The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-14

The recent death of JAMES W. Os-
BORNE, whose service in the District
Attorneys Office took up about twenty
years of his very active career, must
have been reminder to New York
ers who have passed their youth that
one Of the old sources of public in
terest seems practically to have dis
appeared. We refer to the trials of
mysterious murder cases which came
in almost unbroken procession in the
9Os and the first two or three
years of the present century. OF
course there are still mysterious muir
ders and trials therefor. but the old
ster who used to be sure that he could
find diversion by going to a New
York court and sitting through a case
distinguished not only in the qualities
Of the crime itself but for the legal
struggle among lawyers of keen minds
and quick wits-well, perhaps that
oldster goes to the movies now and
takes from the screen weak substi-
tute for the excitement which once
came to him directly from the voices.
faces and actions of living men and
women.
The period in which Mr.. OSBORNE
had the fortune to play a considerable
part was peculiarly an era of dark
tragedy and thrilling days in court.
In this town the succession ran from
the Carlyle Harris case down to the
trial Of PATRICK for the death of WILL
| IAN MARSH RICE, with the Molineux
| case as the greatest of all the sensa-
lions; while in other parts of Amer
lea there were the Borden murder,
the Cronin mystery and the trial OF
BIRcHALL for the killing of BENwELL.
In all these cases there was a combi-
nation of interesting features: the
mystery Of the crime itself, the char
acter of the victim or the accused, the
difficulty of detection, the methods of
the police and finally the drama tic
conflict of prosecutor and defender.
These were the items which drew
crowds to court houses. 1t is true
that there were throngs at the Thaw
trial, but that was a proceeding far
| removed from the cases to which we
refer; for the Thaw case was a. mys-
| terry only in that so much scandal
could come of It,
One reason why the public is no
longer attracted by the purely dra-
matte aspect of murder trials may be
| that the practise of the criminal law
appears to have lost that fascination
which 1t once held for American law
yers of the most intelligent type.
Some of our best lawyers of the pres
ent day are occasionally seen in a
! criminal court, but 1t is because they
have conscientiously volunteered to
defend an impecunious defendant at
the request of the Judge. A glance
at the cases in which Mr.. OSBORNE
was concerned, whether in small
role or large one, shows the names,
on both sides of the trial, of lawyers
distinguished either for really fine
ability or remarkable acuteness.
| When CARLYLE w. HARRIS was tried
in 1891 for the poisoning of his wife.
HELEN PoTTs, the People were repre-
sented In court by DE LANcEY NIcoL1,
then District Attorney; FRANCIS L.
I WELLMAN and JOHN r. MCINTYRE.
while the prisoners counsel included
WILLIAM TRAvERs JEROME and WILL
lam II. HOWE. Two years later, when
DIR. ROBERT BUCHANAN came to trial
for a similar crime, NIcoLL, WELL
MAN and OSBORNE were the prosecu-
tors and BUCHANAN had as counsel
the picturesque CHARTS W. BROOKE
and the suddenly famous DR.. WILLIAM
J. o'SULLIyAr. an authority on medi-
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