|testamentary disposition made of her |
|estate by Mrs. Jennie L. Ramsay. She made |
|a will on July 4 last, at 3 o'clock in |
|the afternoon, leaving her property to |
|her husband, and at 7 o'clock in the |
|evening of the same day she made another |
|will in which she took the property away |
|from her husband.--_New York Times._ |

Here is an interesting illustration of the use of a trivial incident as
the basis for a humorous lead:

| Bang, an English setter dog, accused of |
|biting 11-year-old Sophie Kahn, made an |
|excellent witness in the City Court today |
|when his owner, Hirman L. Phelps, a real |
|estate dealer of the Bronx, appeared as |
|defendant in a damage suit brought by the |
|girl for $2,000.--_New York Evening |
|Post._ |

The lead of a report of legal proceedings is very much like the lead of
a report of a speech or an interview. It always begins with the most
interesting fact in the case and briefly summarizes the result of the
trial or the day's hearing. It is to be noted that the lead of such a
story always includes a designation of the court in which the hearing
was held and usually the name of the judge and of the case.

After the lead is finished a court report usually turns into a running
story of the evidence as it was presented. This may be condensed into a
paragraph, giving the reader merely the point of the day's hearing, or
it may be expanded into several columns following the testimony more or
less closely. In form, it is very much like the summary paragraphs in
the body of a speech report. The result is usually more or less dry and
reporters often resort to a means, similar to dialogue in fiction, to
lighten it up. Some of the more important testimony is given verbatim
interspersed with indirect summaries of the longer or less important
speeches. Its presentation usually follows the ordinary rules of
dialogue. Here is an extract from such a story:

| After describing himself as a breeder |
|of horses, Gideon said that he was a |
|member of the Metropolitan Turf |
|Association, the bookmakers' |
|organization, but had nev