Page:The Art of Cross-Examination.djvu/231

 Witness (hesitating). "Well, no, I do not deny it."

Counsel. "I hand you now what purports to be the certificate of your marriage, three years ago. Is the date correct?"

Witness. "I never saw it before."

Counsel. "Does the certificate correctly state the time and place and circumstances of your marriage?"

Witness. "I refuse to answer the question on the ground that it would incriminate my wife."

The theory on which the defence was being made was that the witness, Minnock, had manufactured the story which he had printed in the paper, and later swore to before the grand jury and at the trial. The effort in his cross-examination was to show that he was the kind of man who would manufacture such a story and sell it to the newspapers, and afterward, when compelled to do so, swear to it in court.

Counsel next called the witness's attention to many facts tending to show that he had been an eye-witness to adultery in divorce cases, and on both sides of them, first on one side, then on the other, in the same case, and that he had been at one time a private detective. Men whom he had robbed and blackmailed and cheated at cards were called from the audience, one after another, and he was confronted with questions referring to these charges, all of which he denied in the presence of his accusers. The presiding judge having stated to the counsel in the hearing of the witness that although he