It is often alleged against juries that they are very stupid at times in their " finding," and there is certainly a good deal of truth in the allegation. The fine language sometimes addressed to them by the judge, utterly incomprehensible to men of their condition in life, and the long speeches of counsel, " throwing dust in their eyes " and draw ing specious and unwarrantable inferences, are often more than anything else the cause of wrong verdicts. We have a good example as to how this was felt, even in ancient times, recorded in a scarce little work called " A Guide to Jurymen," printed in 1 560. " A certain man of the jury, when the case was over so far as the examination of witnesses went, rose and humbly prayed a boon of his lordship. ' Say thy say, man,' quoth the judge. The boon was that now he and his fellows had heard all that could be in fact alleged, they might fall to, and come to their opinion, or ever they were confused by the long and tiresome talk of counsellors. The judge sharply rebuked the silly man for his vanity, and after large discourse did sum up all the same case with many long words, and did afterwards greatly fine the same jury for that they brought in a verdict different from his conceit of the case, whereat all laughed heartily save the honest man who had begged the boon."
decent SDeatfjrf. Major Nathan Weston, who died at his resi dence in this city November 11, came from a distinguished Maine family, his father having been Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of that State for many years. He was a graduate of Bowdoin College, and chose the law as a profession, which he followed with success both in his native State and in this city, until he retired from active practice. During the Mexican War he served as a paymaster in the army, being attached to the forces under General Taylor, and was present at the battle of Monterey and Buena Vista. In early and middle life he filled many responsible posi tions in the gift of the Democratic party in his native State. He was an uncle of Chief-Justice Fuller of the United States Supreme Court, and was a gentleman of high intellectual attainments and strict integrity.
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Lewis C. Cassidy was born in New York City, Oct. 17, 1829, and died suddenly at his home in Philadelphia, Nov. 18, 1889. After graduating at the Philadelphia High School he studied law in the office of Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster, and was admitted to the bar Nov. 7, 1849. When barely of age he served one term as a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania; in 1856 he discharged the duties of District Attorney of Philadelphia for about a year pending the election contest in the courts which resulted in favor of his opponent; and from 1883 to 1887 he was Attorney- General of Pennsylvania. With these exceptions his life was devoted to his private practice, and he died after a profes sional career of forty years. His early practice was in the criminal courts, and for a generation he ranked as the undisputed leader of the Philadelphia Bar in that branch of practice, and as one of the leading criminal lawyers of the country. No man relied less upon inspi ration or more upon hard work. His preparation of every case, great or small, was careful, pains taking, and exhaustive. With a tall and commanding figure, clear, wellmodulated, anti telling voice, forcible and im pressive delivery, powerful with court and jury, having rare skill in cross-examination, and con summate tact in the conduct of a trial, he was a nisi-prius lawyer whose equal it would be difficult to find at any bar. He was recognized in the profession as an authority on medical jurisprudence; and among the many notable cases in which he was engaged to conduct the examination and cross-examination of medical experts was the Malley murder case, tried at New Haven in 1882. His appointment to the Attorney-Generalship called forth much adverse criticism from those who knew him only as a criminal lawyer. How completely he silenced his critics and met the expectations of his friends, is part of the history of his State. As her representative he conducted with success cases of the greatest magnitude against some of the ablest and best-equipped lawyers of the country. He completely refuted the charge that he was great in criminal cases only, and upon retiring to private life he became leading counsel for some of the largest corpora tions, and until his death was engaged in the most important civil business. To the highest
