Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 07.pdf/124

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Editorial Department.

Where the arches and columns are gorgeous within, And the walls seem as pure as the soul without sin; Go down the long aisle — see the rich and the great, In the pomp and the pride of their worldly estate; Walk down in your patches, and find if you can Who opens a pew for a moneyless man. Go look in the banks, where Mammon has told His hundreds and thousands of silver and gold; Where, safe from the hands of the starving and poor, Lies pile upon pile of the glittering ore; Walk up to the counter — Ah! there you may stay, Till your limbs have grown old and your hair turns gray, And you'll find at the bank not one of the clan With money to lend to a moneyless man. The jury returned a verdict for % 1,200 in favor of Mr. True.s "Moneyless Man" in the shortest kind of order. Yesterday was motion day in the Common Pleas Court, and City Counsellor Reese argued a motion for a new trial in another case. He began this way : "Colonel True, in his argument in the Smith case a few days ago, quoted from the case of the ' Money less Man,' reported in the Boys1 and Girls' Recitation Book, price five cents. "The unfair impression that the quotation made on the jury, the Court, and also on myself was so apparent, that it left a lasting impression on me, and in a dream on the same night I repeated the above stanzas to an intelligent little terrier dog. When the canine said — for dogs will talk in a dream — 'If that poetry is worth $1,200, I'll give you some that is worth $10,000,' I patted the dog on the head and said ' Go ahead.' The dog raised himself on his hind feet, put my best spectacles on his nose and said : — ' Gentlemen of the jury, attend, if you can, To the sad tale of woe of the moneyless man; He stands here before you, in want, as you see; He pleads not his merits; he pleads poverty; He can't go to the church, his patches preclude; He can't go to the bank, get a note there renewed; His only last chance for wealth is the town; Take pity on me, and make it come down. Gentlemen of the jury, have pity, pray do; If my story be false, my counsel is True; Look not on my failings, pass over my sin; Look, look, I beseech you, just look at my shin; Poor shin, badly skinned on the sidewalk down there, Please give me a plaster of dollars, and spare Not the city. It's big; but pray help, if you can, My noble good lawyers, and the moneyless man.' "The little dog then lay on his back, with his four feet in the air, and winking his other eye, said : ' That may not be poetry, but you must admit that it is good dog-erel.' * Well, Joe,' said I, ' there is not much poetry in it, but there is lots of truth,' and then — well, I woke up."

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Mr. Reese's effort did not meet with such success as Mr. True, at least it did not convince Judge Anderson, and the motion for a new trial was over ruled. An appeal will be taken to the Supreme Court. Mr. Reese's poem will accompany the tran script, as it is a part of the record in the case. The following circular, received by mail, is so unique that we cannot refrain from giving the issuer of it a little free advertising : — "The Colored Lawyer R1chard E. K1no, Esq., Law Office, Residence and Restaurant, Are connected and established at 43 West St., Opp. Calvert St., Annapol1s, Maryland. Who is the first Colored Lawyer ever admitted to the Bar of Anne Arundel County, Md. Here the colored people and the kind public can have all kinds of legal business promptly transacted. Where all kinds of good meals and lunches are served at all hours, cheap for cash. Will practice in all the Courts in Maryland, Virginia, and in Washington, D.C., also before the Committees of Congress and the Bureaus of the U. S. Executive Departments. Special attention paid to collection of bounties, pensions, debts, rents; houses and lands to let and for sale; drawing of contracts, deeds, mortgages, bills of sales, leases, wills or other instruments. All titles and conditions of property secured, and estates settled. All legal and serviceable advice given in all business transactions. Also a bureau of employment is established here, where many good servants are always for hire. This law office will be known and conducted as the colored people's headquarters for the transaction of business. Hot coffee, tea, chocolate and fresh milk always ready." A s1ngular case. — It may be safely said that the case of State v. Hall, in which the opinion of the Supreme Court of North Carolina was filed lately, has had no parallel. Hall, standing on the North Caroline side of the line, fired and killed a man just over in Tennessee. He was tried and convicted in North Carolina. On appeal, this was reversed on the ground that " in contemplation of law," Hall was in Tennessee when the killing was done. He was then arrested and held as a fugitive from justice. The judge below refused to discharge him. On appeal the Supreme Court by a major