554                       APPENDIX.

Judge Reid as he did. Without a particle of evidence to base his
pretended belief upon that Judge Reid had in any way brought
about the opinion, and in the face of a positive denial that he had
done so, which ought to have been sufficient for any reasonable man,
Cornelison deliberately sits down in his office and plots and devises
his plans on that Sunday for the ruin of his unsuspecting neighbor.
This was more than three weeks before the assault was made. In
the meantime he gives Judge Reid no warning of his impending
danger, or even of his hostility, but on the contrary plays the role of
a friend. He, on that Sunday, made up his mind as to the course he
would pursue. We know what course he did pursue, and he comes
before you, through the testimony of Bosworth, confessing that he
had been nursing and harboring his devilish design for twenty-four
days before he got an opportunity to carry it out in the secret and
dastardly manner that he did.
    It is claimed, however, that he obtained the opinion of three or
four persons that the red pencil memoranda on the margin of the
transcript were in the handwriting of Judge Reid, and he had these
opinions to found his belief upon. He showed the transcript to
these persons (so two of them testify, and one other gives that as his
recollection), after Judge Bowden had written an order in his (Cor-
nelison's) presence, at Frankfort, extending the time for filing a
petition for rehearing in the Howard case, which order is dated
March 29, 1884, six days after he had made up his mind as to the course he
would pursue. So he made up his mind to do what he did before he
got any one's opinion as to the marginal handwriting, and before he
even knew there was any such handwriting on the transcript. There
is no proof he had the transcript at Mt. Sterling, until after Saturday,
Alarch 29, 1884, when be, for the first time, saw these red pencil
mnemoranda. Yet he made up his mind as to his course on Sunday,
March 23, 1884. Hence, he did so from some other motive. He plot-
ted the rusn of Judge Reid for some other reason not yet brought to light.
How easy it would have been, when he got Judge Bowden to write
that order, to have asked him, or the clerk, whose handwriting
the memoranda on the margin were in. Tucker, Mitchell, McKee,
and Hazelrigg testify they told the defendant they thought these
memoranda were in Judge Reid's handwriting. The words in red
pencil found on the margin have been exhibited to you, and are,
"W Why," "His fee," and "To his own statements."  Tucker, the
Circuit Clerk, swore the defendant did not show him the words,
"'To his own statements " (although they appear on the next page
from the words, " His fee "), and had he done so, this witness states
he could not have said whose handwriting they were in, and that
they do not look like Judge Reid's. Mitchell, ex-Circuit Clerk, testi-
tified Cornelison did not show him the words, " To his own state-