Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-08-14

sWOre away the life or poor barney
deserved no protection. That decision
had an immediate effect upon the jury,
and | could see it. was not defend
Ing Ellis directly, but | was success
fully prejuGicing the minds Of the
Jury against this witness. kept OH
abusing him and finally compelled him
to admit to judge and jury that he
had been mistaken in the Barney case
the preceding year. Then | ranted
md shouted: -
allow dare you come into this court
to swear away another human life?
How dare you. appear before jury OF
intelligent men, all of whom know Of
the Barney case? You admit that you
were mistaken In the Barney case and
your testimony hanged that unhappy
lad. You are also mistaken in this
ease unless you are perjurng your
self. But you can't hang Ellis with
your prejudiced testimony. thank
God that the people Of Nevada did not
mob you last year, and | hope that
they will not lynch you now, but you
had better get out of this community
as soon as you can or will not youch
for your worthless life. Get off the
witness stand and get out of my sight
"He disappeared. He was in hurry
to get out of the room. He was almost
scared to death, and the jury could see
that too. While he was getting out OF
the room | called for the other wit
ness, and he came to the stand in a
nervous, trembling manneE which In
dicated that already had him scared
almost to death. He was very much
excited and evidently expected me to
20 after him as | had gone after the
other witness. He could scarcely stam-
mer his name, and this Is what did
to him:
"'You saw O'Brien, the dead man,
raise a shovel and try to brain Ellis
here. You saw Ellis run away from
him. You saw OBrien run after Ellis
clear to the edge of the pit Your own
eyes witnessed the fact that Ellis did
not draw his gun until he was about
to be Drained and knocked into the
pit, Now, tell the jury the truth with
out any hesitation or quibbling. Out
with itv
'@The poor fellow began TO stutter
and stammer and shake his head. He
raised his arms and waved them about
his head. He stammered and finally
put his hands to his eyes, tears of vex-
alton flowing, and then shouted:
"'Tears will not avail you. Let your
conscience work. You know the truth,
and you know that this deed was done
In self defense. Tell the truth or get
off the stand
"He got off the stand. The jury
did not know that he was sufferer.
They saw only that the witness was
stricken dumb before a determined at
torney, and they saw from bis tears
that he was regretting his direct testi-
mony. My case was won. 1t took less
than FIVE minutes for the jury to rem
der verdict of not guilty.
"As soon as the verdict had been
rendered Ellis came to me and asked
If his life was saved, and | replied:
Your life Is safe for just about ten
minutes. These people are now going
to the saloon, and as soon as their
whisky takes effect they will come
here and run you up Oh rope. While
they are drinking you must scoot up
the mountain side and disappear. Now
get out as fast as your legs will carry
you"
"No man ever Skinned up, a noun
tain side with more expedition than
Ellis did that morning. He disap-
peared In the brush, and nobody ever
saw him again In those dlggings. |
got on my horse and also disappeared,
as | did not know what the mob
might be tempted to do when they
failed to find Ellis. OF course, after
they cooled down, none OF them blamed
me for saving my client, although they
were all satisfied that he was guilty.
Even the jurymen told me afterward
that they did not see how they ever
acquitted him.
"That was my last case in criminal
practice. declared that l would
never again take the case Of any man
charged with murder l felt that I
had done my duty as a lawyer and
had saved the life of a client who
trusted that life to me, but / was
deeply impressed with the belief that
I could not do 1t again under any
circumstances. So l quit criminal
practice and went into politics. But /
had not seen the last Of Ellis. l had
dismissed him from my mind entirely,
but ten or twelve years afterward |
was In Salt Lake City participating in
q public meeting Late at night !
was walking to my hotel when man
rushed out Of little alley, handed me
q purse Of money and said: Take 1t
It's yours. You earned more, but. that
is all I have now. You saved my
life. I'm Ellis
with that he disappeared, and l
have never seen or heard Of him since.
All, Of the circumstances were against
him, and yet maybe he was innocent.
A man who will go out Of his way 10
pay debt as Ellis did must have some
good qualities In him. In the purse |
found the neat sum of $3.50, which
must dave represented his savings for
a long time. l presume that he had
been watching my movements and fol-
lowed me on that occasion in order to
nov FOR NV cervices and let me know