"But, madam, you do not answer my question!" exclaimed
Chanler. "How much did you give him?"
"I told him to put it into real--" began the old lady again.
"Yes, yes!" cried the lawyer; "we know that! Answer the
question."
"estate, and he said he would!" finished the old woman
innocently.
"If your Honor please, I will excuse the witness. And I move
that her answers be stricken out!" cried Chanler savagely.
The old lady was assisted from the stand, but as she made her
way with difficulty towards the door of the court-room she
could be heard repeating stubbornly:
"I told him to put it into real estate, and he said he would!"
Almost needless to say, Hackett was convicted and sentenced to
seven years in State's prison.
To recapitulate, the quickness and positiveness of women make
them ordinarily better witnesses than men; they are vastly
more difficult to cross-examine; their sex protects them from
many of the most effective weapons of the lawyer, with the
result that they are the more ready to yield to prevarication;
and, even where the possibility of complete and unrestricted
cross-examination is afforded, their tendency to inaccurately
inferential reasoning, and their elusiveness in dodging from
one conclusion to another, render the opportunity of little
value.
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