land a more peaceful, law-abiding section than ours, or a section with better enforced laws. But people in other States are only just beginning to realize this. Strangers hesitate to bring their families and settle among us. They wait even now, even here, to come among us, willing and able to pour their thousands into our industries, or to link us with iron bands to the great heart of commerce and civilization which throbs outside." There was a general turning of heads at the Northerner. "They wait. What for? To learn that life and property will be respected by you! Gentlemen of the jury, the honor of the State of Arkansas rests in your hands. The dead man was a stranger. He was not a good man. But the law extends the august ægis of her protection even as the rain is shed over the just and the unjust. You are not to consider his character, but only the question, Has he been wronged? You cannot afford, gentlemen, we cannot afford, to let the word go forth to the world that Arkansas does not punish murder."

deceased has obtained peaceful possession of the property of the slayer by fraud or trickery, without force or surprise-"

"My word!" cried the prisoner, leaping excitedly to his feet, "'twas surprise. I hain't had nare sich surprise in my life like I got when I seen them kyards. They be'n plumb changed up-"

The deputy pushed him back into his seat amid a sympathetic laugh from the audience. "And is slain while in possession of the property so obtained," concluded the judge, who then passed on to the duty incumbent on the State of proving the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, with the explanation of a reasonable doubt. To all this the jury listened with an air of patient bewilderment, excepting only Dr. Redden, an image of the appreciative listener, and an old man in an extraordinarily frayed and rusty black coat, who was sunk into unobtrusive slumber behind a palm-leaf fan. He awakened in time for the peroration, erecting his head and inflating his chest in a dignified manner, as one who had been following the argument closely all along, let appearances be what they might.

"Gentlemen of the jury," said the mild, deliberate voice, "if you find from the evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant and the deceased were engaged in a game of cards in Jeremiah T. Milligan's saloon, in said L- county and State of Arkansas, and that the deceased had, in a game of cards, by

He sat down amid a grateful rustle of applause and many admiring smiles from the ladies in the crowd. The judge, who had pulled a heap of papers toward him, took the rose out of his mouth and began to read the charge. Captain Baz was listening with frowning attention; the other jurors had been cheered by a bag of peanuts handed up by the amiable deputy in charge. The prisoner was leaning back with folded arms and an expression of eager interest. The judge stated the charge against the prisoner and gave the usual exposi-cheating or otherwise, won money of the defendant, tion of the law and the usual definitions. He spoke in a low, gentle voice, and the Northerner's admiration was excited by his luminous and infinitely patient explanations. Indeed he was so clear that the prisoner himself could follow him, after a grotesque and dazed fashion, tripping now and then over the legal verbiage. but recovering himself at every familiar phrase. He listended to the definition of murder in the first degree with indignant agitation. "All murder which shall be perpetrated by means of poison or by lying in wait"So far had the judge gone before Muckwrath exclaimed:

"Why, Judge, I never seen the man afore; an' iz fur layin' in wait an' fixin' tuh pizen, I w'u'd n't do sicher meanness-"

Shet up!" whispered the deputy. "He's readin' what you didn't done."

Muckwrath sank back, relieved, to tap his palings with a virtuous finger at every adjective of the "willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated killing" described in the statute, and every felony enumerated, "in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate" which, "the killing shall be committed." But his countenance darkened at the explanation of murder in the second degree and grew more anxious at the definition of manslaughter, "the unlawful killing of a human being without malice, express or implied, and without deliberation." But he glanced across to where his wife sat with renewed cheerfulness as the judge passed on to justifiable homicide, since here it was that his counsel had made his boldest stand on the right of the defendant to retake his property by force. Muckwrath actually smiled as the judge read:

"Section 1279 defines justifiable homicide as follows: Justifiable homicide is the killing of a human being in necessary self-defense, or in the defense of habitation, person or property against one who manifestly intends or endeavors by violence or surprise to commit a known felony.''

