FAMILY JARS IN COUrt.

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ness and depravity of certain members of the human race, and their despicable treatment of relatives and friends. It is an unpleasant spectacle to see wives giving evidence to send their husbands to prison, brothers testifying against their brothers, and sometimes (though none were called before us) fathers testifying against their sons. There was one instance wherein a man testified to a forgery of his signature, committed by a member of his family. He stated that it was a struggle between duty and a respect for the family name for him to come before the jury; "and I only determined to come here,” said he, "when I found all attempts to reform this man had failed. I have paid his debts repeatedly, have twice started him in business, and have several times paid checks on which he forged my signature, rather than expose him. I have tried to reason with him, and hoped he would do better; he shows no sign of repentance, and has told others that, out of regard to the family, I shall not dare to prosecute him. I feel that I should do wrong if I allowed him to run longer, and painful as it is, I must do my duty."

Here was a man of sensibility compelled by the conduct of a near relative to appear in court as a prosecutor. It is to be hoped that the culprit will learn a wholesome lesson from his imprisonment; but if his nature is as depraved as represented, the probabilities are, that when he comes out from his term of involuntary labor, he will not be greatly improved.

One day a woman came to testify against her husband for striking her on the head with a piece of iron, which she produced from her pocket. The iron-a stove-hook- had been broken by the force of the blow, and yet the woman was there, with no evidence of having suffered more than a temporary stunning and bleeding. She began her story in a tone of firmness and determination, but gradually melted until her voice was choking and her eyes were tearful. "Do you want to press this complaint against your husband?" the foreman asked. "Yes, sir, I must," she answered, after a pause. "We have been married ten years, and they have been ten years of quarrels. He beats me often; he drives me out at night;

he starves me, and is all the time cruel. He takes the money I earn, and spends it, and I cannot live with him any longer. I have had him before the magistrate several times, and he promises to do better; but when he is let off, he is as bad as ever. He will not leave me, nor let me leave him, and we shall have no peace till he is in prison, or one of us is dead."

One of the most artistic frauds that ever came to my knowl edge was developed before the jury. A man had loaned some money, and taken the mortgage of a tract of land as security on the note. Before loaning it he submitted the title to his lawyer, who informed him that it was correct; and conse quently the bargain was closed. The note fell due, and went to protest; the lawyer had, in the mean time, moved from the city, and the other parties were not to be found. The land which was mortgaged lay in New Jersey, and the holder of the note took the necessary steps to foreclose. A professional searcher of titles went to the township mentioned in the papers, and found that there was no such land in existence.

The whole document was purely a myth. The boundaries described could not be found, and had no existence any more than if they had been located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The grantor named in the original deed had been dead ten years at the time when the document was dated, and the whole business was a conspiracy, in which the lawyer had betrayed his client. One of the conspirators had turned state's evidence, and came before us. His position was not particularly comfortable, and he grew restive under the ques tions showered upon him. Little by little the truth was drawn from him, and he practically confessed to having been the originator of the fraud, ten years ago. The papers were evidently prepared with care, and had an appearance of genuineness enough to deceive any man who was not suspicious of wrong, and had relied upon his lawyer to protect his rights.

A case that was at the same time amusing and saddening, was that of a woman, the widow of a laborer, whose horse and cart had been stolen. She was the complainant and principal witness against the thief, who was promptly indicted. She

"I WANT MY HORSE."

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stated that she had recovered the cart, but had not been able to find the horse. The morning after the indictment had been ordered, we were surprised to see her waiting outside the grand jury room. A juror asked her what she wanted, and she replied that she came for her horse.

She was sent to the court-room, where, I believe, the thief was speedily tried and convicted. But day after day she came to the grand jury room, and patiently waited outside for the return of her horse. Each morning some one would explain to her that we could do nothing, and she would then go away. But the next morning she would be there as usual, and for nearly a month she continued her patient but hopeless watching. Sometimes she would come twice in the same day, and, when accosted, her answer was always the same, want my horse." At first her visits were subjects of merriment, but it was very soon discovered that her mind could not be altogether clear; and our merriment was changed to pity, and our jests to words of sympathy for her loss.

