. Lincoln at work : sketches from life. it at the mo-ment when the spade came cleaving downupon the head of the cattle-buyer. The court-room and everything in that had somehowvanished, and we were all in the store, stand-ing around and seeing; the murder done. Itgrew awfully vivid and exciting, and some ofthe women were almost ready to scream whenthe hit actually came; for now the spade wasup in the air at the end of the tall lawyersvery long arm, and he was about to kill thecattle-buyer, there where he stood. Gentlemen of the jury, he suddenly ex-claimed, by the sworn testimony of all thesewi
. Lincoln at work : sketches from life. it at the mo-ment when the spade came cleaving downupon the head of the cattle-buyer. The court-room and everything in that had somehowvanished, and we were all in the store, stand-ing around and seeing; the murder done. Itgrew awfully vivid and exciting, and some ofthe women were almost ready to scream whenthe hit actually came; for now the spade wasup in the air at the end of the tall lawyersvery long arm, and he was about to kill thecattle-buyer, there where he stood. Gentlemen of the jury, he suddenly ex-claimed, by the sworn testimony of all thesewitnesses, each man of them parroting thesiiine story, the murdered man stood exactlythere ! The murderer stood precisely here ! He struck furiously with the spade, as far ashe could reach, and its point was buried in A TRIAL BY SPADE 89 the floor less than half-way between thosetwo supporting posts. We could just seethem and the men that stood by each ofthem. Gentlemen of the jury, he shouted, myclient is a short man. I am a tall man. I. Drawn by Victor A. Searles. NOW THE SPADE WAS UP IN THE AIR. could not have done it. He could not havedone it. He did not do it! Somebody else didit, then and there. Clear, ringing, fiercely angry, was his lasttriumphant declaration. He threw the spade,loudly clanging, down upon the floor; and, 30 LINCOLN AT WORK as he sat down in his chair, the judge himselfall but laughed aloud and the jury lookedhappy. It appeared as if they were ratherglad, after all, to see their way to give a ver-dict of not guilty, without leaving the jury-box. I do not remember what afterward becameof the case. That defence, however, wras apretty good example of Abraham Lincolnsway of getting hold of the minds of men andbringing them around to see the truth of anymatter he was arguing. Only a few years after that, he had thewhole country for a courtroom. He won hiscase, too, but it was the last he ever tried, andto this day we all see that Union matter exactlyas he did.
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Keywords: ., bookauthorstoddard, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1900
