Some Delights of the Legal Profession, of North Carolina. After the war he prac ticed law until he was called again into political life. He had on one occasion a client who was indicted for maiming', the specific charge being that the defendant had bitten off the ear of the prosecutor. The case came on for trial and the outcome of it was not very promising for the defendant. While the defence was still being adduced the defendant leaned over and whispered in the ear of his attorney, saying, "Call Jack Deans." "Who is Jack Deans?" asked the ex-Governor, not being acquainted with that person. "There he is." said the defendant, indicating the man, who had come into the court house, as a spectator. "He was there; he saw the whole thing." Thereupon in a short while Jack Deans was duly called and put upon the witness stand in behalf of the defendant. "ow, Mr. Deans," said the ex-Governor, after some preliminary ques tions, "you sav that you know the defendant and that you were present at the time of the alleged assault by him on the prosecutor. Tell us what you saw of that occurrence." "Well, I was coming 'long the road, said the witness, "and I seen 'em gitting up out of the dirt, but I didn't see the defendant hit the prosecutor and I didn't see him kick him, and I didn't see him bite his ear off." "You were in plain view of the parties and you say you did not see any of these things?" asked the ex-Governor, with an expanding chest. "Yes," said the witness. Then the Solicitor took a hand in the business. "Now, Mr. Deans," said he, "you have told the Governor all that you did not see of this assault; please tell me what you did see of it." "Well," said the witness, squirming in his chair and hesitating a long time before pro ceeding, "it's so I didn't see the defendant bite off the prosecutor's ear, but jest as I got abreast of him I seen him spit the ear out of his mouth." That was enough for the prosecution and a great deal more than enough for ex-
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Governor Vance, who always enjoyed a joke on himself and told this afterwards with great glee, saying that it had taught him never to put a witness on the stand without first having subjected him to a close ex amination. If there are humorous things in the prac tice there are those which are tragic also. It often happens that the practitioner finds himself face to face with a terrible tragedy in life resulting from infirmities in the law. For illustration, take the case of a boy about twelve years of age who was indicted for murder in the State of New Jersey about the year 1828. That was a case of a little negro named [ames Guild, who was charged with the murder of an old lady about sixty years of age. The circumstances of the case were substantially as follows: The old lady, who had been left alone in her house, was found in a dying condition in one of its rooms late one afternoon, and her head was so battered as to make it certain that she had been assaulted by somebody who had wielded a heavy instrument. This instrument, as it turned out afterwards, was a horse yoke, which of course was of considerable size and weight. There was at first great mystery as to the perpetrator of the deed, but it de veloped that in the course of the afternoon the boy Guild had been seen in the vicinity of the house, which was a detached one about two hundred yards distant from any other, and suspicion fastened on him. He was a precocious boy, well developed, illiter ate, profane, shrewd in worldly matters, but had never attended Sunday school, and was absolutely lacking in education of his moral or religious qualities. So an inquisitor went to work on this boy and tried to pump Out of him some information about the murder. Some threats were made to him, as to the consequences of his refusing to admit the act, which might have produced terror in the mind of any child of that age. For instance, a remark was made to him that "it would be a pity to hang so fine a boy." He
