Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 19.pdf/496

 THE BARILLAS CASE very important officer, makes and keeps all the records of the process, and is right hand man to the judge, who can take no impor tant step without the close association of the secretary, who is much more than a clerk as known to our courts. Behind the judge the south wall of the room is concave, forming a sort of semicir cular alcove, extending along the wall of which is a long upholstered bench seat, upon which, in crescent order, are seated the nine jurors, (and two supplementary jurors, to provide against any contingency in the trial) in whose hands is the fate of the accused. On either side of the room within the bar railing, and elevated on the level with the judge and jurors, are two enclosures somewhat like proscenium boxes in our theaters; in the one are seated the array of counsel for the prosecution; on the other side, in their own box, are seated the counsel for the defense. In the center of the stage, just in front of the judge's table, two stools are brought out and placed a few feet apart; on these the two notorious criminals are seated, facing the judge, their backs to the audience, their counsel, as indicated, being some yards away in their box to the right of the accused. There are ten or a dozen lawyers, associated in the case, or perhaps present by courtesy, in either box. The witnesses, on being severally brought in during the course of the trial, are stood up by the usher on a spot just to the right and rear of the defen dant, Mora, who occupies the right hand stool, as the audience observes him, while Morales sits humped upon the stool to the left, or on the right of the judge. Outside the bar railing, reserved for the spectators, the hall is fitted with rows of opera chairs, with attachments under the seats for hold ing hats, just as in the theaters; and the hall is crowded with " magistrates, judges, for eigners and law students," as the audience is described in the headlines of the leading newspaper on the day of the trial. Within the bar space, on the floor level, were the

463

tables used by the reporters of the various newspapers, busily taking or transcribing notes of the famous trial. Several cameras, on tripods, were also posted within this space, or among the audience, and frequent pictures were taken of the scene, judge, jurors, culprits, counsel, and the shifting audience. Add to this, that at all times during the trial, the judge president of debates, the jurors, the counsel on either side, and the prisoners at the bar, if they pleased, smoked stacks of black Mexican cigarettes and blew the smoke in fancy rings about the Sala (although several large signs hung around announced that smoking, spitting on the floor, etc., were utterly prohibited by the public authority) and some more or less adequate idea may be formed, from this inartistic description, of the settings of the famous scene which was being enacted with Justice and Human Life for forfeits. I do not mean by this rather light descrip tion to imply anything of levity or want of character in the scene or in the proceedings. These were grave, dignified, and decorous in every sense and in every move; and the line of armed gendarmes in the patio and before the two large entrance doors to the hall, with sabred officers, and armed guards posted about in the court room itself, gave far more an air of serious solemnity to the proceeding than we are ever accustomed to see in our most formal courts. Before entering upon the narrative of such features of the actual trial as I have thought might interest or instruct, I think it opportune to give as succinct risumt as possible of the principal features of the Mexican law which enter into this notable cause; this will serve to make more intel ligible many of the incidents to be related at the trial, as well as to set forth some of the striking differences of the civil law criminal system from that of our common law. An important part of the process is the steps in its institution and preparation for actual trial, called its "Instruction,"