Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1894 — YOUNG LAWYER’S STRATAGEM. [ARTICLE]

YOUNG LAWYER’S STRATAGEM.

It Might Hare Worked bot for an Unexpected Incident. The following story is told of Timothy Coffin, who was for a long time Judge of the New Bedford District: When a very youßg man he was retained in a case of sufficient importance to bring out almost every resident of the town, so that the little New Bedford Court House was packed when court was opened that morning. Coffin had been secured as counsel by the defendant Although It was his first attempt in open court, he had made little or no preparation, thinking that he could get through somehow or other when the time came. Thus, when the counsel for the defendant came into court that morning he was greatly surprised, and no less agitated, to see the big crowd and realize the wide public interest in the trial at hand. He saw that he looked upon the case too lightly. The prosecution was stroDg, and he had made not even a slight preparation. To lose the case meant the loss of a hoped-for reputation. Could he afford to commit this blunder by displaying his ignorance of the case? How could he get out of it? These were a few of the questions that are known to have flashed through the young lawyer’s head, for afterward he himself told of the awful perplexity of the hour. Being a shrewd inventor, he devised a plan. As soon as the court had been called to order and the crier had said his little say, he arose and asked for a postponement of the trial, on the ground that he had just received a telegram announcing the sudden and fatal illness of his mother, who resided at Nantucket. Scarcely had the words of this appeal proceeded from the lips of young Coffin when an elderly woman quietly arose in the balcony of the courtroom and gave utterance to these words: “Timothy, Timothy, how many times have I chastised thee for lying?” Timothy recognized the sound ol that voice only too well. It was that of his mother. This being Timothy’: first public case, the old lady had secretly come up to New Bedford tr see how well her son would do. Her presence was, of course, totally unknown to him. The further developments need not be recorded here. Suffice it to say that Timothy Coffin in after years made sure that his excuses would not be thrown back at him by any member of his own family.—Boston Herald.