No better actor ever played a part upon the court-room stage
than old "Bill" Howe. His every move and gesture was
considered with reference to its effect upon the jury, and the
climax of his summing-up was always accompanied by some
dramatic exhibition calculated to arouse sympathy for his
client. Himself an adept at shedding tears at will, he seemed
able to induce them when needed in the lachrymal glands of the
most hardened culprit whom he happened to be defending.
Mr. Wellman tells the story of how he was once prosecuting a
woman for the murder of her lover, whom she had shot rather
than allow him to desert her. She was a parson's daughter who
had gone wrong and there seemed little to be said in her
behalf. She sat at the bar the picture of injured innocence,
with a look of spirituality which she must have conjured up
from the storehouse of her memories of her father. Howe was
rather an exquisite so far as his personal habits were
concerned, and allowed his finger-nails to grow to an
extraordinary length.
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