Evening star., 1926-12-03
BY FRANCES MOVES HART.

I
| Special Dispatch to The Star.
COURTHOUSE, SOMERVILLE. N
j., December 3.-Senator Case yester
day afternoon reined up abruptly ir
the midst of his four-hour speech anC
remarked confidentially to the jury
that 1t was almost impossible for him
to realize he was taking part in q
murder trial and not a play. It is al
most impossible for us. too, and there
have been moments for which what
are Spaciously referred to as 'the bill
lion.dollar counsel should shoulder
their full share of responsibility. We
have also had profound doubts as tc
whether we had not strayed by some
unfortunate error into political con
vention, a Christmas pantomime, 6
Fourth of July celebration or g
valedictory address at the local high
| school.
There is much to be said in favor o1
both of the speeches that have CLOSED
the case for the defense. They ha6
the great primary assets Of being pro
| foundly sincere. 1t was impossible tt
doubt for one moment that Senator
Case and Mr.. McCarter are not con
! vinced to the marrow of their bones
! and the core of their hearts of the alb
solute innocence of the three whose
lives they are defending.
Attitude Is Impressive.
That conviction is so burning tina,
II has become an emotion, something
| divorced entirely from the realm OF
| intellect and reason and translated
| into an overwhelming pity and indig
nation. They ceased to be defenders
and became crusaders. This attitude
to the detached observer, was very i'm
pressive, but it had it's drawbacks.
The rage of pity that shook Case tC
tears at the end of a genuinely NOV
ing plea and that rang in McCarter's
| voice when he told us of the wrongs
that had been done this gentle
lady," and William, who has never
even hurt bird" was not so effective
when it turned to spleen against
| dying woman, a deaf man and the en-
| tire Democratic party of the State OF
New Jersey.
If Mr.. McCarter could have remem
bered that it was the case of Stevens
Stevens and Hall VS.. the State of New
| Jersey that he was trying, and MOI
| Phillip Payne and the New York Mir
| ror-if Mr. Case could have been per
suaded that it was not a Jersey city
that was on trial for it's life, but two
men and a woman, this trial Woulc
have been over last night, we would
not be in so critical a mood, and bet
ter speeches could have been credited
to both of them.
Nor are we not disposed to over.
look lightly Mr.. McCarter's efforts to
inject humor into this trial, either.
His first playful reference to Lieut..
Walter Ciecieuch as "Choo-Choo,
brought only mild transports on our
part-his more daring variation OF 1t
to "Hoochy-Coochy," left us per-
turbed-and at his seventeenth repe-
tition of these quips, we have been,
like Queen Victoria, not amused.
McCarter's Age Stressed.
Great play has been made Of the
fact that Mr.. McCarter is 81 years old.
Senator Case became so overwrought
at the thought of the insouciance with
which Senator Simpson has treated
his aged colleague that it took him
about 10 minutes to remember that he
was wasting time in getting to his
central theme of corruption in Jer.
sew City. We ourselves regard 81
years as a very reasonable age for
LAWYER, and the principal reaction
that we got from the rosy, chubby
faced, excellently groomed Mr.. Nc
Carter initiating Marie Demarest In
high falsetto squeak and praying
God to preserve him from such
wife-imitating with a surprising lit
tie dance step, the exultant and ne
farious fingerprint experts, next day
Hip! Hip. Hooray! off for the Cat
skilis to see F'aurot-." Initiating
very badly Caprio saying, Have you
gotta da papers?' The principal re-
action, we say, we got from this, was
that If Mr.. McCarter was 67 years old
he was old enough to know better.
This is a murder trial, and even II
Mr.. McCarter has a genius Tor panto
mime and ventriloquism, we can thlnk
of more appropriate occasions to eX
ercise it. Though we admit, guilty.
that we would not willingly rellnqulsh
some of his more notable 1mperSona
tions-the unexpected metamorphoSls
into the crabapple tree during the
first day or SO of the trial; the inter
esting role, no later than Wednes
dav. of a ray Of light passing through
a lens propelled by motions of really
Delsartean grace; the Interpretation
of Willie dancing backward through
n door" as attested by Marie De
marest and executed with everything
but ballet skirts by the leader OF the
bar himself.
Jury Frankly Puzzled.
We think that Mr.. McCarter did moi
invariably gauge the psychology ol
the Jurors accurately. Possibly they
We're flattered at his remarking, -Four
wears ago-the length Of time that II
takes us to go through college-you
know how servants like to close uE
ho,,se early. We've all gone calling
on Young ladies and sent up cards oy
the butler-is Miss Simpkins al
home?-and don't believe that We've
ever left a fingerprint on a card yet,
But we have our profound douots as
80 whether the world of college anc
servants and calling cards is not ar
alien and uncoveted one to the farm
e1s. teamsters and blacksmith who
form the gentlemen of the jury. -.
Their expressions were frankly bar
eed when Philip Payne was introduced
70 them first as Mephistopheles and