Most of the witnesses were of the unattractive lot, and as their stories were much alike, the business became a little dull after the first week or two. Robberies and fights, and fights and robberies, were narrated until the atmosphere became charged with them. It was the same story, or the same stories with slight variation, and we used to wish for a little variety. And it was astonishing how the advent of a pretty woman used to refresh the wearied jurors, but they were not often allowed that luxury.

One afternoon we came to a case of robbery, and the name of the first witness had a feminine sound as the clerk read it. Jurors had been sitting, not quite at their ease, listening to the testimony of men and women whose stories were as devoid of sentiment as the certificate of a steamboat inspector, and whose forms and faces were as unattractive as a dredging machine. When the witness was called in this case, the jurors listlessly raised their eyebrows, and out of deference to their acquired habit, turned their eyes towards the door. She came; we saw; she conquered. She was pretty; she

978

A PRETTY WOMAN AS WITNESS.

was finely attired; her demeanor was full of modesty, and, at the same time, of self-possession. As she walked forward to the foreman's place, to be sworn, there was a general straightening of everybody around the room. Chairs were drawn nearer to the table, young jurors stroked their mus taches, and old ones passed their hands over their bald crowns, to be sure that no cobwebs lay there. Collars and neckties were examined, to ascertain if en régle, and when the lady walked to the witness chair, the double line of heads was as straight and attentive as though just from the discipline of a Russian drill-master. When the foreman questioned her, she answered in a voice as silvery as a chime of tea bells, and it seemed very unfortunate for all her listeners that her story was brief. Not a word that she spoke was lost to any of the forty ears that were inclined towards her, and when she turned upon us a pair of bewitching eyes (I forget their color), there could be no doubt that the unwashed and unlettered burglar against whom she complained deserved the severest penalty of the law. As she left the room, her silken dress rustling like the leaves of autumn in a gentle breeze, we regretted that she could not longer remain; and when the door closed, an impressible juror sitting near it moved a bill of indictment, which would have been carried without opposition, had there been no necessity for another witness to complete the chain of evidence. The officer who captured the thief and recovered the property was then called; but he was a commonplace fellow, and we only listened to his story in the cause of justice. Compared with the lady who preceded him, he was as a marine turtle to a gazelle, or as a mudscow to a yacht, and we were heartily glad when he was through with his testimony. If burglars would be free, they should never be caught robbing a pretty woman who can go before a grand jury. That fellow received the heaviest sentence allowed by the law, as she went before the petit jury, and told her story under the eye of the judge.

BORROWING AND BORROWERS.

HOW THE BUSINESS IS PROSECUTED IN NEW YORK. THE NUMBER OF BORROWERS. THEIR DIVISIONS AND SUBDIVISIONS. HOW THEY OPERATE. THE STORIES THEY TELL. THEIR ENERGY. ABILITY TO READ CHARACTER. SUFFERINGS OF THEIR VICTIMS. FRAUDS UPON HORACE GREELEY. -DEVICES ΤΟ AVOID THESE SWINDLERS.- ANNUAL AMOUNT OF

THEIR SWINDLES. -HOW A MAN CUTS HIS EYE TEETH.

MONEY is the motive power of the world. In executive capacity, it is an angel or devil. By it civilization must be measured, and all accomplishment wrought. A material blessing, it is the parent, too, of such an amount of spiritual comfort as may not be reckoned. Money will buy everything but health and affection; and, through its aid, the one is protected and the other provoked. No marvel that men worship money; it is the strongest of secular deities, the firmest of supporters, and the staunchest of friends. Nobody can live without it; it is life itself. Every one must and will have it in certain quantity, either by fair means or foul. Every community is composed of borrowers and lenders, and the former are always in stupendous majority. They who have most lend least; and, consequently, borrowers are brought to depend on the class widely removed from prosperity.

The number of men who subsist upon others by persistent fleecing can scarcely be estimated. They abound in this country, especially in New York, which may well be called the haven of the hard-up, and the blissful seat of the professional borrower. All roads lead to New York; all swindlers and adventurers journey thither in expectation of finding victims. Their anticipations are generally realized, and