The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-13

permitted to say so-extraordinary men even in that community of ex- traordinary manhood. It might have
 escaped the attention of even the gentlemen themselves, but he now asked them to note that they made a
 body which would be a valuable ad- d1tion to any military company or to any athletic association. Whatever accompanying intelligence this physi- cal development carried with 1t, 1t surely carried with it a certain senti- mental susceptibility. As men, now that he had called their attention to this fact, he asked them to put their Judgment in charge over their emo- t1ons, and in their duty to the state to rise superior to such influence.
 The young and beautiful witness of whom he was speaking was in her way quite as unusual a physical spec 1men as any member of the jury; she was also very intelligent. She was old enough to know what a blight the alleged inherited tendency in the prisoner would be in a husband vet, fully informed as she was, that blight became no bar to their intended mar r1age. One might attribute that to a quixotic willingness for self-sacrifice on the part of an infatuated girl; but what of the uncle, her guardian? MT. Brookheld was not an emotional par ty; on the contrary, he was a man Of wonderful possession, man of wide experience, a man skilled in es- timating men; he was, moreover. Kentucktan enough to understand the value Of hereditary qualities, the value of sound progenitOrs and their rela- tion to possible progeny. How had this alleged mental taint affected him or his decision to give his niece to the prisoner in marriage? Not at all. Even this killing, for which the pris- oner stood on trial as the alleged consequence of this mental trait, had In no wise altered his decision to per- init his lovely niece to become the wife of this defective person!
 The jury must be forced to the con- self arrived: the friends and acquaint- ances of the prisoner regarded his mental affliction, if mental afflic- ton really existed, and as of only sunieaent importance to serve as an excuse in the evasion of the law. That It was a trivial and insufficient excuse he had no doubt the serious men to whom he addressed himself would at once perceive.
 But assume that the speaker was mistaken; assume that this terrible plight, fraught with such heart-rend- ing consequences, really was there: assume that 1t was ineradicabIe, that It mad existed in grandmother, had been transmitted to- her daughter, had now, Tn turn. been transmitted to a. son. when was this fatal heritage to cease? If the jury found the young man not guilty of the crime of which ne had been charged, if in their wis., oom they were to set him at liberty, d1d any of them doubt that the mar rage planned between the prisoner and this emotional girl would take place? Would verdict of insanity be truly mercifu1? Would 1t be an act of kindness to the young man himself? Would it be "a chivalrous generosity to the young woman to make it possible for these two to be joined in wedlock? Would it not only reap the whirlwind?
 That, however, was its very narrow est consideration, the consideration of these two. What of the wider con s1derat1on, the protection of the com munity. that duty for which this jury had been assembled, that first and most important duty which they had sworn to discharge? For his own part, Hardmuth failed to see that the jury in their choice were not between the horns of a dflemma-either this disposition to emotional insanity did not exist, in which case it was not a valid plea in his defence, or it did ex- tst, in which case it was all the great CT reason to protect the community against the prisoner and his kind.
 With this presentation of his case. Hardmuth closed.
 There was a murmur n the corrt- room ominously like approval. There was stir in the iury-box. and a dis position on the part of the jurymen to look at the judge or at the attorneys Tor the state rather than into the races or the little group that repre- scented the defence.
 Colonel Bailey, for the prisoner. made an able ad hominem appeal. He made an able review of the expert testicony. He made a strong plea for the reasonable doubt that any jury man might entertain, but there was in the courtroom a subtle atmosphere impressang all that the task of the defence was uphill work.
 More formidable than any testf- mony. more baneful than any evidence for the prosecution, was the stolid. animal, earthly quality of the jury which Hardmuth had so shrewdly se- cured and counted on. The only mo- uceable ef1ect upon them had been Hardmuth, with his knowledge of human nature, partly instinctive, largely acquired, had skilfully offset that efect by dwelling upon the in1- pending marriage of Viola and the prisoner.
 Deep in the composition of every normal healty man there is a survival or the primitive animal, a survival of the instinct that formerly made the male ct every species belligerent at the sight of any female of that species taken by another male It is a sub- structural if a melancholy fact that few bridegrooms in public weddings have tho sincere and unrestrained well-wishes and admiration of the male members of the congregatiori. It is a fact known to most attorneys skilled in the practice Of the criminal law that no jury of men however brutal themselves or inclined to like onences, can be found to sympathize with a prisoner charged with the forcible appropriation of a woman. This is not due to the jury's individ- ual or collective stock of virtue so much as to the survival of fine and primitive animal egoism.
 Upon this instinct Hardmuth had relied; it's deep current he had skill fully touched and stirred. A major ity of the jury were unreasonab1y. immovably antagonistic to the pris- oner.
 The closing speech for the prose- cution was short. The jury retired. Word came from their room that there was little pospect of an agree ment at 10 o'clock that night, and the court, which had taken a recess, adjourned. until the following morn ing, leaving the members of the household to a night of suspense.
 The verdict in the morning was vvyic ffrr~