Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1894 — A Cute Judge. [ARTICLE]

A Cute Judge.

Fifteen years ago Judge Meßweenny was u famous criminal lawyer of Bouthe/n Michigan. He was called upon to defend a young woman from the charge of having poisoned her old husband, it was a question of whether or not she had placed poison in a cake of which the old man had eaten. A portion of the cake had been analyzed by a chemist and found to contain a great deal of deadly poison. The chemist testified to this in court and other witnesses succeeded in making a chain of damaging evidence against the pretty young widow. The time came for the sum uaing-up speeches of the at orneys. The prosecution began and finished and all looked hopeless for the pioneer of the W. Judge McSweeney, the only speaker for the defenso, arose amid breathless silence. He began in a low tone to sum up the defense of the prisoner. He had been allowed an hour in which to plead hi* side of the case. He dealt with everything but the cake. It rested upon tis* table just at his right hand, where it had stood during the weary trial. Thirty minutes jessed and the people were etill motionless, charmed by the sweet eloquence of the gruff old lawyer Three-quarters of an hour passed by, then another ten minutes. 1 Wh’ n the clock o\er the big de-l told him there were but live minutes left he reached his hand out to the cake, half of which stood upon the table and broke off a i agged chunk. He held this in his hand and between sen tenues took great mouthfuls of It. During those five minutes be , airrily argued die case and ate cake. He demolished more than half of it. The chemist had tcclared that there wus enough poison in it lo kill fifty men. Th* good peopU looked at him lu nma'.sment, and th( jurors turned to each other and whisporod. McSweeney wound up his speech, took /mother chunk of cake and walked >t;icily from the court-room eating it. Ho olosed the door behind him, ran into a small room close by and locked the door. Two physicians stood ready with a stomach pump, ami In ten minutes the was all in the slop jar. Tho Jury returned a verdict of "not guilty” without leaving tne court-room.

Hon. Valentine Zimmerman i takes his defeat good naturedly and in a communication to the ltoeh ester Seutinel says: “It wit soon develop that the cause of protec tiou, like the cause of slavery, is a lost cause ''o preserve its organ izution the Republic l party will be obliged to tv.st about for new leaders and formulate uew issues the pur< ii ising of special privil eges aud obtaining of charters through party organization by wringing unjust taxes from the common people will soon be a tiling of the past. The prevailing infa niouu methods in American poli ics of raising corruption funds to de bnu?h the voter for securing special legislati* n, will go into hrtory side by sine with slavery and secession as a horror and a crime.

“Although we sutfered defeat, the political horizan is studded with lir.ght prospects for aglorious future. Ever since the passage of the present tariff law, the iudas tries and eommerc.i of the country have gradually adjusted them selves to the new order of things. W ith the hands of the incoming congress unable to do mischief, nud with good crops and peace, external and internal, the Ain in can people will witness a period of prosperity during the next de cade unparalleled m the history of the country.”