Part 29 (1/2)

This is how the advocate dealt with this little party in his address to the jury:--

”Gentlemen, can't you imagine the scene? Perkins, the lawyer, says to Biddulph, 'Come, now, Mr. Biddulph, you know you have had great experience in cross-examining as a county magistrate at Petty Sessions; now, cross-examine this man _firmly_, and you'll soon find he knows more than you think. If he's not the man, he's n.o.body else, you may be quite sure of that. But first of all,' says Perkins, 'what did you know of Roger? That's the first thing; let's start with that.'

”'Oh, not very much,' says Biddulph. 'He stayed at Bath once for a fortnight, while his mother was there.'

”'Pa.s.s Mr. Biddulph the champagne,' says Perkins. (Laughter.)

”'Now,' he adds, 'how did you amuse yourselves, eh?'

”'Well,' says Biddulph, 'we used to smoke together at the hotel--the--the--White something it was called.'

”'Did you smoke pipes or cigars?'

”'Well, I remember we had some curious pipes.'

”'Another gla.s.s of champagne for Mr. Biddulph,' (More laughter.) 'What sort of pipes?' asks the Claimant; 'death's-head pipes?'

”The magistrate remembered, opened his eyes, and lifted his hands.

Thus the amiable magistrate was convinced, although he said, candidly enough, 'I did not recognize him by his features, walk, voice, or twitch in his eye, but I was struck with his recollection of having met me at Bath.' The death's-head pipes settled him.

”As for Miss Brain the governess, she was of a different order from Mr. Biddulph. She told us she had listened to the defendant when he solemnly swore that he had seduced her former pupil, that he had stood in the dock for horse-stealing, and had been the a.s.sociate of highwaymen and bushrangers, and had made a will for the purpose of fraud; and yet this woman took him by the hand, and was not ashamed of his companions.h.i.+p. His counsel described her as a ministering angel.

Heaven defend me from ministering angels if Miss Brain is one!”

The Claimant, while in Australia, being asked what kind of lady his mother (the dowager Lady Tichborne) was, answered, ”Oh, a very stout lady; and that is the reason I am so fond of Mrs. b.u.t.ts of the Metropolitan Hotel, she being a tall, stout, and buxom woman; and like Mrs. Mina Jury (of Wapping), because she was like my mother.”

A witness of the name of Coyne was called to give evidence of the recognition of the Claimant by the mother in Paris, and the solicitor said to Coyne, ”You see how she recognizes him.”

”Yes,” said Coyne; ”he's lucky.”

There was no cross-examination, and Mr. Hawkins said to the jury, ”They need not cross-examine unless they like; it's a free country.

They may leave this man's account unquestioned if they like, but if it is a true account, what do you say to the recognition?”

Louie, the Dane, said that while the Claimant was on board his s.h.i.+p he amused himself by picking oak.u.m and reading ”The Garden of the Soul.”

There were several _Ospreys_ spoken to as having picked up the Claimant after the wreck of the _Bella_, and the defendant had not the least idea which one was the best to carry him safely into harbour.

The defendant's counsel, notwithstanding, had told the jury that he, Hawkins, had not ventured to contradict one or other of the stories of the wreck, and had not called the captain of the _Osprey_ which had picked him up.

Comment on such a proposition in advocacy would be ridiculous. Mr.

Hawkins dealt with it by an example which the reader will remember as having occurred in his early days:--

”'We don't know which _Osprey_ you mean.' 'Take any one,' says the defendant's counsel, reminding me of the defence of a man charged with stealing a duck, and having given seven different accounts as to how he became possessed of it, his counsel was at last asked which he relied on. 'Oh, never mind which,' he answered; 'I shall be much obliged if the jury will adopt any one of them.'

”You remember, gentlemen, the touching words in which the defendant's counsel spoke of Bogle: 'He is one of those negroes,' said he, 'described by the author of ”Paul and Virginia,” who are faithful to the death, true as gold itself. If ever a witness of truth came into the box, that witness was Bogle.'

”Well, you have seen him--Old Bogle! What do you think of him? Was there ever a better specimen of feigned simplicity than he? 'Bogle,'

cries the defendant, after all those years of estrangement, 'is that _you_?' 'Yes, Sir Roger,' answered Bogle; how do you do?'

”'Do you remember giving me a pipe o' baccy?' asks a poor country greenhorn down at Alresford. 'Yes,' answers the Claimant. 'Then you're the man,' says the greenhorn. Such was the way evidence was manufactured.