The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-06-05

| ANA N"NhA a"Nt iNNNFt hNNNAA
body knows that poor Barney was hero
In Nevada and his aged mother weep.
lng In Ireland, when you sworc against
him. and he was hanged altogether on
your testimony don't know what
you have against Ellis here, but OF
course you have some grudgo,'
Here the prosecuting attorney prop.
erly lntorfercd and demanded that the
witness bo protected from Insult, but
the judge ruled that the man who
sworo away the lIfo OF poor Barney
deserved no protection. That decision
had an immediate effect upon the jury.
and could see II, was not defend.
Ing Ellis directly, but | was success
fully prejudlclng the minds OF the
jury against this witness kept on
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
and shouted
LAW AaAN y VIZ NRAAlN tAh1 hAAAN hNAlA
TO swear away another human llfel
How dare you appear before a jury OF
intelligent men, all OF whom know OF
the Barney casef You admit that you
were mistaken In the Barney case and
your testimony hanged that unhappy
lad You are also mistaken In this
case unless you are perjurlng your.
self But you can't hang Ellis with
your preJudlced testimony thank
God that the people OF Nevada did not
mob you last year.. and | hope that
they viii not lynch you now. but you
had better get out OF this community
as soon as you can or | VIII not youch
for your worthless life. Get of the
witness stand and get out OF my sight
He disappeared. He was In a 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
nervous, trembling manner, which In.
dicated that | already had him scared
almost TO death. lie WAS very much
excited and evidently expected me to
go after him as had gone after the
other witness. He conM scarcely STAN
mer his name, and this Is what | did
TO him:
"'You saw 0'Brien, the dead man,
raise shovel and try to brain Ellis
here. You saw Ellis run away from
him. You saw 0'Brien 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 IT.
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 yex-
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
of the stand
He got of the stand The Jury
did not know that he was stutterer.
They saw only that the witness was
stricken dumb before a determined at
torney, and they saw from his tears
that he was regretting his direct testl-
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
II his life was saved, and replied:
Your life IL 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 on rope. While
they are drinking you must scoot up
the mountain side and disappear. Now
get out ~ fast as your legs will carry
you.
mo maR ever Skinned up Il mouH.
tain side with more expedition than
Ellis did that morning. He dlsap-
peared in the brush, and nobody ever
saw him again in those dlgglngs. |
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
hey cooled down, none Of them blamed
ne for saving my client, although they
were all satisfied that he was guilty. /
Even the jurymen told me afterward !
hat they did not see how they ever
acquitted him.
"That was my last case In criminal
practice. | declared that | would
lever again take the case Of any man
:harged with murder. / felt that |
lad done my duty as a lawyer and
lad saved the life Of q client who
rusted that life to me, but I was
leeply impressed with the belief that
could not do it again under any |,
circumstances. So quit criminal
'ractice and went into politics. But /
lad not seen the last Of Ellis. had
dismissed him from my mind entirely,
'ut ten or twelve years afterward |
vas in Salt Lake City participating In
public meeting. Late at night /