Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-08-26

seats side by side and the sheriff and
I, not being particular about sit
ting together. exchanged with them.
My case had become so notorious that
had 1t been known that l was in the
house I would have attracted more
attention than the play these hum
dreds of persons had come to see.
But none knew, Of course, so l was
left in peace to rub elbows with the
young woman who little dreamed she
was sitting near any one so dreadful.
| had tried to get the sheriff to per-
NIT me to visit my wife rather than
go to the theatre, but he would not
listen to letting her into the secret. l
did not enjoy the 'show," which was
a burlesque, and after the theatre we
went to a hotel and took a room for
the night The sheriff slept on the
inside and on the outside Of the bed
In the middle of the night / awoke
and by the electric lights shining in
through the windows from the streets
made out on the window slls the ra-
zor and the revolver of the official
lying in deep sleep beside me. With
the razor l could have cut off my
moustache. between the sheriff's
badge and the revolver | might have
won my way to safety across adjoin-
ing housetops. For hours l lay de-
batting. against me nothing but the
word l had pledged.
| That trip broke the monotory and
it broke the ice between the sheriff
and myself. For $40 a week my CELL
instead of being turned upside down.
was searched only perfunctorily. Ten
dollars a week it cost me to conceal
an ordinary table knife. l used this
knife nightly as key to pick the
lock of my door and let myself out so
that l could steal to Il farther corner
of our tier and into a cell where was
prisoner who at least was a man Of
my own caliber and with whom / had
struck up a friendship. This, Of
course, was with the full knowledge
of the guard on duty.
1 had, however, a further purpose
for that knife. Times were when 1
| felt lighthearted and buoyant and
when / never doubted that 1 would be
acquitted. Other times came when l
saw everything black and when I
felt that this knife was all that stood
between me and the electric chair
Since then l found that 1 hugged this
thought needlessly and that upon re-
turning to my cell after conviction 1
would have found the knife missing.
Did space permit l should like to
tell you in detail all the sensations
you would experience were you put
on trial for your life. There are many
l must leave out for 1t is possible to
touch only the high spots in tragedy
of this kind. I'd like to tell you of
the quarrel l had with my counsel be-
cause l refused to have my wife and
child attend my trial for the purpose
Of influencing the jury. If only had
! room to explain with sufficient detail
I'd like to tell you how, by order Of
| my counsel, l was compelled to per-
| jure myself in order to Offset lies that
were told under oath against me. But,
other matters, even more interesting,
remain to be told.
Among the strange experiences that
come to a man on trial for his life Is
| the fact that he does not in the least
become wildly excited about the out
come of the trial-not at least in the
beginning Even when l came within
a week of the time when my trial was
to begin | did not become excited. My
| fn
back to my wife and my little one.
But so far as my own personal inter-
est in life was concerned, that had
been wiped out. l was like man who
has been fighting with his back against
a wall so long that exhaustion took
the place Of all else. had no inter-
est in the outcome so far as l myself
was concerned.
The night before the trial was to
start my lawyer was cloSeted with
me in the consulting room until past
midnight. For nine hours we had
been together, he questioning and 60
ing over every scrap of evidence until
q marvellous brain was saturated with
every detail that would enable him to
win his fight.
Now and then came a moment Of
lassitude when both of us turned for
relief TO side issues. How does a
lawyer feel when his man is sentenc-
ed to death?" / asked. II don't know
he said II can only tell you how |
feel. When 1 lose a case l feel for
the minute as if | could cut the other
mans heart out. OF course, after a
time | calm down and realize that it's
all in the game: but during the early
moments | feel as if | could commit
murder"
What chance have | to get out of
this? Tell me honestly" / asked on
another of these occasions. He look
ed at me curiously, addressed me by
half of my first name and said. Just
about three i'm ten. 1t looks bad-d-d
bad for us, old man. What we've
got to fight are not facts as they are.
You're up against the police. muir
der has been committed. 1t is up to
the police To get the man or to con-
fess failure. In a nutshell, the police
constitute themselves as a sort of jury
land having found a man guilty to
their own satisfaction they hesitate at
nothing to manufacture evidence
That's perjury, isn't it,
Yes" that's perjury, and the way
to meet il is with counter perjury.
You'll swear to several things | tell
you before ! am through with you
but let's get back to business.
| FROM the outset W llc Nou'i
feel that the court was against me.
Throughout the picking of the jury
his honor never as much as glanced
at me. 1t was not until the third week
week of my trial that his honor re-
Tented and when he did this was ow-
ling to an accident. For the third sue
Icessive day | was to be put through
a grilling cross examination. | had
contracted in the prison serious
bowel trouble and in order to relieve
pain | stood with my abdomen against
the hot radiator when the court en-
tered to begin proceedings. Unknown
Ito me. the sheriff addressed his honor
privately and told him of my suffer-
ling and doubted as TO whether
would be able to go on the stand.
AS | took the stand, presently, his
honor turned toward me and in a
low voice said THE sheriff told me
that you were a sick man. Do you
think you will he able to go on or
do you prefer an adjournment?
I'D rather go on, your honor, l
replied.
Whatever the reason, it was this
ltriflinP incident that turned the scales