The assistant wisely makes an appointment for the
evening. A telegram arrives saying that a witness for the
defence has just started for New York from Philadelphia and
should be duly watched on arrival. The district attorney
sends for the assistant to inquire if he has looked up the law
on similar cases in Texas and Alabama--which he probably has
not done; and a friend on the telephone informs him that
Tomkins, who has been drawn on the jury, is a boon companion
of the prisoner and was accustomed to play bridge with him
every Sunday night before the murder.
Coincidently, some private detectives enter with a long report
on the various members of the panel, including the aforesaid
Tomkins, whom they pronounce to be "all right," and as never
having, to their knowledge, laid eyes on the accused.
Finally, in despair, the prosecutor locks himself in his
library with a copy of the Bible, "Bartlett's Familiar
Quotations," and a volume of celebrated speeches, to prepare
his summing up, for no careful trial lawyer opens a case
without first having prepared, to some extent, at least, his
closing address to the jury.
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