Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-08-15
BARROW IN PLEA
IN OWN DEFENSE
Accused Attorney Denounces
Men He Charged Plotted
to Ruin Him.

Los Angeles. Aug. 15.-ClarenCe S.
1 Darrow pleaded yesterday for his own
/ liberty, reputation and possibly life, in
his trial for alleged jury bribery.
II was the most dramatic moment
or a fong trial. replete with thrilling
incidents, when Darrow faced the jury
in the afternoon at the conclusion of
the argument of Earl Rogers, chief
counsel for the defense, to make the
final plea in his own behalf.
/ At the outset he informed the jury
that he would not appeal 70 their SYM
. pathies, against which they had been
warned by the district attorney, and
there was no note of supplication in
| his opening remarks. Instead, the
Chicago lawyer poured torrents of
wrath and denunciation upon those
whom he declared had plotted to de-
/ stroy him.
From an arraignment of his enemies.
Mr.. Darrow went briefly into his-ca-
reer as friend OF the working class,
and thence into an analysis of the evil
dence produced against him to prove
the charge that he had bribed George
y. Lockwood, a prospective juror in
/ the Mcnamara case.
The unique spectacle Of the accused
attorney pleading for himself attra Ct
| ed hundreds to the court room and
( during the noon recess the bailiffs
were forced TO ask the sheriff for as,
sistance. There was a mad rush for
the room when the doors were opened
and men and women alike were rough.
/ ly handled by the officers in an effort
/ TO preserve order.
/ Darrow declared he was not being
prosecuted for bribery. but because he
had led in the battle for organized
! labor
Il have committed one crime" he
said, which is like the crime Against
/ the Holy Ghost, which cannot be for.
given. have stood for the weak and
the poor. | have stood for the men
who toll. And therefore | have stood
against them. Now is their chance"
The enemies Of labor. he charged,
had long sought to get him out OF the
way
They would stop my voice. which
from the time ! was a babe my father
and mother taught me never to raise
except for justice and freedom and in
the cause of the weak and the poor
They would stop it with the peniten.
tiary.
oh. you wild. insane members Of
the steel trust and ereCtors' assoCia.
ton. Oh. you mad hounds OF detec
tiyes, who are willing 20 do YOUR mss
ter's will. Oh, you district attorneys.
You know not what you do. Let me
say that IL you can succeed in placing
me behind prison walls-within the
gray, dim walls of San Quentin-there
will breed a silence more ominous and
eloquent than any word that my Door
lips could ever frame.
And do you think that you could
destroy the hopes OF the poor and on
pressed II you did? Don't you know
that upon my persecution and destruc
ton there would arise 10000 men abler
than | have been, willing TO sacrifice
more than l have sacrificed in a right
eous cause, and those men would car
~ this banner 10 the end?"
Darrow will conclude his argument
today. District Attorney Fredericks
will then make the final argument
The prosecutor expects TO consume
the remainder OF the day and all OF
Friday.
Darrow, in resuming his argumen,
TO the jury today, launched in an at
tack upon John R. Harrington fha,
surpassed all his previous denuncia
tory assaults. He declared Harring
tons act in coming 1000 miles to lur,
him into a dictograph trap at the be
hest Of the National Erectors' associa
ton, was the most infamous thing il
the criminal annals OF the world" Pic
turing Harrington as a man who hac
eaten at his table and slept in his bee
while betraying him, he declared SO
lcng he lives, the mark OF infamy vii
be upon Harrington 5 brow and vii
even pass to his descendants"