Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-12-05

BISMARCK DAILY TRIBUNE, SAL
full, and couched in dignified and elo-.
quent phrases. Counsel was in dead
ly earnest and his effort in behalf of
the defendant in this important case
was worthy of admiration and re-
spect. 81
The length of the argument for
bids a lengthy consideration of it..
Suffice it to say that he brought out
the threats made by Sommerfelt, the.
deceased, against old man Permann,
some time before the ARRAY, the right
of Permann to use poisoned wheat
upon his premises to kill gophers,
the fact. that the woman in the case,
Mrs. Sommerfelt, started a good deal
of the difficulty which afterward led
the men into serious trouble, the inn
pulsiyeness Of the boys John and Fred
Permann, in returning to the place
where the Sommerfelts had whipped
John, the coming of the father, John
Permann, to where the boys were and
his warning that they should go back
home, the attack upon Fred Per-
mann by the Sommerfelts, then the
mixing of John Permann and old
man Permann into the trouble, the
grapple of Michael Sommerfelt, (af-
ter, as the defense calinns, Sommer-
felt had shot at Henry Permann with
a revolyer) with Henry Permann,
SomerfeIt's position on top Of Henry
Permann when they went to the
ground together and finally the strik-
ing Of the blows by John Permann
that produced the death Of Sommer-
felt, in defense of the life of his
| father. 5
| In the words of counsel the theory
Of self-defense was glorified, which
in this case was extended to the right
of a son to attack the aggressor fn
order to save his father from death
or great bodily injury.
Judge Lauder told the jury that if
they thought the boy was justified
in striking the fatal blows they
should acquit him. Even though a
man had been killed, as long as the
killing was excusable or justifiable,
the defendant should not be con-
victed. It was not necessary to con-
vict somebody just because somebody
else had been killed while the killer
was acting in self-defense. While on
this subject, counsel spoke as fol-
lows:
"a tooth for a tooth, an eye for
an eye, life for a life. That was
the daw once. They did not inquire
into the circumstances at all, but i
thank God that we live under a new
dispensation, we administer Justice
Inherently now. In the olden times
when we were almost in state Of
barbarism and brute force ruled this
world, Justice was typified as q mar
BILE statute with a stony heart, with
eyes bandaged. and with 3froWning
and menacing brow. ssf
! Had the painters gift 7 wolld
paint Justice for humanity, for the
american An poole, for this glorious
country and glorious century in
which we live. I would paint Justice
with smiling face and with eyes wide
open to all the sins and frailties ami
| miseries of our common human ma
ture. Before / condemned / would
examine fully, completely. It is no
longer an eye for an eye, tooth for
tooth, life for a life, because we
know 1t will not make the man sleep
any sounder in the grave forithe Jury
to Kill another man. Michael Som
merfelt will not sleep any sounder
nor have any better chances before
his heavenly Judge whatever you do
in this lawsuit. This is done. You
can do nothing in vengeance.
The widow Of Michael sommerfeltI
is suing the Permanns for $4,000
damages for the death of her hus-
band. "a
In view Of the verdict it is prob-
able the cases against the. elder Per-
mann and the other son will be drop-
ped.
PETER