Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-08
FIRST GIRL LAWYER In PARIS
Only 81, but Makes a Hit with Her
Opening Case.
ACCUSED WOMAN IS ACQUITTED
Case Peculiarly Pathetic and Offers
the Charming PIeader Special
Opportunity to Appeal
TO the Jury.

PARIS, Nov. G-(Special)-Mille. Helene
Miropolsky, a talented young woman bar
rister, made her debut last week at the
Palais de Justice. For the first time in
the history of the modern Paris law courts
a woman stood alone before the red-robed
judges surrounded by all the solemn maj
esty of justice, pleading in her own right
as legal counsel the cause of another
woman who was being tried for murder.
No wonder that the court was crowded
with an eager public and that all the other
counsel, young and old alike, who were
not engaged in other cases that day,
thronged to witness the ordeal of their
young woman colleague.
Clad in the sober black gown and white
bib of counsel, but without the medieval
bob-wlg so familiar in England, Mdlle.
Miropolsky was not in the least overawed
or outwardly nervous. She had doubtless
looked at herself in the mirror that morn
ing and recognized that the verdict of 1.-THE
men" could not be other than favorable.
Mdlle. Miropolsky is a handsome brunette,
with fine dark eyes, a wealth of wavy
black hair clustered out from beneath the
coduettish toque and altogether she is pleas
ant to look upon, for she is in the bloom
of q INNER Even the public prosecutor,
her adversary, unbent from his stern mis-
sion as the avenger Of Justice and made a
graceful little speech welcoming his learned
friend at the outset Of her legal career.
Cnse 81 Pathetic One.
The case that this twentieth century
Portia was called upon to defend was a
peculiarly pathetic one. 1t was that of a
poor woman, a button-maker, who had
managed to keep the wolf from the door
until she mated with a brutal and lazy
man. During the winter Helene Jean found
herself with her baby on many a day face
to face with starvation. Work had fallen
off and there was no prospects of matters
improving. At last one cold morning in
March she lost all courage and addressed
the following piteous letter to Monsieur
lie Commissaire de Police:'
Life is too miserable for It to be worth
living any, longer. have decided to die,
cannot leave him to the tender mercies of
the world. 1 beg you as a favor to have
all my belongings sold so that a wreath
may be bought for my baby boy.
Then she lighted the little charcoal stove,
locked the door, filled up all the cracks
and then, taking her baby in her arms, lay
down on her bed to await death. When,
some hours later, the door was burst open,
1t was to late. The baby was already dead.
Helene Jeaon, who was still alive, was
taken to the hospital, where she lay be-
tween life and death for many days. When
at last she left the hospital it was to find
the prison doors open to receive her as
the murderer of her own child.
Jury Takes Little Time.
The young barrister could hardly have
had a more grateful case to defend than
that of this %bereaved, heartbroken prisoner.
alive in spite of herself and now childless.
Mdlle. Miropolsky drew such a picture as
only a woman could draw of another
woman's sufferings, and when she had
finished the tears stood in the eyes of
many of her hearers. The jury's consulta-
ton was brief. There was only one pos
slble answer to such an eloquent appeal;
Helene Jean was unanimously acquitted.
The young advocate" her cheeks flushed
with emotion and triumph, was warmly
congratulated by a crowd of admiring con-
freres, who pressed forward to touch their
pretty and learned sisters hand.
Defends an "Apache."
Helene Miropolsky's %triumphal debut was
followed the very next day by another
mastery pleading in the same court.
This time, however. the subject was an
ungrateful one 1t was the trial, for at
tempted murder, of a female Apache"
Last December, in the gray light of early
morning, an old widow, named Delellie,
who keeps a little Diapers store in rue st.
Martin, was taking down the shutters,
when a young woman of the quarter, Louise
Brut by name, entered and asked to be
shown a blouse. While Nine. Delellie was
busy getting it, the young one was trying
to get at the till. Unfortunately, Nine.
Delellie turned round at the, critical mo-
ment. Caught in the act, the Apache"
rI1Ghn1 Of tho llH uyAr,,, .g..a - -
the throat and kicking her violently in
the stomach with her knee, laid her on the
floor. The old widow struggled desperately,
but Louise Brut held her round the throat
with a grip like a vice. A few seconds
longer, and the victim would have been a
corpse. At that moment a second custo-
mer entered the store. The Apache" fled
preclpitately, but was arrested shortly
afterwards.
The prisoner pleaded that she was intox-
icated at the time of the outrage, and as
1t was proved hat she had drunk two cups
of coffee and four glasses of absinthe be-
fore going to Nine. Delellie's, Mdlle. Miro
polsky was able to induce the jury to al
low e-xtenuating circumstances, Maitre
Henri Robert, the great criminal advocate,
could not have done more for his client
than that. Louise Brut was sentenced to
two years Imprisonment.
Career Fairly Started.
Mdlle. Miropolsky is, therefore, now
fairly launched upon her career, at the
very outset of which she has reached 4
degree Of celebrity thai many briefless bar
risters dream of but never attain. 1t is
probable that the new 'avocate" will con-
fine her activities 10 her own sex. Such
at any rate is her present intention.
1t Is not generally known that prior to
the great revolution Of 1883 no woman was
admitted to the bar. The rules OF the order
were extremely strict and excluded THE
deaf, dumb, mad, minors OF 10, women,
judges, notaries, policemen and persons
belonging TO a religious order" When the
revolution broke out the Corporation of
Barristers shared the fate Of every other
privileged body: il was dissolved and the
bar was thrown open to everyone. Many
prisoners, most indeed, defended them
selves, and there is more than one famous
Instance Of women having come forward to
plead the cause OF their husbands and
fathers. The first on record was Mdlle.
Nina d'Ambert, whose father, the Marquis