Charlevoix county herald., 1909-09-04
M y {lII[xU
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ton to this SYM
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 l crave the indul-
gence of you all. With your permits
sion l 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 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 member of
the community as himself. He won
deIed 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 half-grown 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 traveller tramp
ing homeward along the little fire.
quented highway that ran into the
timber just beyond his place had
stumbled over the body of young Ar
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
it was now the duty Of Judge, twelve
. men and 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
fours, 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.
81 wish l had II 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 Tom
Robinson who had volunteered to
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 iuryman. In a small commu
nifty the questioning of a venireman
is largely a matter of form Either
the state or the defense can tell long
before the trial by looking over the
list of veniremen what men they would
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
the timber of which Jim's place was
clearing, he was identified with all
that was progressive in the commu
nifty. He was a deacon in the church
director in the bank, an officer in
the county fair association, and, in
fact. held most Of those honors which
beyond the city, are the capstones OF
success. He was indeed an ideal jury
man. In the city he would have been
challenged for cause, for. with al
the rest of his good qualities, he was
intelligent.
The attorney for the state then
arose for his opening. AS he de
scribed with the minutest detail Jim's
movements upon the fatal night, jim
writhed and would have given all the
world, yes, even his precious ter
acres, to have escaped the stares that
seemed TO burn into the back of his
wrinkled neck. At the same time he
vaguely wondered how the states at
torney knew things about him that
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 hon
est faced boy, soon to grow into man
hood and the little innocent babe that
prattled at its fathers knee" Older
ast sterner eyes than inns would b