that, If necessary, the state
could impeach the witness on the
ground that it had been Indispensable
to produce her. She came down weep
ing from the stand, and the next wit
ness not being Immediately called the
eyes of the julymen naturally followed
her as she passed to her seat, and they
saw Ariel Tabor bow gruvely to her
across the railing. Now, Il thousand
things not set forth by legislatures,
law men and judges affect II jury, and
the slight salutatiop caused the mem
bers of this one to glance at one an
other, for it seemed to imply that the
exquisite lady in white not only knew
Claudine, but knew that she Lad spok-
Ell the truth. 1t was after this that Il
feeling favorable to the defense now
and then no,iceably manifested itself
in the courtroom. Still, when the evil
dence for tie state was all in the life
of Happy Fear seemed to rest in a
balance precarious indeed, and the lit
lie man. swallowing pitiiully, looked
mt his attorney with the eyes of sick
dog.