The solicitor, or prosecuting attorney, in the trial of Tom Robinson is Mr. Horace Gilmer, who was not a resident of Maycomb. He lived in Abbottsville, and his first name is never specifically given except when Judge Taylor declares,
"Oh, sit down, Horace..."
Gilmer is slightly balding and "smooth-faced," and his age is indeterminate: Scout says that he could be "anywhere between forty and sixty." He had a "slight cast" in one eye--he appeared to be looking in one direction when he actually was not--which he used as an advantage in the courtroom. Gilmer was "not well known" to Jem and Scout, probably because he was not a local. Gilmer's "trademark" phrase is "tell us in your own words," which the children found funny since
We often wondered who else's words Mr. Gilmer was afraid his witness might employ.
Gilmer obviously has no respect for Tom, since he repeatedly addresses him as "boy" during his cross-examination.
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