The exclusion of “a respectable gentleman from Maryland,” one of the witnesses,--mentioned by Mr. B., is not a case of extremity. During the examination of the witnesses who were called to testify to Kline’s good character, a gentleman of Philadelphia, a member of the Bar, and consequently an _officer of the Court_, who had been subpoenaed, when called to the stand, before he answered the questions asked him, complained to the Judges that he had been denied admission to the Court room. Towards the close of the trial another member of the Bar complained to the Court of the same thing. In both cases the Marshal was called to account, and justified the conduct of his deputies by saying the room was too small to admit all who desired to be present. The Judge told him to do the best he could, and that all members of the Bar _must_ be admitted.
The writer of this went away more than a dozen times because it was impossible to get near the door, and saw hundreds do the same thing. He was personally known to every officer of the Court, and could have gained admission had there been standing room.
Those who wished to hear and see, secured their places betimes. If Mr. Brent had read his favorite authority more closely, he would have seen that the reporter remarks jocosely upon the perseverance and patience of those who “secured their seats by seven o’clock A. M., and waited till ten for the opening of the Court.” Had the “respectable gentleman from Maryland” been out of bed in time, he might have secured a front seat.
On Monday, the twenty-fourth of November, the Trial was commenced at eleven o’clock A. M., in the United States Court room, at Philadelphia. The entire second floor of the building, known as Independence Hall, is leased by the General Government for the sittings of the Circuit and District Courts. The eastern portion, immediately over the room in which Congress held its sessions when Independence was declared, is divided into the offices of the Clerk and Marshal, Jury and Witness rooms, &c. The western portion is the Court room, and is probably one of the most elegantly furnished, for court purposes, in the country. The learned Judge of the District Court takes great pride in having everything about him conducted in the most polished style, and few Courts can boast of more urbane and polite attendants than the Circuit and District Courts of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.