Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-02-18
Story of Manner in Which Cali
fornia Attorney Upset
One Jury.
LOGIC BIT LIKE WIRI0L
Winifred Black Relates Incidents of
Celebrated Will With ORA
matte End.

Dolphin NJ. Delmas of California.
CHEF counsel for Harry X. Thaw. is
the man upon whom it is said Thaw
depends most to save his life. He
looks almost as much like the great
Napoleon today as he did some fifteen
crowded years ago, the first time |
saw him in California, writes Winifred |
Black in the New York American.
The first time l ever looked at Mr.. |
Delmas | saw him over the heads of Il /
courtroom full of women and trial |
hangers on. He was the attorney on |
one side of one of the most celebrated |
will cases ever tried in state famous
for its will cases.
A rich man had died somewhere up
in the north of the state and, dying,
left behind him some sacks of jin%linG
gold somewhere outside of the lid of
his coffin. \ woman. the wife of his
dead brother. arose and claimed half
of the estate on the ground that the
dead millionaire was the father of her
child and that he had made will in
favor of that child and of her.
The widow of the millionaire denied
the claim of the woman who boldly
l'announced herself TO he the dead mans
| light a love. and the two women went
| TO court and tore each other to pieces
| in the full gaze of the curious and not
| always appjauding public.
Both women were handsome. both
were clcTer and both We're at that in
| tcresting age when the past casts
| glamour of romance over the plainest
| face and where the future is not yet
| close enough To bc terrifying. The
| widow Of the dead millionaire was tall.
slender. pale. calm and Madonna faced.
| The light o. love was tall buXom. rosy
and had a pair of eyes full of the Joy
Of living. All san Francisco fought
at the door of that courtroom for en-
| trance to the trial.
| The light q love was represented by
man named Johnson. He was Il law
yer. known to the whole coast rs
man of amazing eloqUencc. Mr.. Del
mas represented the Madonna faced
widow.
The case dra cccd and dragged. One
witness contradjcted today what an
other had said yesterday. And tomor
row came three who told yet a differ
cnt story. There were writing experts
and medical experts and legal experts
on the stand. besides Il perfect cloud of
plain people.
| At last the whole tedious business
drew near to the close and Mr.. John
son made the address for his client.
He made magnificent speech. reason
able and well considered. but at the
end of it he caught up the child who
was one of the contestants in the case
and held him mp to the jury, tangled
curls, blue eyes, frightened, flushed
face and all.
And if you gentlemen do not give
my client Justice said Mr.. Johnson
Il call here and now upon the God OF
the widow and the fathcrlcSs to give
this innocent child his rights in the
estate of his acknowledged father"
Effect Varied.
Some of the jurors cried. some Of
them sneered and one of them laughed
aloud. but every one of them was
moved out of the lcthargy into which
the long weeks of tiresome litigation
had thrown them.
Mr.. Delmas rose, on the heels of Il fl
of hystcria which threatened to con
vulSe the entire courtroom. He spoke
rs calmly as if he were ordering hi.
breakfast. His straight featured anC
handsome face was as hcreaved of any
trace of emotion as is the carven face
of an angel on an ancient and forgotten
tomb. The singing logic of his argu
: ment bit like vitriol into every mine
that marked and understood him. HI
= tore the evidence with which Mr.. John
I son had fortified his clients case t.
!. pieces, bit by bit. shred by shred an'
? atom by atom. He did it with COLI
= irony that was somehow overwhelm
' ingly convincing.
This won't do" whispered Il listen