Yollop: "He certainly did."
Counsel: "A big, rugged, healthy, desperate fellow, you would say?"
Yollop: "Yes."
Counsel: "Armed with a loaded revolver?"
Yollop: "Yes."
Counsel: "You would say that he was big enough and strong enough to pull a trigger, wouldn"t you?"
Yollop: "I can"t answer that question. I don"t know how much strength it requires to pull a trigger."
Counsel: "Ahem! At any rate, he looked as though he was strong enough to pull a trigger?"
Yollop: "I dare say he could have pulled it."
Counsel: "And yet you would have the jury believe that this big, strong, well-nourished man, permitted you--By the by, how much do you weigh, Mr. Yollop!"
Yollop: "About 145 pounds, in my clothes."
Counsel: "You are six feet tall, I should say?"
Yollop: "Lacking a quarter of an inch."
Counsel: "Ahem! As I was saying, this strong, desperate man, armed with a revolver, allowed you to walk across the room and strike him in the face, causing him to crumple up and fall to the floor as if struck by a--well, someone like Jack Dempsey. Isn"t that so?"
Yollop: "I never was so surprised in my life."
Counsel, thunderously: "Answer my question!"
Yollop: "Well, I hit him and he fell."
Counsel: "Do you regard yourself as an experienced boxer?"
Yollop: "No, I don"t."
Counsel: "Are you what may be termed a powerful man, able to strike a powerful blow with the fist?"
Yollop: "I don"t know. The defendant can answer that question better than I can."
Counsel, to the court: "Your honor, I appeal to you to direct this witness to answer my questions--"
The Court: "Confine your answers to the questions as they are put to you, Mr. Witness."
Counsel to Yollop: "Now see if you can answer this question, Mr.
Yollop. You have described in direct examination that this defendant was a big, burly, rough looking man. You say you were surprised when he went down under your inexpert blow. Why were you surprised?"
Yollop: "I was surprised to find how easy it is to knock a man down."
Counsel. "I see. You had never knocked a man down before. Is that so?"
Yollop: "I had never even struck a man before."
Counsel: "And yet you found it singularly easy to deliver a blow on the jaw of an armed man with sufficient force to knock him down?"
Yollop: "I can only answer that question by saying that he went down when I struck him. I don"t know how hard or how easy it is to knock a man down."
Counsel: "But you admit you were surprised?"
Yollop: "Yes. I was surprised."
Counsel, shaking his finger and speaking with something like malevolence in his voice and manner: "Don"t you know, Mr. Yollop, that this man was so exhausted from lack of food that he was not only unable to defend himself from your a.s.sault but that the weakest blow--or even a gentle push with the open hand,--would have sent him sprawling?"
Yollop: "I don"t know anything about that."
Counsel: "Wasn"t he so weak that he could hardly walk across the room after he arose?"
Yollop: "Possibly. He was not too weak, however, to climb up two floors on a fire escape and pry open my window before I,--"
Counsel: "Now,--now,--now! Please answer my question?"
Yollop: "He complained of being dizzy. He held his hand to his jaw.
That"s all I can say."
Counsel: "You were pointing the revolver at him all the time, you have testified. Is that true?"
Yollop: "Yes."
Counsel: "If he had made an attempt to attack you, you would have shot him, wouldn"t you?"
Yollop: "I would have shot AT him, I suppose."
Counsel, slowly, distinctly, dramatically: "In other words, you would have been strong enough to do the thing that he was unable to do,--pull a trigger."
Yollop: "I haven"t said he was unable to pull a trigger."
Counsel: "Answer my question!"
The State, bouncing up: "We object to this question. It calls for a conclusion on the part of the witness that--"
The Court: "Objection sustained."
Counsel, glaring: "Exception." Then, after mopping his brow and consulting his notes: "Now, Mr. Yollop, you say you conversed with this defendant at some length while waiting for the police to arrive. Have you any recollection of this defendant telling you that he was driven to theft because he had been out of work for nearly three months?"
Yollop: "No."
Counsel: "Didn"t he say something of the kind to you?"