The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1913-01-23

ii was the trial Of Jim Sheehan.
Senator Murchel was not listening
to the speech He was intently regard
ing the set profile across the counsel
table and measuring the man he saw
there against the boyish eager and
very likeable Young man whom. al
most year before IL little boss and
big had sought ia press into their
service. John Dunmeade had grown
One saw that in the already grave, al
most sad, lines Of his face. Work and
thought and responsibility and pur
pose-and something else of which the
senator had no inkling-had set their
stamp upon him.
There had been no lack of accom-.
plishment during the five months of
office holding. To this truth eloquent
witnesses might have been called
Butch Maley and Red Bricker. al
ready serving terms in the peniten-
tiary; Slayton, q fugitive, bail forfeit
ed Brown and Parsons, free only
pending appeal; and now Sheehan. his
fate hanging in the balance. The ma
chine, Senator Murchell knew. would
be rebuilt better and stronger than
ever, but for the present it was sadly.
sadly out of gear.
He let his glance stray from John to
the defendant. Sheehan sat slouched
in his chair In an attitude that he
vainly sought to render jaunty, conf.
dent. His cheeks had fallen in slight.
ly, his eyelids were puffy and red rim
med. His mouth hung habbily. His
hands played nervously with a piece of
paper.
Whittredge, the famous lawyer
brought from Steel City to defend Shee-
han, brought his brilliant peroration to
a close. The audience relapsed into an
expectant silence, all eyes fixed on the
district attorney. For moment he
remained as he had sat throughout the
plea for the defense, motionless, lean
ing a little forward and staring tixedly
at the wall behind the judge, as though
he saw a vision.
The moment ended. He rose and
stood before the jury box, first ad-
dressing the court. He smiled gravely
at the jurors. 1t had taken a whole
days session to select them, but he
knew them and that they were well
chosen, Then the smile faded from
his lips and eyes, replaced by IA look to
which his neighbors were growing ac-
customed. He began to speak,
Gentlemen of the jury, what have
to do is not pleasant. But there is a
thing called duty"
AS the first words fell Murchell's in
,ferest leaped. He knew that he was
seeing a man mount to a climax in his
life. From the beginning the audience
was caught in the mans spell by some
thing that breathed through his voice
and that had been absent from Whit
tredge's perfervid periods. He had a
clear, flexible voice and knew how to
use 1t.
The speech had been skillfully plan.
ned At first he confined his argument
to the jury and the case at bar. Logic
ally he marshaled the evidence against
the defendant and analyzed the de-
fense. Then when he felt that he had
brought intellectual conviction to all
he began to direct his words at the au-
dience not for the telepathic effect on
the jury, but because he believed a ver-
dict of guilty would be worthless un-
less it aroused a common horror for
the crime.
Never afterward in a speech did John
reach quite the same heights as on the
afternoon when the bright blade of his
young Indignation cut into the con-
sciences of his hearers. The matter be-
came deeply personal with them. Each
man suddenly felt himself aggrieved,
felt that a shameful attempt had been
made to take advantage of his good
faith and trust. And then, even while
they were condemning Sheehan. John
seemed to arraign them. He set them
to asking the question, What part have
i In. this crime? Such offenses are pos
sible only among a people asleep.
They were both aggrieved and aggres-
sors.
Senator Murchell sat to all outward
seeming impassiye. He listened, as as
tonished as the rest but with under
standing and-he was himself amazed
to mark it-sadly. For he read in the
ardent face and words a passion for a
hopeless ideal. So much power, he
thought. going TO waste! For he
knew, better than did those who pos
sessed it, the power of moral passion
controlled-but always properly con-
trolled! Was there not some way to
bind this force to his interest?
Bribery at the polls and Justification
of election returns. familiar weapons
of machine politics. so long used that
they had ceased to arouse horror and
revolt in the careless. calloused hearts
of the people. were Johns text. They
explained the continuance of the ma
chine in power They shed a bright
light. too. on the so called genius Of
certain political leaders at which men
marveled as at some miraculous mani.
festation of gOdlike mind-it was not
gQniua merely crude primitive diRhOn-