“Wait a moment, gentlemen,” he said, “it is plain that an assault has been committed it is plain to anybody; but the way things are going, the guilty will certainly escape conviction.  I can not allow this.  Now—–­”

“But, your honor!” said Wilson, interrupting him, earnestly but respectfully, “you are deciding the case yourself, whereas the jury—­”

“Never mind the jury, Mr. Wilson; the jury will have a chance when there is a reasonable doubt for them to take hold of—­which there isn’t, so far.  There is no doubt whatever that an assault has been committed.  The attempt to show that both of the accused committed it has failed.  Are they both to escape justice on that account?  Not in this court, if I can prevent it.  It appears to have been a mistake to bring the charge against them as a corporation; each should have been charged in his capacity as an individual, and—­”

“But, your honor!” said Wilson, “in fairness to my clients I must insist that inasmuch as the prosecution ’d not separate the—­”

“No wrong will be done your clients, sir—­they will be protected; also the public and the offended laws.  Mr. Allen, you will amend your pleadings, and put one of the accused on trial at a time.”

Wilson broke in:  “But, your honor! this is wholly unprecedented!  To imperil an accused person by arbitrarily altering and widening the charge against him in order to compass his conviction when the charge as originally brought promises to fail to convict, is a thing unheard of before.”

“Unheard of where?”

“In the courts of this or any other state.”

The judge said with dignity:  “I am not acquainted with the customs of other courts, and am not concerned to know what they are.  I am responsible for this court, and I cannot conscientiously allow my judgment to be warped and my judicial liberty hampered by trying to conform to the caprices of other courts, be they—­”

“But, your honor, the oldest and highest courts in Europe—­”

“This court is not run on the European plan, Mr. Wilson; it is not run on any plan but its own.  It has a plan of its own; and that plan is, to find justice for both State and accused, no matter what happens to be practice and custom in Europe or anywhere else.” (Great applause.) “Silence!  It has not been the custom of this court to imitate other courts; it has not been the custom of this court to take shelter behind the decisions of other courts, and we will not begin now.  We will do the best we can by the light that God has given us, and while this ’court continues to have His approval, it will remain indifferent to what other organizations may think of it.” (Applause.) “Gentlemen, I must have order!—­quiet yourselves!  Mr. Allen, you will now proceed against the prisoners one at a time.  Go on with the case.”

Allen was not at his ease.  However, after whispering a moment with his client and with one or two other people, he rose and said: