Show IT WAS a just rebuke that Davidge received in the examination of i1 physician phy-sician in the Guiteau trial on Monday In the court room lawyeas as a rule are the most impolite unkind and vicious of any class of people in the world Time and custom has given them the license to abuse witnesses on the stand call them liars assault their characters with impunity and generally to say that to and about witnesses which were it out of a court room would some times be as much as their lives were worth Custom has made this practice proper but it is a barbarous custom and when a lawyer looks fairly at the subject be must appreciate the fact that it is brutal to use this power simply because he can do so Very few persons go on the stand willingly and when they do they have a right to expect to be treated with courtesy and respect and they should be sustained sus-tained in this belief f by the courts As it now is however a man feels that when he is put on the stand he is placed on a par with a pickpocket and a cut throat he expects to be treated like one and the instances are rare where he is disappointed It is surprising that the members of a profusion pro-fusion which justly boasts the brightest minds in the world will stoop to such ungentlemanly and brutal means and take advantage of a position to assault and abuse a man because they can do BO without I fear of retaliation |