Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-12-12

III lawyer was a disgrace to the profess
sion who did all things for the sake
of an acquittal, who went into court
for his client and delayed the trial by
strategy until public feeling had died
down, or witnesses had disappeared
or their memories become uncertain,
who strove to get friendly jury on
the panel. or who sought to get into
the record some technical error. to
reverse the case, or who did anything
to weary justice and enable the guilty
to escape. That, he said, was not the
province of a lawyer.
On the other hand, Jeremiah
Evarts, on Of the greatest lawyers
this country ever had, was greatly
disturbed when he was considering
entering tie profession of law. whether
he could honestly engage in a pursuit
in which half the time he would be
struggling to maintain injustice. He
finally came to this decision: That
any cause that was fit for any court
to hear was fit for any lawyer to pre-
sent on either side, and that neither
the Judge nor counsel had the right
to prejudice the case until both sides
had been heard.
Opposed to this opinion was that Of
Beverly Johnson, a leader Of the
American bar, who, discovering in
the midst of a trial that the man he
was defending was guilty, when he
had assured him he was innocent
arose and walked out Of the court and
refused to touch the case again.
| And there was the action Of Henry
Clay Dean, a famous Missouri lawyer
of the early days, who was called on
by a man accused of a crime and who
asked Dean to defend him.
But did you do this thing?" Dean
asked him.
| The man said he was guilty.
Then" said Dean, IT shall not de-
fend you. You ought to be shot out
of a redhot cannon through barbed-
wire fence straight into hell"
| Along this same line was the ac-
ton of c. o. Tichenor, one Of the
deans of the legal profession in Kan
sas City. A man went to him once
and stated that he had contracted to
sell a certain piece of real estate for
a certain price, but now he could sell
it to another person for a much larger
price if he could only break the
contract Of sale he had made. He
asked Tichenor IL he could break that
contract.
'I have no doubt it might be done"
answered Tichenor.
Twill you do it for me?" asked the
man.
| WELL" said Tichenor in his pecu-
liar drawing method Of speaking, Il
could do it, but to tell you the truth
would not dare to touch It,"
"Why not?"
We'll, there's an old fellow in this
town who watches everything 1 do.
He justs keeps on my trail all the time.
and If I should do a dishonorable
thing like that the old fellow wouldn't
give me any rest at all. He'd just
keep jabbing and jabbing me until 1
couldn't even sleep.
who is that old fellow?" asked the
man.
&C. o. Tichenor is his name," an
swered Tichenor.
A lawyer who is now defending
person accused of a serious crime
said of his action in that case:
Lawyers are ex-officio members OF
the court, and they have no right In
law to refuse to defend person ac-
cused of crime when directed by the
court to represent him. In such cases
lawyer often defends a client for
whom he has no sympathy. In the
same way it is the duty of lawyer
| to take the defense Of a client who
paws him a fee for it, no matter If he
does know that the accused is guilty,
even of murder. The principle at
stake is the uniform and orderly ad-
ministration Of justice, which Is far
more important than the conviction OF
any particular person or the punish
ment Of any particular offense.
| The law presumes every person ac-
cused Of crime to be innocent until he
is proved guilty, and it Is as much the
duty of a lawyer to defend to the ut
most of his ability a person he knows
to be guilty as one he knows to be in
nocent. If any other course were fol-
lowed it would result |. great injus-
tice. Look, for instance, at the case
of Mrs. Maybrick, who was convicted
of the murder of her husband in En-
gland. The verdict Of the jury in the
case, although it decided her fate.
Imerely recorded the opinions of the
twelve men who rendered it, and did
not decide the question of her guilt
or innocence, because that crime Is
as much of a mystery now as 1t was
when done, and the British govern
ment itself admitted that there was
doubt when it paroled Mrs. May.
brick a few years ago after she had
served many years in prison.
Look at the Beecher-Tilton contro-
versy. too. The long trial in that case
did not locate the full truth to the
satisfaction of the public. And the
ljury that convicted the assassin OF
Garfield and declared that he was
sane did not tell the truth. Every
one knows now that he was insane.
"And so I say that for the sake OF
the general principle involved a law
yer should give every effort to the de-
fense of an accused person, whether
he knows or not that he is guilty. y
Kansas City Star.
The Turkey-trot In Russia.
What is all this pother about art,