Carrizozo News

FOR THEIR HEALTH

Men Looked Forward to Time in Penitentiary.

Lawyer Left With Some Idea That the Persuasive Powers of His Learned Friend Might Have Been Better Exercised.

One of the most interesting and eloquent old-time pleaders at the Missouri bar, says Case and Comment, was Henry Clay Dean, the picturesque lawyer of Rebel Cove, Putnam county.

The most striking evidence of his persuasive powers was not given before the jury in a courtroom, however, but in the gloomy corridors of the old jail at Kirksville.

Another veteran of the profession, Judge A. D. Risdon, tells the story.

It was a matter of pride with Colonel Dean, he says, that in nine cases out of ten he could get a defendant off in a jury trial. But once he was called upon to defend a couple of young fellows for breaking into a railway car, and the evidence was so strong that even Colonel Dean saw no way out except to plead guilty and let the boys take the lowest sentence. Having reached this conclusion, Colonel Dean was admitted to the jail for a talk with his young clients. It happened that there were in the same prison two other men who had made arrangements with me to represent them, and as there was great doubt as to their guilt, I had mapped out a defense that was about as certain as anything human could be to result in an acquittal by the jury.

All four men were in the same corridor, and of course my men could hear what Colonel Dean was saying to his clients.

He took a seat between the two boys, laid a friendly hand on their shoulders, and began in that smooth, pleasant way of his to tell them what life in the penitentiary was. He said he had been down there and looked all through the building and saw how it was conducted; that the yards, rooms—he never called them cells—and corridors were kept clean and well ventilated; that the men got three good meals a day with pie and cake on Sunday; that there were concerts by the band at frequent intervals; that each man was given a nice new suit of clothes and had his hair trimmed in a fashionable style. Of course there was, he admitted, a little work to do, but only enough for healthful exercise.

Young men went down there pale and cadaverous, with blowholes in their lungs, and came back strong, plump, clear eyed and active, the masters of a trade, with money in their pockets!

The next morning, when court assembled, the four men were arraigned. Dean's young clients eagerly pleaded guilty, and mine followed suit before I knew what they were about. Surprised and indignant, I hurried over to them.

"What do you fellows mean?" I demanded. "You don't want to go to the penitentiary, do you?"

They looked at each other for a moment and then one of them replied:

"It's this way, judge: neither me nor Bill has ever been down there, and we thought we'd like to take a little trip for our health."-Youth's Companion.