Evening journal., 1912-12-30
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
David B. Hills Notable Argu-
ment in a Famous Case
By Holland.

BY Holland.
"As able an address made by a
lawyer to bench Of judges as /
ever heard was the argument that
was made by David b. Hill TO the
Court Of Appeals of New York State
upon the appeal made by the counsel
OF MolineauX, convicted of murder in
the first degree. to set aside that ver-
dict and order a new trial." said John
Clinton Gray, associate justice of the
New York Court of Appealss, to me
recently.
Governor Hill was retained by the
district attorney of the county OF New
York to represent the State in oppo-
sition to the appeal in behalf of
Molineux.
1.-TWO or three years earlier he had
completely abandoned political actiy-
ity and had announced that for the
rest of his life he should devote him
self exclusively to the practice of the
law Some of the very able lawyers
Of the State who knew something Of
Governor Hills professional attain
ments were certain that he would gain
not only a large. but profitable
practice II was expected that he
would appear frequently both before
the Court of Appeals of New York
State and before the Supreme Court
at Washington.
II was recognition of his attain
ments as a lawyer rather than his
prominent career as Governor of New
York for eleven years and as United
States Senator and prominent candi-
date for the Presidency which led the
district attorney of New York county
to retain Governor Hill to represent
the State In the Molineux appeal
case.
81 remember well how impressive
the occasion was when our court
reached the MOlineux case. For ex-
pedient reasons we were holding the
session Of the court at Buffalo instead
of at Albany Molineuxs friends
had retained John c. Milburn,
lawyer of highly-deserved reputation,
who has since that time increased it.
THE case itself was one of great
solemnity and the highest import.
ance The trial of MolineuX for al
legged murder was one Of the cele-
brated cases of the day. It has passed
into tradition. There were extraor-
dinary features in the case The per-
son for whose murder Molineux was
tried was a woman whom he never
knew, never saw and. presumably,
never heard Of But the State claim
ed that poison alleged 10 have been
sent by MOlineuX to an enemy, who
was a b0arder in this wOman's house,
was by mistake given to. her. Her
death, under the law. was murder in
case il were proved that Molineux
maliciously sent the poison to an
other person The chief question at
issue was whether the testimony
tending to show that Molineux had
caused this poison to be sent with
malicious purpose TO an enemy did
sufficiently establish the fact
81 knew. the moment ] took my
seat upon the bench. that the court
was TO listen to very impressive and
very able argument Both Goveror
Hill and Mr.. Milburn revealed that
peculiar, indefnable manner which
convinces a bench OF judges that the
counsel are very deeply interested in
the case and look upon their personal
regulations as somewhat at stake I'm
the outcome of the cases
Mr.. Milburn made a strong argu-
ment II was one Of the best I ever
heard. and it was especially strong
because he confined himself almost
entirely to the vital point i'm the case
or what he believed to be the vital
point
Governor Hill began his argument
in clear, although low, tones Of voice
He was clearly mentally excited and
stimulated / could see the intelec-
tual fire in his eye | realized that
he had been completely absorbed by
the case He went on without a sim
gle rhetorical flourish in his argu-
ment Each sentence was brief COM
pact and absolutely lucid. There
was not q hint Of passion pr of senti-
ment in the address But here were
marsheled legal fact and precedent
with mastery precision. bringing the
whole address to a climax that was
as effective and logical as the corol-
larry OF demonstration of Euclid.
There was. however. one defect in his
argument, but it was one for which
he was not responsible He did make
it clear that the State did not err
vitally in permitting the admission OF
certain testimony which tended TO
show that Molineux had actually
sent maliciously poison to an enc
my Mr. Milhurn concentrated his
tact upon the inadmlssahility of this
testimo ny. II seemed as though Gov
ernor Hill himself knew that he had
been unable TO fortify his argument
in such a manner as to persuade the
court that improper testimony had
been admitted.
"Wc did so decide, and a new trial
was ordered for Moineux-a trial
which resulted in his acquittal And
il is an interesting facQ that former
Governor Of New York State argued
against the new trial and another
former Governor of the State, Frank
$. Black was a counsel who so tried
the second case as to secure YER
dict of acquittal. But although Gov
ernor Hills argument was, SO far as
the decision is concerned, a failure.
yet standing by itself and in the recol-
lection Of the judges who heard the
argument It was unquestionably one
of the greatest arguments ever deliv-
cred before our Court of Appeals, at
least I'm a criminal case
Tomorrow Mr. Edwards will tell
How Confederate Sharpshooters
Tried to Kill President Lincoln"