The Batesburg advocate. [volume] (Batesburg, S.C.) 1901-1911, 1907-08-30
A STORY OF
THE LAW.
tOrigipal.l

/ Among the many advantages VI coh-
centration of thought Is one disadvan-
| tage Such concentration leads the
| thinker to place an undue relative
value upon the subject of his thought.
| a specialist I'm throat diseases Is apt to
refer all the ills man Is heir to to the
| throat. The professor of ancient Ian
1 guages cannot understand how II man
can be properly equipped for any pro-
fession without a knowledge OF Greek
and Latin. TO the merchant the chief
end of man Is to buy cheap and sell
dear.
In the legal profession this species of
| monomania tends to make the court
room tournament of lawyers. The
real object of Il court to do justice, is
buried under rank professionalism
that has grown up like weeds in
flower garden.
Edward Avery, brilliant young
| lawyer, was especially under the infiu-
encc of this professionalism. Having
been elected state attorney he consid-
| cred 1t his duty to convict alike the
| innocent and the guilty. AS soon as
his duty to the state had ended and he
| became an independent attorney he
considered 1t his duty to secure the
| acQuittal of any client, whether inno-
| cent or guilty. His friends used to re-
| monstrate with him on the want of
| elasticity of his principles, but with
! out avail. He was intensely logical
and could give the best of reasons for
is but machine which will grind out
| hnY i,., ipt
| One day while Avery was practicing
OH his own account man whose trial
for burglary was to come off imme-
diatcly sent for him and asked him to
make his defense.
But know nothing about the case"
! Don't want " to know nothin' about
the case. The more you know about
1t the wo'se for me-"
| Avery'S fancy was ticlilcd ut going
into court to conduct case he didn't
know anything about He pridcd him
self on his readiness and resource. He
would add another TO his already large
number of stories that he was used tG
telling his friends illustrative of these
faculties. The accused man had hut
50 to give him for retainer, bu
Avery was not after money. His oh
ject was to have an opportunity tC
show what he could do impromptu.
!! The case came off the same after
noon. Avery was somewhat surprised
to see in the courtroom several OF hi,
chums mostly of the legal profession
and asked why they were there. III,
WAS told that they had heard he hat
.. taken n case he didn't know anythinI
about, and they We're curious TO Sc,
how he would handle It, Avery wa,
pleased This meant that they wer,
there to witness bit of professional
fireworks.
Avery in summer lived in hand
some suburban residence. In winter
he shut 1t up, went to the city and LIVED
in apartments till spring. When the
prisoner was brought into court and
the witnesses were got together, tho
counsel for the defense was surprised
to see among the latter faces of his
ncighbors in the country. But what
was his astOnishmcnt when the pros
ecution brought out the fact that tho
robbery had been committed in his owl
house.
Avcry's friends were watching him
! they smickcred. The young attorney
saw ut once that they had placed him
| in Il position to defend his client from
| robbing him. But he was game. Not
| the slightest change of countenunce In.
! dicatcd that his professional GIuanim.
\ ity had been disturbed. He listened
! calmly to the evidence against his ell.
| ent. while the expression of his face
! and quick fiashingS in his eyes told
| that he was straining his brain to find
some weak spot in the prosecution,
some techncality by which he might
secure the GcQuittai of his client.
The burglar hAI been seen coming
down n trellis from an upper story by
man with whom Avery was we'll ac.
| Quaintcd. He had been chased but on
| the way had contivcd to get rid OF
some valuable articles. When appre.
hcnded, he had nothing on him TO con,
| vlct him of theft OF course the jury
were entirely ignorant of the situation
| that had been brought about by Av-
ery's friends. When the prosecutors
| evidence was all In, Avery took the wit
| ness who had seen the burglar descend
| the trclliS and asked him how he knew
| the prisoner was the same person. The
witness could not swear that he was
| He had seen him run and he had been
followed by policeman and several
! citizen but the witness had merely
! G.. ~ descend the trellis. What
! r"sI ne =. not know. Avery trapped
him into saying what threw doubt on
the fact OF the identity between the
| man who had descended the treIliS nn,'
thc prisoner then showed how easy II
\ would be fSr the one to be mistaken
|, for the other He closed by powerful
! argument against running n mans life
by evidence that was defective and q
! pathetic appeal for the prisoner The
| jury brought in verdict of not guilty
There was dinner served that night
/ nt the bar association club rooms, Civ
l cn by those who had played the joke
l on Avery. lie revealed the fact that
| lie had lost articles that had been in
his family for 200 years by securing