8i 
THE STORY OF SEVENOAKS. 
know about him — his irreproachable char- 
acter, his faithfulness to my client, and his 
perfect memory of every event connected 
with the execution of the paper in question 
— to avoid the suspicion that he is by some 
means, and against his will, detained from 
appearing here this morning. I confess, sir, 
that I was not prepared for this. It is hard 
to believe that the plaintiff could adopt a 
measure so desperate as this for securing his 
ends, and I will not criminate him ; but I 
protest that the condition in which the de- 
fendant is left by this defection, or this for- 
cible detention — call it what you will — de- 
mands the most generous consideration, and 
compels me to ask the Court for suggestions 
as to the best course of proceeding. There 
are now but two men in court who saw the 
paper executed, namely, the assignor and the 
assignee. The former has declared, with an 
effrontery which I have never seen equaled, 
that he never signed the document which so 
unmistakably bears his signature, and that 
the names of two of the witnesses are for- 
geries. I do not expect that, in a struggle 
like this, the testimony of the latter will be 
accepted, and I shall not stoop to ask it.” 
Mr. Cavendish hesitated, looked appeal- 
ingly at the Judge, and then slowly took his 
seat, when Mr. Balfour, without waiting for 
any suggestions from the Court, rose and said : 
“ I appreciate the embarrassment of the 
defense, and am quite willing to do all I can 
to relieve it. His insinuations of foul deal- 
ing toward his witness are absurd, of course, 
and, to save any further trouble, I am willing 
to receive as a witness, in place of Mr. 
Phipps, Mr. Belcher himself, and to pledge 
myself to abide by what he establishes. I 
can do no more than this, I am sure, and 
now I challenge him to take the stand.” 
The Judge watched the defendant and his 
counsel in their whispered consultation for a 
few minutes, and then said : 
“ It seems to the Court that the defense 
can reasonably ask for nothing more than 
this.” 
Mr. Belcher hesitated. He had not an- 
ticipated this turn of the case. There ap- 
peared to be no alternative, however, and, 
at last, he rose with a very red face, and 
walked to the witness-stand, placing himself 
just where Mr. Balfour wanted him — in a 
position to be cross-examined. 
It is useless to rehearse here the story 
which had been prepared for Phipps, and 
for which Phipps had been prepared. Mr. 
Belcher swore to all the signatures to the 
assignment, as having been executed in his 
VoL. XL— 6. 
presence, on the day corresponding with the 
date of the paper. He was permitted to 
enlarge upon all the circumstances of the 
occasion, and to surround the execution of 
the assignment with the most ingenious plau- 
sibilities. He told his story with a fine show 
of candor, and with great directness and 
clearness, and undoubtedly made a profound 
impression upon the Court and the jury. 
Then Mr. Cavendish passed him into the 
hands of Mr. Balfour. 
‘‘ Well, Mr. Belcher, you have told us a 
very straight story, but there are a few little 
matters which I would like to have explain- 
ed,” said Mr. Balfour. “ Why, for instance, 
was your assignment placed on record only 
a few months ago ? ” 
‘‘ Because I was not a lawyer, sir,” replied 
Mr. Belcher, delighted that the first answer 
was so easy and so plausible. “ I was not 
aware that it was necessary until so informed 
by Mr. Cavendish.” 
‘‘ Was Mr. Benedict’s insanity considered 
hopeless from the first?” 
“ No,” replied Mr. Belcher, cheerfully ; 
“ we were quite hopeful that we should bring 
him out of it.” 
He had lucid intervals, then ? ” 
Yes, sir.” 
“ Was that the reason why, the next day 
after the alleged assignment, you wrote him 
a letter, urging him to make the assignment, 
and offering him a royalty for the use of his 
patents ? ” 
“ I never wrote any such letter, sir. I 
never sent him any such letter, sir.” 
You sent him to the asylum, did you ?” 
I co-operated with others, sir, and paid 
the bills,” said Mr. Belcher, with emphasis. 
“ Did you ever visit the asylum when he 
was there ? ” 
‘‘ I did, sir.” 
“ Did you apply to the superintendent for 
liberty to secure his signature to a paper ? ” 
“ I do not remember that I did. It would 
have been an unnatural thing for me to do. 
If I did, it was a paper on some subordinate 
affair. It was some years ago, and the de- 
tails of the visit did not impress themselves 
upon my memory.” 
How did you obtain the letters of 
Nicholas Johnson and James Ramsey ? I 
ask this, because they are not addressed to 
you.” 
I procured them of Sam Yates in antici- 
pation of the trial now in progress here. 
The witnesses were dead, and I thought 
they would help me in establishing the gen- 
uineness of their signatures.” 
