; not until the entire panel had been
exhausted and several special venires issued, was there found the
requisite number sufficiently unprejudiced to meet the requirements
of the situation.

The remainder of the day was occupied by counsel for contestant in
making the opening statement. A review of the grounds upon which
the contest was based was first read by one of the assistant
attorneys, after which Mr. Whitney followed with a lengthy statement
which occupied nearly an hour. He reviewed in detail the
circumstances of the case, beginning with the death of Hugh
Mainwaring, and laying special stress upon his irreproachable
reputation. He stated that it would be shown to the jury that the
life of Hugh Mainwaring had been above suspicion, an irrefutable
argument against the charges of fraud and dishonesty which had been
brought against him by those who sought to establish the will in
contest. It would also be shown that the said document was a
forgery, the result of a prearranged plan, devised by those who had
been lifelong enemies of Hugh Mainwaring and the contestant, to
defraud the latter of his rights, and to obtain possession of the
Mainwaring estate; and that the transparency of the device in
bringing the so-called will to light at that particular time and
under those particular circumstances was only too plainly evident.

Mr. Whitney was warming with his subject, but at this juncture he
was peremptorily called to order by Mr. Sutherland, who stated that
he objected to counsel making an argument to the jury, when he
should confine himself simply to an opening statement. Mr. Whitney's
face flushed as a ripple of amusement ran through the courtroom, but
the objection was sustained, and, after a brief summary of what the
contestant proposed to show, he resumed his seat, and the court then
adjourned until the following morning.

The first testimony introduced on the following day was to establish
the unimpeachable honesty and integrity of the deceased Hugh
Mainwaring. Both Mr. Elliot and Mr. Chittenden were called to the
stand, and their examination--particularly the cross-examination,
in which a number of damaging admissions were made--occupied nearly
the entire forenoon; the remainder of the day being devoted to the
testimony of witnesses from abroad, introduced to show that for
years a bitter estrangement had existed between Frederick Mainwaring
Scott, the alleged foster-father of the proponent, and the me