jurisdiction, and if the indictment could be "pigeon-holed"
the case might die a natural death of itself. Indictments,
however, in New York County, whatever may be the case
elsewhere, are no longer "pigeon-holed," and they cannot be
adequately "lost," since certified copies are made of each.
The next step, therefore, is to secure as long a time as
possible before trial.

Usually a prisoner has nothing to lose and everything to gain
by delay, and the excuses offered for adjournment are often
ingenious in the extreme. The writer knows one criminal
attorney who, if driven to the wall in the matter of excuses,
will always serenely announce the death of a near relative and
the obligation devolving upon him to attend the funeral.
Another, as a last resort, regularly is attacked in open court
by severe cramps in the stomach. If the court insists on the
trial proceeding, he invariably recovers. Of course, there
are many legitimate reasons for adjourning cases which the
prosecution is powerless to combat.

The most effective method invoked to secure delay, and one
which it is practically useless for the district attorney to
oppose, is an application "to take testimony" upon commission
in some distant place. Here again it must be borne in mind
that such applications are often legitimate and proper and
should be granted in simple justice to the defendant.
Although this right to take the testimony of absent witnesses
is confined in New York State to the defendant and does not
extend to the prosecution, and is undoubtedly often the
subject of much abuse, it not infrequently is the cause of