Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-03-06
Miseellaneons 8eadia9.
CLEARED HIS CLIENT.

CLEARED HIS CLIENT.
Episode In the Legal Career of Senator
Stewart.
Every true lawyer will be loyal tC
his client above all things" said for.
mer Senator Stewart of Nevada. 81
once heard that great lawyer, Senator
Davis Of Minnesota, say, When a man
places his life in my hands there Is
some danger that may go to the pen
itentiary, but there is no danger that
| he will hang"
Senator Davis meant to convey the
idea that he would resort to every
conceivable means to save the life OF
any client who placed that life in hi;
keeping. That was the principle which
encompassed me when l was in Grim
inal practice. Because I went to ex-
tremes in saving man from the gal
lows I quit criminal practice.
MY last criminal case was a singu-
lar one. / was practicing law i'm Ne
vada and had achieved quite reputa-
ton as a criminal lawyer by reason OF
several almost phenomenal successes
as luck would have it. The rougher
element seemed to have confidence In
me and to feel safe in placing their in
terests In my charge. Thus 1t hap
pened that when q man named Ellis
4 1,;l Il
O'Brien, on a mining claim, a friend
| Of Ellis came to me and paid me a re-
| tainer to defend Ellis. / accepted the
retainer without making any inquiries
as to details or particulars. I was
busy with other matters.
Just before the case came to trial
looked into 1t and found that the
case against Ellis was a strong one.
In fact, did not see how Ellis was to
have a ghost Of show for his life.
L could find no plea on which to defend
him. The community was prejudIced
against him, and some of my best
friends came to me and begged me
not to defend him. had accepted the
retainer, ard / was Ellis lawyer. II
was my duty to save him, If possible.
Consequently l told my friends that 7
was Ellis lawyer and that I intended
to clear him. For the life Of me, I
didn't know, how, though.
"As trial day drew nigh, Ellis grew
more and more nervous. He sent for
me again and again to come and see
him, but I persistently refused to do
so. 1 felt that he was guilty l be-
lieved that he would lie to me and
confuse me. l stayed away from him
and sent word that 1 would be on
hand to defend him. He was obliged
to be satisfied. No other lawyer
would take his case. But made a
bluff of telling all over town that /
was going to clear Ellis. Meantime 7
had been making desperate plans for
my client.
"Only one year previous to the trial
of Ellis a popular young Irishman
named Barney had been convicted of
murder on circumstantial evidence.
Subsequently the real murderer was
unfortunate Barney was fresh in the
minds of ell, and the man who had
been his attorney and had earnestly
pleaded for his life was now the pre-
siding Judge. Moreover the principal
witness against my man Ellis had been
the principal witness against poor
Barney.
There was another witness, who
was afflicted with an impediment in
his speech. When excited he would
stutter and go through such contor-
tions that nobody could understand
anything that he said. and his ges-
lures were the writings of an insane
man. I had no witness for the defense
and had to clear my man with the wit
nesses fer the prosecution.
There had been a row on the
mountain side, and the evidence show
ed that Ellis had murdered a man
named O'Brien without provocation
except that O'Rrien had claimed prior
right to the mine Of which Ellis had
take possession. O'Brien had gone
into the mountain to assert his claim,
and Ellis had killed him in the pres
cnce of two witnesses.
We'll. when the time came for trial
Ellis sent word 10 me that he wanted
to talk to me in the courtroom, but
sent back word for him to keep his
mouth shut ard see me Immediately
after the trial was over. The poor
devil sat in the dock and eyed me
wistfully. 1 could see that he had
confidence in me as a criminal lawyer
who had never lost a case, but his
life was at stake, and he was guessing
hard. I allowed the prosecution to
make out its case with it's witnesses
and offered no objection of any kind
I told them that I was busy and want
ed to get through with the trial as
soon as possible and as soon as
my client was acquitted must take up
another case. involving a great deal
Of property 1t was a bluff, of course
but a bluff sometimes beats full
hand.
when my turn came l took the
principal witness for the prosecution.
and I went after him in this fashion:
You are the man that sWore away the
life of poor Barney last year. His
blood cries aloud for vengeance. We
all know, everybody here knows, judge
and jury and all the people know. that
you swore away the life of that poor
boy when he was innocent. You seem
to make it your business to testify in
such cases. You evidently like to
place yourself in a position where you
can swear away human lives. Every
body knows that poor Barney was
here in Nevada, and his aged mother
weeping ir Ireland. when you swore
against him. and he was hanged al
together on your testimony. / don't
know what you have against Ellis
here. but of course you have some