The smile however faded quickly at the judge's comment: "But gentlemen of the jury, where it is sought to justify the killing under this statute the killing must be to prevent threatened injury to property or the taking thereof by violence or surprise, and uo more force must be used than is reasonably necessary. The statute has no application to cases of killing when the

and had left said saloon; and that the defendant was informed as soon as the deceased left that he had been cheated-"

Yaas, sir, so I was," said the prisoner. His attorney, amid various winks and smiles from the lawyers, beut a very red face close to his ear. The prisoner pursed his lips for an inaudible whistle, then nodded. "And thereupon," the judge continued, "in a fit of passion, he snatched up a revolver from the bar, with the intention of killing or doing great bodily injury to the deceased, and without time for reflection pursued and shot the deceased on sight, you will then, and in that case, find him guilty of murder in the second degree. The fact, if you shall find it to be a fact, that the deceased attempted to draw a revolver, would not excuse the killing, or turn the offense from murder in the second degree into manslaughter. But if you shall find from the evidence that the deceased obtained the defendant's money as before stated, and that the defendant, upon being informed that he had been cheated, was seized with a sudden passion and snatched the revolver and pursued the deceased without any intention of killing the deceased, but with the intention of using threats to make the deceased return the said money, intending also to use the revolver in case he might thereby become involved in a fight with the deceased and need the same to protect himself" (here the prisoner made an expressive pantomine of assent to the deputy); "and if you also find that while thus excited, and while acting pursuant to this intention, he overtook the deceased, and the deceased attempted to draw a revolver to shoot the defendant, and thereupon the defendant, in the excitement and in fear of his life" ("Jesso," cried Muckwrath unable to keep still), "shot and killed the deceased, then and in that event, you will find the defendant guilty of manslaughter" ("O Lordy!" gasped the prisoner) "and fix the penalty accordingly. The defendant's counsel has asked for the following instruction, which is given with some modifications: If you find from the evidence that the deceased was a man of violent disposition and dangerous character, prone to shoot quickly and without provocation, and that the defendant was informed of this dangerous disposition on the part of the deceased prior to the killing, and that the deceased swindled the defendant out of $50 at three-card monte

For instance, in a case purely Hawaiian in its char-
acter and interests, title to land depending on a native
pedigree, one out of several of the plaintiffs (or defend-
ants) having a foreign husband joined in the suit, half
of the jury were foreigners. In these mixed jury trials
the native jealousy often leads the six to plant them-
selves without reason in favor of the Hawaiian party.
Such a case occurred at the April Term; the Hawaiians
without evidence and against instructions of the court
amounting to a direction to find for the defendant,
stuck out for the plaintiffs, their fellow countrymen.
The "foreign" defendant was in fact born in this
kingdom and a good friend of the Hawaiian people.
Perhaps I should have stopped with the testimony
bearing on the issue. You may strike out the latter
half of my letter as irrelevant.
Yours very truly,

LAWRENCE MCCULLY,
(First Associate Justice Supreme Court Hawaiian
Kingdom.).

DEPARTMENT OF THE JUDICIARY, HONOLULU, H. I.,
May 31, 1890.

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS.

BOLLES ON BANK OFFICERS.

This is an excellent practical guide for bank officers, by Mr. Albert S. Bolles, the well-known editor of the Bankers' Magazine, issued by the Homans Publishing Company of New York, and forming with its two predecessors on "Practical Banking" and "Bauks and their Depositors," a very useful series for this large class of persons, from whom is exacted a great and growing degree of care and measure of responsibility. We regard these works very highly, and commend them to banks. They will not hurt a lawyer, for they have a certain practical toue that is not common among mere lawyer-writers.

costs-Lucien B. Terry v. Henry Bangs.-Judgment reversed, new trial granted, costs to abide event Hiram Gilmore, respondent, v. City of Utica, appellant.-Judgment affirmed with costs-Ausable Com pany, respondent, v. Seth Hargraves, appellant.Judgment affirmed with costs to respondent to be paid out of the estate-In re will of Alfred T. Dunham, de ceased. Judgment affirmed - People, respondents, v. Caroline Smith and another, convicted shoplifters, with cumulative sentences on account of their convic tions in Pennsylvania.

IN his brief in Trenton Banking Co. v. Duncan, 86 N. Y.

221, Mr. Francis Lynde Stetson observes: "In the good time coming it will doubtless be one of the most attractive features of that era that not only will the private right in their present admirable and summary newspapers be permitted to dispose of all questions of way of settling such questions-which is by intuition, and without hearing either party or examining any witness-but that the general rules of law will always emanate from them instead of the Legislature or the courts.'

