COL. H. L. STONE'S SPEECH.



mental motives of the defendant (whatever they may have been) in
committing the crime for which he is now on trial.
    If Judge Reid did anything against the defendant, with refer-
ence to his removal as Master Commissioner, inconsistent with his
previous or subsequent expressions of friendship, Judge Riddell
could have enlightened this jury. He is not here. The defendant
has not caused him to appear as a witness in his behalf. You can
draw your own conclusions from his absence at this trial. Judge
Reid, on Broh's Corner, gave the lie to this charge, once for all,
and here I am content to let the matter forever rest.
    I now come to the testimony as to what the defendant did on
April 16, 1884. Armed with a walking-stick in his hand, a cow-
hide concealed under his clothing, and a pistol, as the proof
tends to show, he went, according to Cockrell, Coleman, and Bos-
worth (who all had conversations with him after the assault), to the
law office formerly occupied by Reid & Stone, two or three times
that day to carry out his foul purpose to assault Judge Reid.
He found some one else in the office beside Judge Reid each
time. He deferred his attack. He wanted by some means to get
him where he would be alone, unarmed, unsuspecting. Col. Thomas
Johnson testifies that he was at Reid & Stone's law office about ten
o'clock on that morning, and there was no one else present, except
Judge Reid, the defendant, and myself; that he (Johnson) sat near
the fireplace; Judge Reid sat at his desk, and I at mine, with Cor-
nelison seated between us; that Judge Reid handed Cornelison what
Col. Johnson calls " an infamous letter " Thomas Turner had written
and sent to the mountain counties to injure Judge Reid in his can-
vass for Appellate Judge; that Cornelison read this letter and then
said to Reid, what Turner had written in it as to Reid was a lie;
that he (Cornelison) had cross-examined Turner in his deposition in
the suit of Turner vs. Johnson, and had in Col. Johnson's valise at
his (Cornelison's) office, copies of the deposition and mortgage re-
ferred to in Turner's letter; that Reid then said he wanted to see
them, in order to reply to Turner's letter; that Cornelison said to
Reid if he would go around to his (Cornelison's) office he would
show them to him; that Reid said no, he had an engagement that
morning, but would call at Cornelison's office at two o'clock that aft-
ernoon, as he came from dinner; and it was so arranged. Col. John-
son further states that the conversation between Judge Reid and
Cornelison was entirelyfriendly.
    Here we see the defendant invites Judge Reid to go then with
him to his office, and the invitation is accepted, the time of going
being postponed until two o'clock in the afternoon, as Judge Reid
returned from his dinner. Yet he tells Cockrell, Coleman, and Bos-
worth, afterward, that at the very time he was at Reid & Stone's



559