110

THE END OF A GREAT TRIAL.

Never in the history of Nebraska has there been a murder trial that has excited greater attention and been so thoroughly published in the newspapers as the Sheedy trial that has just closed. Not by the boundaries of the stat has the interest in the case been confined or its pro's and con's vigorously discussed. The manner of the murder. The prominence of the murdered man in his business that ramify's to every city. The money at stake in the case, the unnatural and remarkable confession that the jury has practically said was extorted from one of the accused, and the fact that the other accused was a woman and wife of the murdered man, all have given the great prominence that the case attained. It was one of the most remarkable cases of circumstantial evidence ever presented to a jury and it was a case in which the zeal of detectives to find some parties to answer for the crime was brought prominently to view. The case brought some of the abelest attorneys of the state into its prosecution and defense.

The prosecuting attorneys, Mr. Snell and Mr. F. M. Hall, are members of two prominent law firms in the state and Mr. Lambertson has a record of being among the ablest attorneys in Nebraska. On the part of the defense Messrs. Billingsley and Woodward are a firm of attorneys of long standing wide acquaintance and much success, while Judge Weir of Boise City is one of the most prominent attorneys in that new state. It was a great attorneys battle.

From the time that the first suspicions were cast upon the now acquitted parties the great majority of the newspapers that have discussed the case have been vigorous and uncompromising prosecutors. No attorneys ever prosecuted a case in which more willing assistance was given them and public discussion carried in channels for their benefit. So marked has this been that it is no surprise that it has had the effect of a reaction in favor of the parties accused. The verdict of not guilty is accepted, especially by those best posted in law, and evidence, as a verdict that the jury was warranted in making.

The old maxim of the law that it is better for nonety-nine guilty persons to escape rather than that one innocent suffer is firmly grounded in the minds of the people. And public opinion has not been such as those who have simply read accounts of the trial would be lead to believe. This was once manifest by the great audience at the trial it is more manifest in the discussions upon the streets today. The attorneys for the defense made a great fight for their clients and the congratulations that they receive have been earned in a four weeks trial that will go down to history as one of the greatest legal battles in the annals of the courts of the state.