Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-29
TAKES HIS CLEW
FROM THAW CASE
DEFENDANT TRIES TO PLEAD
BRAIN STORM
Says He Was Mentally Agitated When
He Used Club on compIainant's
Head, but Jurors Won't
Believe II

Brain storm swept Justice stephens
court with a roar yesterday morning
and the Thaw case, the unwritten law,
self defense and the primal right were
argued and torn asunder and patched
up again, all because A. p. Bell, who
lives near the terminus of the Temple
street line, became sore" and hit b.
D. Clugston on the head with a broom
handle.
Bell had been arrested on a charge of
assault and battery. He admitted he
had hit Clugston on the head couple
of times, but he thought If he could
get his case before q jury the present
popularity of the Thaw case, as applied
to his own condition, might secure his
acquittal.
Accordingly twelve business men
we're taken from their work and hailed
into court to hear why Bell had hit
Clugston.
Clugston took the witness stand dur
ing the early stages of the trial and
stated that on February 2 he had
caught the little son of Bell "peeling"
bark off the trees in q little park out
at the terminus of the Temple street
line. He stated that he had caught
the little Bell buoy" about the park
and had told him that If he did not
stop peelng bark off the trees he would
ring up Jne police SIdJlOu ana S6llQ IIle
youthful Bell to Jail.
He further stated that when the lit
tie Bell boy had alleged he was of
prevaricating nature he had told him
to cease that sort of talk orohe would
slap him and that thereupon the young
ster hau gone home crying.
Argues with a Club
Then entered the big Bell He al
4I,nf 1t y,
in the tower of the old hall of liberty
that he would not stand for the op-
preston of a park watchman and that
therefore he would assert liberty until
he cracked as had the liberty bell.
The expression cracked, reminded him
that he had club with him and he
cracked the club on Clugston's head.
The arrest was made and Bell was
called upon to explain the assault.
Clugston yesterday exhibited a bump
on his Uranium that the application of
the club had created and he showed it
to the jurymen.
1t had been put there February 2, ac-
cording to his statement, and because
the court had stated that the bump
would be good evidence as exhibit A
in the case he had kept it there ever
since.
The jury agreed the bump looked
pretty tough and Bell was allowed to
look at the bump. He then stated that
he didn't make that bump and that it
was a part of the chronological ar
rangement of Clugston's Uranium. He
argued If the bump had been kept
fresh for two months, as evidence,
Clugston must have hit himself on the
head every morning to keep it there.
Then the brain storm broke out.
Clugston alleged that he had brain
storm and rubbed his head as though
the remembrance of the brain storm
had been painful. The youthful Bell
alleged that he had had mild attack
when he encountered Clugston and the
elder Bell decided that he must have
had a Kansas cyclone tearing around
through the convolutions of his seat Of
knowledge when he had started to
wreak vengeance.
Bells attorney then in a local sort
of way had an attack of Santa Ana
winditis and he began to argue the
case before the jury, comparing it to
the. Thaw case. He stated that Bell,
when he heard the story of his young
ster's troubles from the boys own lips,
must have experienced some of the
blind passion that Harry Thaw did
when he heard the story of Stanford
White and the gooseberry tart supper
in which his wife, the fair Evelyn, had
D6Su Ildue VlCLlIn.
Many Defenses Offered
Anyway, he argued, Bell must have
had brain storm and hit Clugston on
the head with broom handle. The
unwritten law was introduced and
after that self defense, and then the
primal right and instinct of primal man
to defend his young and then some
other things
About that time the jury decided that
since the Thaw case had begun to fig
ure so prominently in the trial they
had better subpoena Miss Edna Good
rich, Nat Goodwins leading woman,
whom they had heard had introduced
Evelyn Nesbit to Stanford White.
They decided they wanted to see what
she looked like anyway. The court de-.
INJURED to any such action and the
jury then decided that brain storm,
especially when another mans pate
had been the storm center, was not of
particular benefit to the community.
BY that time few of the jurors who
wanted to get back to their work had
some storm clouds hanging and hover
ing about in their heads and for the
zephyr-like performance of Bell they
levied fine of $25 and told him to