Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-10-09

for the public good. 1t was felt tina
a conviction would not only put I;
stop to the abuse in question, bu
have similar. effect on other similar
offenders. l knew, however, that Iay
motives would be questioned and wa.
not surprised when it was >rumoreC
that the case was being brought tc
trial for political purposes, the de-
fendant being candidate for a high
state office. Any one who engages
in reform work must expect all kinds
of unjust criticism and trouble.
The state humane officer was noti-
fled, but sent word that he could not
attend the trial nor render any help.
Although there seemed no doubt of
winning the case, in order to make
assurance doubly sure the writer at
tempted to retain the services of Ka-
lispells two leading lawyers. Both
refused, saying they would not think
of appearing in court against another
lawyer, the accused being also an
attorney. One of these lawyers, who
was considered the most brilliant le-
gal light in northwestern Montana
and held high city and state offices,
was drunk at the time of our inter
view and with maudlin earnestness
assured me over and over that the
accused was friend of his. AL
though the experience was unpleas-
ant, | felt that / was learning some
thing about law and lawyers.
Several witnesses were subpoenaed
on both sides of the case. The star
witness for the state was a drinking
man and as intoxication at the time
of the trial would render his testi-
mony worthless, care was taken to
see that he had no chance to imbibe
of the flowing bowl on the day of
the trial. When put on the witness
stand, however, this man was badly
ratified and greatly feared that the
lawyers would get him confused on
cross-eXamination and that he might
be led to contradict himself. He
therefore testified with such extreme
caution, telling only what incidents
he could remember with absolute dis
tinctness, that the force of his testi-
mony was largely lost. His hesitancy
and evident reluctance to make state
ments made it appear that he might
not be telling straight story. This,
the justice afterwards informed me,
was the weakest feature of the state s
case.
Knocking down the horse in ques-
tion seemed to be favorite diver
sion of the. defendant, who would
then beat the fallen animal unmerci-
fully with club or anything else that
happened to be handy, on one occa-
sion shoveling snow and ice over, him.
The horse was sometimes whipped
until the skin was cut open and the
blood trickled down his legs.
This, however, does not constitute
criminal cruelty, in the minds of a
Montana judge and jury, nor in the
minds of the average citizen, it ap-
peared. In the course of the trial
the witnesses on both sides accused
each other of similar cruelty to that
of which the defendant was accused,
Such is life in the west. not the land
described by writer's of western stor-
les, where the men are kind and gen
tie, but the real thing.
Most of the lawyers of the city ral-
lied to the defense of their accused
comrade, giving their services gladly
as a labor of love. Tho writer will
think twice before bringing another
case against a member of the legal
fraternity, whose motto seems to be
to defend each other under any and
all circumstances
The argument used in his particu-
lar case was that the maltreated
horse was an outlaw and could only
be managed by treating him after the
manner of the defendant. A man
testified that he had worked the
horse for months and had never had
any trouble whatever, no whipping or
severe treatment of any kind being
required. This was plainly the fact
in the case, but was disregarded in
the decision, which was that the state
had failed to prove the charges o.
cruelty. The state attorney conduct
ed the trial in a half-hearted mar
ner and with evident reluctance,
merely going through the form be-
cause forced to do so by his position.
If the accused had been some poor
homesteader or lumberjack, instead
of prominent politician, lawyer and
state official, the case might have
been conducted different'y and wculd
undoubtedly have resulted in convic-
tion instead of acquittal.