Some Missouri " Yarns"
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records. The court said that the principle involved was unsettled in this State, and somewhat resembled the evidence on which the McPeek Case was taken to the Supreme Court." In comparison with such evidence, ordi nary evidence assumes something of the character of hearsay, and the eyes of the jurors constitute the best channel of evi dence. It is true that the eye itself may be deceived. It is often cheated by avowed jugglery. There are some eyes that are not good witnesses, as those that are short- or farsighted or color-blind. The same is true of the ear, as where it is deceived by ventrilo quism, or when it is insensible to music. When Raleigh overlooked the affray from the Tower window, he was surprised by the discrepancy between the accounts given by other spectators; but what would have been the result if only hearsay evidence had been accepted? The rule laid down by Shakspeare for love-cases, and the non-observance of which proved so disastrous in the case of Henry Eighth and his " Flanders mare," is good for law-cases : —
cation. To prove that this was probable, Dr. Andress was called as an expert. He had a large package which he fondly handled, and while telling his story, un wrapped. He said that on January 9 he visited New York, and procured a head taken fresh from the body of a man sixty years old. Returning to Sparta, he fastened it on an apparatus resembling a human body, the whole weighing about ninety pounds. This was dropped from an angle of forty-five degrees, the skull striking a round stone. It was fractured worse than that of Morris, although he weighed one hundred and eighty pounds. The prosecution were so surprised they forgot to object; and before any one knew what was coming, the shrunken and ghastly trophy of medical experiment rolled on the floor. The effect was electrical. Women shrieked, men shrunk backward, and the court turned pale. One woman fainted, and for a few moments the room was filled with uproar, the persons in the rear striving to get a view, while those in front retreated from the grinning skull. When order was restored, the head was taken from the court, and on an objection the whole evidence was stricken from the
"Let every eye negotiate for itself, And trust no agent."
SOME MISSOURI "YARNS."
III. BY HON. WILLIAM A. WOOD. OEVERAL of Missouri's brainiest law^ yers, to get rid of the habit brought on by the conviviality of the profession, have graduated from the " Keeley Institute for Inebriates" at Dwight, III. One of the brightest of them, a few days since, tried a case against a pettifogger who, after mis representing the facts to the jury, wound up with an unkind allusion to his opponent's having taken the " Keeley cure." The ad vocate paid no attention to the personality
until he had argued his case, when he closed by saying, — "Gentlemen, it is true I have taken the 1 Keeley Cure.' I thank God for it, and I sincerely hope Dr. Keeley will discover a cure for lying, and that my opponent will have the good sense to take it." Among the early lawyers of Missouri were Judge James С • and Gen. John С , brothers, both excellent lawyers and splendid
