The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1915-12-16
THE JEFFERSONIAN


Therefore if your Honor please it does
not matter what some member of Congress
may have thought or what Congress itself
may have thought, or failed to think; it
cannot change the rule of construction.
Congress cannot make or unmake the die
tionary, or change the meaning of words,
the relation they bear to one another.
Congress had no right, and made no at
tempt, to change language The law die
uonary, or the literary dictionary will show
that the words have the same meaning.
The addition of the word filthy added
nothing whatever to the real meaning.
Gentlemen Of the Jury:
The defendant in this case entered into
the trial of it with the presumption that
he would be considered innocent until
proven guilty; that he would be treated as
a respectable man until proven to be other
wise. And it was not for the prosecution
Of course to decide which he was. That
was for you
Judge then, on yesterday evening. how
great was the defendants utter surprise
and establishment, when he had to sit
in Court, in the presence of members of
his family, of his blood relatives, of men
who have been his lifelong friends, and
hear the foullest tongue flashing, as if de-
PENDANT were a hog-thief One Of de-
spicable character, degenerate Never
tlon of his case by prosecuting counsel.
Think Of the language he used
used by the young gentleman who
spoke yesterday; young man, as you all
know, young enough to be my son. He
alluded to the defendant every time as
this man; the tone being as offensive
as the style of reference. This man.,
whose mind ''reeked with sensualfty," and
who had 'prostituted his genius
FUt yourself in nv nlacp ''prOCtit,toAt''
The Yilest thing that we can say of wo-
man is that she prostitutes. The vilest
thlng We can say Of man is, he prosu-
tutes.
This young Assistant District Attorney
asked you to give this man" this de-
generate, the same sort Of verdict that
was given to some other man, during this
term of court; and he alluded to that
case, to which he had no right to refer,
because that man, he says, used a certain
word; and he flung that nasty word in
your faces, insulting your ears with it.
vile word which no gentleman ever uses.
A non-speakable vile word, so much that it
Is outlaWed in all Of the Dictionaries You
speakable, vile word, SO much that it is
outiawed in all Of the dictionaries. You
won't md it in any of them: it is
a vile word, 1t is a yellow dog word.
According to him, some loW-down man
wrote letter to a woman, and used that
horrible word IN tnat letter, and he COM
pared mo to that man, and that mans
language, and asked you to give ME what
jury gave him, and to put me where I
could not do any more harm. That kind
OF spirit is the spirit of moccasin; a
man who would wish me that, would like
to put me about five feet under the ground,
in hole, about six feet long and two feet
WIde-that's the real spirit of it.
Consider the very peculiar circum-
stances surrounding this prosecution It is
matter of legitimate comment for me to
refer to anything that has happened in
your hearing, and in your sight during
this trial, and to what has been proven,
and what was objected to when offered in
proof.
Now, lets consider here is a man, the
defendant at the bar who according to
the Governments own witness, the ex-
postmaster at Thomson, who had known
him forty years. He testifies that defend
ants books are of an exceptionally high
character; books that have been read by
the Governments witness Those books
range over largely historical books, large
hiOCro DhipaJ Cnpjn1O0icaI