Amador ledger., 1907-12-13
FROM OUR
CORRESPONDENTS
AUKUM.

dor county has had her share of
tragedies. 1t is noteworthy fact
that Amadcr county has not had a
neck-stretching since so long ago that
L don't distinctly remember. 1t vas
think in 1859, some Cinnamon were
hung for killing ditch tender near
jackson Gate. If the gaIlows had
been made of Iignum vita it would
have rotted down ere this. W.
French, who killed Pete Wells at
OIeta "a or % years ago, was afraid
of Amador, and got change of venue
to San joaquin. The mistake cost
aim his life, for he was found guilty
there, and was hung. This state of
affairs is mostly attributable to the
able criminal lawyers that Amador
has had. Among the most conspicu-
Gus was S. b. Axtell, James +. Farley
and lot more.
When DR.. Stone killed Bell in the
lobby chamber of the capitol in the
early COS, S. b. Axtell, then of this
county, received the sum of $500 for
simply selecting and impanelling the
jury to try the case. DIR. Stone was
cleared by Axtell's action in the case,
although he (AXtelI) acted no futher
in the case than merely to select the
jury. On thinking once more of
Axtell, | see smooth shaven faced,
wiry little man, spare in build, quick
in motion and speech, with pierre
ing black eye looking out under dark
comedy eyelashes. with the keenness
of hawk. His speech, plain, forcible
and logical, and his burst of elo-
quence, was certain to arouse the
lethargic Indifference of his hearers
and quicken them into burst of
vociferous applause. Many times he
would tone his voice to a low melodi-
Gus strain till it dropped almost to
that of a whisper Then, as if i'm
PEELED by some terrific force within,
would thunder invectives against
undue evidence and make the very
court room ring with rounds of
applause. Once he was defending a
criminal with K. NJ. Briggs as his
opponent. Briggs was district attor-
ney, and he was making one of his
laborious pleas for which he was
noted. 1t was night session, and
the jury was tired, and some were
nodding in a momentaIy slumber.
The judge was looking vacantIy down
at the stand before him and seemed
i'll at ease in listening to the dry
logic of the attorney. Axtell nerv-
ously twitched in his seat, and moved
about uneasily as if worried at the
dIyness of his opponents plea. When
finally Briggs was through, AxteIl
sprang to his feet like a cat, and said
in smooth, modulated silvery
tone: "May it please the court.
gentlemen of the jury. the accom-
plished district attorneys plea re-
minds me of the fiery logic of an old
negro preacher that it was my fortune
to hear preach a sermon long time
ago. 1t was summer time and one of
those star bedecked nights that is
characteristic of summer night near
Oberlin, Ohio. The old negro there
fore from choice, preached out in
open air. The congregation was an
intermixture of blacks and whites.
and the black divine broke out with
all the rural eloqueuce he could com
mand, "Bredren, he said, ode good
Lord am wild US in all his glory. See
de sta S twinklin' In de hebens. We
ought ter glib tanks to- de Lode fur
all dis beauty roun' US. Then sud
denly, raising his hand aloft and
looking at the broad trimmed moon
peering over the tree tops, exclaimed
with negro enthusiasm, "Ain't dis er
gloris night ter kill skunks. - The
jury aroused from the lethargy in
which Briggs plea had brought them
and roared with laughter The judge
turned his face to the wall to hide
his levity. AxteIl had the jury with
him from then to finish and easily
won his case.
Mrs Isaac McClary died at her resi-
dence in Oleta Tuesday morning last.
Her maiden name was Jane Moody.
and she was born in Dear born,
Michigan, in 1884. While yet IN her
teens she married Isaac McClary and
shortly afterwards came with he1
husband to the gold fields of Cali
fornia settling in Fiddletown in 1858.
A half century, with its long, tedious
spinning of time fouud husband md