Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1909-08-19

postum in the style of fiction. The
facts, however, are drawn from my
own experience. AS it is my first at
tempt at anything outside the paths
Of legal literature / crave the indul-
gence Of you all With your permits
sion will read my story. The judge
then read the following narrative in
a manner that showed he had not, |
during his years on the bench, forgot
ten his early skill before a jury.
Jim Dismukes sat in mute resigna-
ton and stared into the face of the /
Judge; that stern yet sometimes kind |
ly old face that meant so much to
jim. He wondered in his simple way
why there should be so much of
trouble and so much of solemnity
about so unimportant a member of
the community as himself He won
dered more than all why that terrible.
Unknown thing called the law had
seen fit to drag him from his little log
home and keep him through those
long months shut up behind the
barred windows of the modest county
Jail while, except for the doubtful at
tention of bill" his halfgrown boy,
the little ten-acre patch might be
growing up in ragweed and cookie
bur.
OF course Jim knew that one dark
and forbidding night a traveller tramp
ing homeward along the little fire.
quented highway that ran into the
timber just beyond his place had
| ctr hi ,I ~, Of A.
thur Ballard Jim knew people said
Ballard had been murdered He knew
when he went with the crowd to look
at the body by the dim, early morn
ing light he had seen that reeking
horrible gunshot wound in his breast,
and he had trembled and grown pale.
He knew he was charged with firing
the shot that made that wound. And
Jim also knew, deep down in his own
heart. whether or not this charge was
true. Jim knew and this knowledge
1t was now the duty of a Judge, twelve
men and a states attorney to drag
forth.
AS Jim sat before those terrible
inquisitors and watched the changing
play upon the countenance of the
judge a tow-headed stubby-nosed
baby slid from his mothers lap, nego-
tiated the distance to Jim upon all
tours, and began the perilous ascent
of his long and awkward legs. Jim
bent over and patted the little head,
but Sally Ann grabbed the child to
her lap again with the whispered in
junction:
There now, Buddy mustn't bother
pappy. Pappy's busy"
"Pappy" was indeed busy.
The last man of the panel had just
been accepted by both sides.
Il wish l had IL more just like
, him." thought Clay Sheppard, the
young and ambitious states attorney
: as he passed the veniremen over to
the defense.
Il can trust him at least to give
Jim a square DEAL" thought old Ton
Robinson who had volunteered tc
save Jim, If possible, simply because
he couldn't help doing kind deeds
any more than he could help living.
The twelfth man truly was an
. ideal juryman. In a small commu
+ nifty the questioning of a veniremar
3 is largely a matter of form. Either
! the state or the defense can tell Ions
r before the trial by looking over the
5 list of veniremen what men they woulC
+ like to have on the jury. Amos Watson
was one Of those who would have
/ been picked in advance by both sides
] A farmer of expansive acres, which
/. lay in the high priced prairie beyond
Of nh oh, g r,1n
[ a clearing he was identified with al
( that was progressive in the commu
y nifty He was a deacon in the church
a director in the bank an officer il
4 the county fair association, and il
/. fact. held most of those honors which
beyond the city, are the capstones o
/ success. He was indeed an ideal jury
4 man. In the city he would have beef
4 challenged for cause. for. with al
the rest Of his good qualities. he wa
intelligent.
The attorney for the state thel
4 arose for his opening AS he de
!. scribed with the minutest detail Jim
a movements upon the fatal night. jim
4 writhed and would have given all tn
. world. yes. even his precious ter
Z acres, to have escaped the stares tina
seemed to burn into the back of hi
wrinkled neck. At the same time b
4 vaguely wondered how the states al
! torney knew things about him tina
4 he didn't know himself
Then old Tom Robinson brough
= tears to Jim's eyes as he referred cas-
ually to Jim's devoted wife. his hor
, est faced boy, soon to grow into mar
hood and the little innocent babe tina
prattled at its fathers knee" Ode
y and sterner eyes than Jim's would b