Judge — January 22, 1898 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

56 NOTHING TO OFFER. HE. usual coterie of court-room loun- gers were occupy: ing the nail-kegs and soap-boxes in the small room where’SquireTim- berson dispensed justice, ‘way out in the rural commu- nity of a “short- grass” county in Kansas. The court was in session, and the docket, had such an unnecessary adjunct been visi ble, would have shown that the case on trial was one wherein Hank Bilger was alleged to have stealthily entered the dug-out of a new settler and taken a sum of money secreted | ALL OVER, to his own use. The links in the chain of evi- dence against the said Bilger at the bar had been neatly forged and welded by the state’s attorney, From the prisoner's face every vestige of hope and the lawyer for the defense, an affected individual who wore glasses, shifted uneasily in his disappeared. “Your honor, I've nothin’ to offer broken-backed chair as ~ — ——— zh} ye. My lawyer took every the state rested its case. 8 ~ - blamed cent I had.” After a short whis- NOY PARRELL CORE, pered conference between the spectacled legal light and the prisoner, the de- fense agreed to an argu- ment of the case upon its VERY COLD. Young Jinglefrits— “1 proposed to Dolly Swift last night and she * merits without putting gave me a Klondike re- any of its own witnesses fusal.” on the stand. The state’s attorney made the first plea and summed up the evidence in a forcible if not brill- iant peroration. ‘The de- fendant’s attorney had a final wrestle with the law Askins—" How so?" Young Jinglefrits— ~~ “Sixty degrees below zero. A VERY conventional an- telope and evidence, and dis- Sat ae a Bartisa of can- played an energy and ear- ion coe hestness worthy of a bet- To her sultor's address ter cause than the de A PARADOX. She mumbled out Yes; . Hent hure, an’ Cuby ’s th’ whole ting now.”” 1 will marry you, deer, but fense of Hank Bilger, * y fe e a iiger. Och ! an’ divil a doubt but thot islands hov allus bin th’ main lands.” I sha'n't elope.” D> 5 At the conclusion of the two oratorical efforts ‘Squire Timberson squinted one eye at the prisoner, leisurely bit off a chew of to- bacco from a pound plug on the judicial desk, glanced over an agricultural report—the nearest approach to a volume of the statutes at his command—and, raising his eyes to the prisoner, drawled out, “Accordin’ to the law an’ evidence, Hank Bilger, this court do here an’ now fin’ you guilty as charged.” A murmur of semi-approval rippled over the court-room, which was immediately si- lenced as the ‘squire resumed, “ Hank Bilger, hev you anything to offer this court before it passes sentence on you?” All eyes were turned toward the pris- ‘oner, who sat, dejected and morose, between two brawny constables, Not a word came in reply. = ? “Hank Bilger, if you hev anything to 1. A STUDY IN PHYSIOGNOM: say—anything calkerlated to influence this Juoar—" I assign to the defendant Higgs, the Court in your bebalf—now ’s your time. Hev lawyer.” Il, A STUDY IN PHYSIOGNOMY, you anything to offer?” Enter Higgs, the lawyer. comicbooks.com