38

ALL RESTS WITH THE JURY

CLOSE OF ARGUMENT IN THE SHEEDY CASE.

Mr. Strode Brings His Brilliant, Earnest Plea for the Life of His Client to a Thrilling Close.

And Mr. Lambertson Reviews the History of the Crime With Telling Eloquence and Vigor-Bracing Up the Jury.

A Passionate Outburst of Counsel.

Never in the history of the city has public interest in any event been so thoroughly demonstrated as was yesterday the interest in the Sheedy case. People began to arrive at the court house before 8 o'clock, hoping thereby to secure desirable seats ere court opened at 9. As the hour of opening approached long lines of people were to be seen pouring from every direction en route to the court house. Every neighboring hitching post was brought into service for the tethering of horses and vehicles. At 9 o'clock it was almost impossible to crowd one's way through the court room. No regard was paid to the railing enclosing the large space usually allotted to the court and the bar. Every foot of standing room even in that large court chamber was filled, and more than filled. The ladies, who largely predominated, had invaded the very steps of the throne of justice, and Judge Field's platform was flanked on either side by banks of feminine faces and gay and fluttering headgear. If there was a single inch of vacant space in all that crowded room outside of the few square feet in front of the jury box, it was impossible to locate it by a view form the judicial dais. Even the defendants were brought into uncomfortable proximity with the eager throngs, whose chairs were crowded directly up against them. No such assemblage of beauty, fashion, walth, intelgence, mixed with their various reverses, has ever been witnessed in a Lincoln court of justice, or anything nearly approaching it, while hundreds were turned away, not because the doors were closed, but because it was utterly impossible to push one's way in. There was a musical but deafening hum of conversation as the jostling, pushing audience pushed into more or less uncomfortable positions, content even with the poorest accommodations, gald even that they were permitted to stand up to see and hear the proceedings. Such an audience was well calculated to bring out every latent power of logic and eloquence from the brains and lips of the gifted counsel, and most truly did it exert its full capabilities in that line. There were old ladies and old gentlemen there, whose wrinkled: visages and white locks had never adorned so impressive a scene. There were young men and youths who were ardent in their views on the case. young and fasionable misses and young girls stood along in rows and viewed with critical eyes the raiment of each other. Hundreds of married ladies were there looking out for the best seats, [fluttering?] their fans and holding themselves in readiness to be touched to tears. Their readiness in that direction was brought to frequent proof.

It was a little remarkable that with such a multitude crowded and pressed into so slight a space the order throughout the day was, with one exception, beyond criticism or reproof. Only once was the court called upon to indulge an admonition. That [?] audience was most thoroughly impressed with the gravity and solemnity of the situation, and the stillness of death reigned through most of the day, broken only by the impassioned pleadings of the counsel to the jury. The crowd in the afternoon to hear the closing argument of Mr. Lambertson was simply beyond description. So dense was it that one middle-aged lady standing up in the aisle fainted late in the afternoon and it was actually impossible to take her out. So intent was the crowd on hearing Judge Field's instructions to the jury, then being delivered, that few noted the incident and those in the immediate vicinity, with the assistance of [Bailiff?] Taylor, applied restoratives and in a few minutes had her so that she could sit up and renew her interest in the proceedings.

When Mrs. Sheedy came into court in the morning her sisters fairly carried her along the narrow passage made for her through the crowd. She was evidently very ill and weak. Her attorneys had consulted as to the advisability of bringing in a couch for her, but the stout-hearted, resolute little woman had insisted that she would be equal to the ordeal. As she came in it looked as if her attendant's support was all that kept her from reeling and falling to the floor. During the pathetic argument of Mr. Strode she alternated between expression of tearful grief and sorrow and those of absolute exhaustion.

ALL RESTS WITH THE JURY

CLOSE OF ARGUMENT IN THE SHEEDY CASE.

Mr. Strode Brings His Brilliant, Earnest Plea for the Life of His Client to a Thrilling Close.

And Mr. Lambertson Reviews the History of the Crime With Telling Eloquence and Vigor-Bracing Up the Jury.

A Passionate Outburst of Counsel.

Never in the history of the city has public interest in any event been so thoroughly demonstrated as was yesterday the interest in the Sheedy case. People began to arrive at the court house before 8 o'clock, hoping thereby to secure desirable seats ere court opened at 9. As the hour of opening approached long lines of people were to be seen pouring from every direction en route to the court house. Every neighboring hitching post was brought into service for the tethering of horses and vehicles. At 9 o'clock it was almost impossible to crowd one's way through the court room. No regard was paid to the railing enclosing the large space usually allotted to the court and the bar. Every foot of standing room even in that large court chamber was filled, and more than filled. The ladies, who largely predominated, had invaded the very steps of the throne of justice, and Judge Field's platform was flanked on either side by banks of feminine faces and gay and fluttering headgear. If there was a single inch of vacant space in all that crowded room outside of the few square feet in front of the jury box, it was impossible to locate it by a view form the judicial dais. Even the defendants were brought into uncomfortable proximity with the eager throngs, whose chairs were crowded directly up against them. No such assemblage of beauty, fashion, walth, intelgence, mixed with their various reverses, has ever been witnessed in a Lincoln court of justice, or anything nearly approaching it, while hundreds were turned away, not because the doors were closed, but because it was utterly impossible to push one's way in. There was a musical but deafening hum of conversation as the jostling, pushing audience pushed into more or less uncomfortable positions, content even with the poorest accommodations, gald even that they were permitted to stand up to see and hear the proceedings. Such an audience was well calculated to bring out every latent power of logic and eloquence from the brains and lips of the gifted counsel, and most truly did it exert its full capabilities in that line. There were old ladies and old gentlemen there, whose wrinkled: visages