White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1926-01-22
CONTINUED from Last Week.
CHAPTER IT
-L -.:-i r. IzL A,,.L,II

The Trial of John Marshall
1t had been a terrible week for
Mary. Terence had not returned.
Her faith in him was unshattered, but
her heart was heavy with fears that
he had been killed in an accident, or
by bandits. Taggart had obtained a
warrant for his arrest, but the sher.
ifs men had been unable to find
any trace of Terence.
Weighed down with worries over the
crisis faced by her sick and broken
spirited father, whom she visited
each day in prison, in addition to
fears for her missing lover, she was
in frantic state. Taggart continued
to pursue her with his advances, and
while she managed to put him off
she had to try not to offend him, for
SO much would depend upon the de-
Tense he would put up as her fathers
lawyer.
Taggart strove to raise himself in
her favor, by having his men bring
the cattle back to the ranch from the
pothole where they had been dry
gulched, telling her he had led a ter
rife battle with the cattle rustlers.
Finally the crucial day arrived
the day of the trial.
1t was a day of torture for Mary.
The courtroom was crowded. All
eyes were fixed on John Marshall
the prisoner, looking weak, weary and
hopeless, sitting under guard of a
deputy sheriff. Mary sat close by
tried to look confident, and to cheer
him up. She studied the stern face
of the judge, and the expressionless
faces of the jury, tensely listening to
the arguments. All seemed hostile to
her. Even the spectators, it seemed,
sided with the prosecution.
The weary hours passed - the
wranglings of the lawyers, the drone
of arguments, the examining of wit
nesses, and heated crossquestioning
the rapping of the judges gavel fol
order-all the dreary routine oil
Justice in operation.
Taggart concluded his defense oil
Marshall, after a weak fight, and sal
down beside Mary and her father.
II have done all that l could" he
told Mary. eve can only wait hope
fully now"
She sobbed, and said nothing.
The prosecutor, sharp-featured
man with a quick and convincing
tongue, was addressing the jury
] Ferociously he assailed every argu
ment of the frail defense Taggart hat
put up. His words fell like hammer
blows upon Mary, and her hope KEEP
sinking and sinking. Her fathers face
was pale and haggard, as he listened
to the prosecutors denunciation
The end was near. The prosecute
was shouting in a high, shrill voice
The jurors hung on his words.
1.-THE defense has told you tina
John Marshall shot in self-defense-
to protect his own life," the prosecu
tor was saying Nov, in conclusion
gentlemen, let me ask you just on,
question. In the answer to that ques
ton, which you will form in your owl
minds, you should find the basis fol
your verdict.
"The question is this-if the stor,
told by the defense were true-if the
killing of Black Benwell was justified
as they have sought to prove-the1
why, gentlemen, why did this man
and he pointed an accusing finger u
Marshall, picture of despair where
be sat beside Mary, her own eyer
fearful, but flashing defiance at thu
prosecutor, and trying vainly to com
: for her father
"Why did John Marshall" the
/ prosecutors voice shrilled on, his
finger shaking at the prisoner, "flee
into hiding from the law for ffteer
years?"
He halted, to allow the full effec
of his master stroke to fall upon the
courtroom. The spectators stirred
with hushed excitement-the jury
looked more tense than ever. Conf
dent he had scored, the prosecutor
resumed:
THE State rests its case in your
hands, gentlemen, with the demand
that the defendant expiate his crime
by the death penalty!"
The tense excitement in the room
subsidized in a degre as the prosecu
tor took his seat, and the gray-headed
judge arose and droned out his
charge to the jury, summing up the