Mr. James Wood, in his brief in Mead v. Stratton, 86 N. Y. 493, on the Civil Damage Act, observes: "Like the army that surrounded and intimidated Pan, the general of Bacchus, in his Indian expedition, the dominaut party in the Legislature heard the shouts of the temperance hosts echoing over the hills and valleys of the State, and in their sudden fright they precipitately and without due consideration, with might and main hurried this act through the Legislature, regardless of the fact that it was vague and uncertain and contained an unconstitutional provision. Worcester Dict., title, 'Panic.' But the court thought the Legislature had good reason for being scared.

The attorney-general of Minnesota, Mr. Clapp, was the recipient, recently, of distinguished official recognition in the chamber of the National Supreme Court. ber of his legal brethren of St. Paul: "A particular Here is his own relation of the occurrence to a num. mark of distinction was paid me by a high diguitary," said he, with the utmost satisfaction. "How was it? What happened? Tell us," chorused a coterie of colleagues. "Well, it was this way," said the attorney

Order of General Term reversed and that of the Circuit affirmed with costs in all courts - People, appellants, v. Palmer M. Wood, respondent.- Orders of General and Special Terms reversed and the application for the mandamus granted with costs in all courts -In re petition of the Third Avenue Railroad Company for writ of mandamus, etc.——— Order affirmed with costs-People, ex rel. William Tucker, respondent, v. John Ennis, commissioner, etc., appellant.Appeal dismissed with costs-Valeria P. Taylor, respondent, v. Francis A. Taylor, appellant.- Order affirmed with costs-William Von Hesse, sole execu tor, etc., appellant, v. Marie Louise McKaye, respond-general complacently. "I was sitting in the Supreme ent. Orders of the courts below affirmed with costs -People, ex rel. Commonwealth Insurance Company of New York, respondent, v. Michael T. Coleman and others, commissioners of taxes, etc., appellants.Order of the General Term reversed and that of the Special Term affirmed with costs- Heury Bohlen, appellant, v. Metropolitan Elevated and the Manhattan Railway, respondents, appellants.—Order of General Term reversed and the determination of the board of assessors as to relator's claims vacated and set aside with costs in this court - People, ex rel. Frederick S. Heiser, appellant, v. Edward Gilon and others, assessors, etc., respondents. -Appeal dismissed with costs-James A. Conquest and another, appellants, v. Fred E. Byrnes, respondent.-Appeal dismissed with

argued by several of the most brilliant and rhetorical
Court, an interested listener to a case that was being
lawyers of the country. Presently a page touched me
I asked.
on the shoulder. Well, sonny, what do you want?'
'Please sir,' he replied, 'are you the attor
ney-general of Minnesota?' I told him I was, and he
informed me that the marshal of the court desired to
speak to me. This pleased me immeasurably. Iwent over
cigar that I had in my mouth and said it was against the
to the marshal, and he rigidly pointed to an unlighted
precedent and dignity of the court to hold a cigar in
one's mouth in the presence of the justices of the

court.

'You will please remove that cigar!' he added in acrid tones. I was so astonished that the cigar fell from my teeth to the carpet."-The Law.

The Albany Law Journal.

THE

ALBANY, JUNE 28, 1890.

CURRENT TOPICS.

of the prison-ship martyrs of the Revolution, to stay the extension of Pine street across Broadway through the churchyard. We do not know of any great lawyer who is mouldering in this ground, but a few squares above one can see the monument in St. Paul's churchyard to Thomas Addis Emmett, a great lawyer, a good man and an elevated character.

The last issue of the Bankside-Shakespeare is Othello, in the Players' Text of 1622 and the folio

struction and type of Shakespeare's verse as seen in this play," by Mr. Thomas R. Price, of Columbia College. The text seems to have grown, from the one version to the other, about three hundred and fifty lines. Mr. Price's introduction is of the character in which we take no interest, from which we derive no pleasure, and with which we have no patience. It seems to us Shakespeare study run mad. Shakespeare himself would be amazed at and bored by it. He knew nothing about scientific versification. He simply had an inspired poet's ear and taste, and a divine audacity in variety and ease. What did he know or care about syncopated feet, he- or shecæsuras, catalectics, anacrusis? Who can believe that it was by any scientific design that "Desdemona has 20 dactylic feet in 100 verses," Othello 42, and Iago 100? Are dactyls consequently immoral? The single fact of value derivable from this tedious analysis is that Shakespeare was a lawless barbarian in verse-making that his verses will not scan. But it is only in great geniuses like him and Napoleon and Wagner that such disregard of rules is tol

