Connecticut western news., 1911-10-19
JERuSHA WINS
Gallant Jury Favors Lady in Breach
 of Promise Suit

or HromtSe Sult
 The Town Hall was filled with an audience that tested It's capacity, Mon day evening, when the Mock. Trial Court convened to try the breach of promise suit brought by Mrs. Jerusha Rugg Perkins, a respectable boarding house keeper. against a local printer, for tritiing with her affections. It was a sensational case, tried before jury, and the eminent responsibility of the whole town was extensively represented in the court room.
 Judge George W. Ford presided with becoming dignity; Joseph L. Parsons, as clerk of the court, administered the most terrifying oaths to the jury and witnesses as serenely as if oaths had always been his strongest weakness Henry H. Scutt, as court crier, cried as usrily as huckster in the strawberry season Henry R. Whitford, in the capacity of court officer, wielded the mallet like wood-chopper and pre- served order in sturdy and strenuous fashion. The prosecuting attorney was Col. A. V. Newton, of Worcester, Mass, a professional instigator of similar quarrels all over the country. Defend ants attorney-ah the attorney for the defense; Ladies and gentlemen, we have the honor of introducing the Hon. J. Clinton Roraback, attorney for the defense. He handled his case in a masterly manner; bullyragged the wit nesses in artistic fashion, split hairs with the judge, and summed up the evidence with 8 degree of eloquenoe that would have driven the orators of ancient Greece to drink.
 The plaintiff, Jerusha Rugg Perkins. (Mrs. Frank Hitchcock,) was easily the star of the performance, acting the character with a naturalness and ludi- crous seriousness that kept the hoase convulsed all the time she was on the stand, and her story of alleged perfdy, cap sheafed with good cry" not ouly won the audience over, but created a profound sensation in the jury box and cooked the defendants goose. The plaintiff, as well as the other lady wit nesses, was garbed to fit the part. (For fuller descrii Tion see Harper's fashion notes for August, l849)
 Mrs. Minnie VanDeusen Adam. wit ness for the plaintiff, scored a decided hit by her irresistible mannerisms and the lugubrious earnestness of her testi- monY, which evoked many an outburst of hearty laughter. Mrs. Victor Coe, defendants witness, handsomely sus- tained her reputation as a cute and clever amateur actress, and won a large share of credit for the success of the performance, by her bewitching graces and intelligent appreciation of the re- quir ements of her role.
 Ivanhoe Scott, Bert Brewer and Dr. George Corwin. witnesses, gave their testimony in a straightforward manner, with business-like directness, and were apparently as much at home on the stage as if acting were their second nature. The jurors were G. W. Parsons, G. l.. EhTSOuS. Sllf0I SdIICIg CI00 Oo"Syy A. P. Briggs, George P. Strong, William O. Bullock, Sam. Stodden, George Wood, Jr., William A. Wright, N. E. Lawton, Nat. Storms, who answered to such distinguished names as William H. Taft, J. Pierpont Morgan, Theodore Roosevelt, John L. Sullivan, John D. Rockefeller, etc.
 After the evidence was all in, and the distinguished attorneys had made their 1mpassioned pleas. Judge Ford delivered a charge to the jury, in which, for bald gard for the merits of the case, bare faced perversion of law, defiant assump l tion of supreme authority and tyranni. cal, prejudiced contempt for the first principles of justice. he actually out Forded himself and forced a verdict even more damnable than any that he ever pronounced in his own hope to. die court. AS a result, the jury, after being out just long enough to discover that there wasn't corkscrew, a cigarette nor stick of chewing gum in the party. returned finding for the plaintiff, and the luckless defendant was stung to the tune of $3.48.
 The Kensington Club of the Metho. dist church, under whose auspices the ! trial was tried, netted a handsome sum for It's treasury.
 Winsted B. M. A.