HE commencement exercises of the Albany Law School, last week, were of the average interest, so far as the graduates were concerned. The salu-text of 1623, "with an introduction on the contatory was by William De Graff, of Rochester, on "Free Trade in Money," advocating the repeal of usury laws; John F. Nash, of Plattsburgh, spoke of "A Defect in our Jury System," recommending the abolition of the requirement of unanimity; and the valedictory, by Harold L. Hooker, of Watertown, was a very well written "Historical View of the Legal Profession." We expect to hear of "the judicious Hooker." The address to the graduates by Chauncey M. Depew was in every way admirable, and was none the worse for being a repetition of his Yale address of last year. We always like to hear a good sermon more than once. It was very good natured in Mr. Depew to consent to speak at all, for he is not in the best of health, and he defied the injunction of his physicians in order to keep his engagement. His address was a rare combination of good sense and tact, elevated morality and wise statesmanship. The school has had a remarkably successful year, under the management of the new dean, George W. Kirchwey. The following is the list of the graduates: Elmer C. Barnes, Merritt L. Bridges, Andrew Colvin, Adelbert E. Carroll, Wil-erable, and such analysis will no more enable others liam W. Cantwell, Charles Conderman, Irving T. Cole, William De Graff, Robert F. Douge, Charles L. Fellows, Anthony P. Finder, William G. Gilmour, Thomas F. Galvin, Warner J. Hutchinson, Harold L. Hooker, Albert S. Hopkins, William T. Huyck, Harvey E. Hinman, Edmond C. Knicker-peare's verse construction seems to us as foolish and bocker, Howard F. Landon, Nathan T. Lovejoy, Joseph McLean, Jr., Emanuel Metzger, John F. Nash, Benedict W. Niles, James P. O'Brien, Elmore G. Page, Edward Scharnikow, Thomas A. Sanson, Jr., John W. Saxe, Abraham F. Servin, Edward P. Towne, Dow Vroman, John C. Van Voast, W. Manning Van Heusen, George V. S. Williams, Frank D. White.

to become Shakespeares than the study of the spectrum analysis will enable men to plant rainbows in the heavens. In small poets we demand a mechanical and soothing rhythm, for that is all that distinguishes them from prosers; but to analyze Shakes

out of place as to describe the botanical structure of the willow that wept over Napoleon's island grave, or the texture of the flag that covered the clay of Lincoln. In the presence and under the spell of such greatness, we have no room for such trivialities. Far more interesting to us is the information imparted by Mr. Price from HalliwellPhillips, "that in 1609 one William Bishopp of Shoreditch named one of his twin daughters Dezdemonye." This was a tribute on Bishopp's part worth his discovery of any number of female cæsuras in the play.

There is one quiet place in the city of New York. We found it the other day. It is a graveyard — the graveyard of old Trinity. One would suppose that the New York city dead could not lie still in their graves. Probably the modern New Yorkers cannot. Our venerable friend, fellow-townsman and They should be laid in rolling ground. Stewart brother lawyer, Mr. Charles M. Jenkins, sends us a could not rest easy. But old Trinity is peopled by pamphlet, entitled "Rensselaerville Reministhe first villagers and townsfolk, who were not of cences and Rhymes." The "ville" in question is the present bustling kind. We looked down on the out on the Helderberg mountains, about twentyancient cemetery from the windows of a lawyer who four miles from Albany, and its "pop." is 526. is packed in that busy hive, Trinity Building, and The reminiscences and most of the rhymnes were wondered how many Yoricks slept in the mould written for the Rensselaerville Press in 1873, by Mrs. beneath. We saw too the one triumph of patriotic Washbon, granddaughter of the earliest inhabitant sentiment against the march of greedy trade the of the village, and the reminiscences are exceedmonument erected thirty-three years ago in memory ingly bright, clever and well written. This hamlet

VOL. 41- No. 26.