Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-04-15

the most likely person to have committed
this detestable crime is John johnson
himself. tremendous applduse.) But
supposing Johnson's account to be wor
thy Of any credit, how comes it that hi:
knocking at the door did not alarm the
prisoner Did you ever hear of Shake
speare, that great master of human ma
ture? When Macbeth has committed the
murder, it is the knocking at the gate
turns him as white as SNOWFALL +; it is
the knocking at the gate sets his teeth
chattering like dentists engine; it is
the knocking at the gate makes him take
to his heels; but Johnson says he kock-
ed at the door and the prisoner did moi
run. might dwell on the defects of the
indictment, which is for manslaughter.
Gentlemen, the crime may be murder,
or mayhem, as suggested by the learned
Judge, or as I should say woman slaugh-
ter but manslaughter it cannot be. But,
my client disdains to owe his acquittal
to flaw in the Indictment; he throws
himselfuponhis innocence, which we shall
make apparent and clear as the MONDAY
sun. may be twitted with the previ-
Gus confession but confessions are to be
received with great caution. The pris-
oner may have been frightened out of
his wits, and said he knew not what. or
he may have been under mistaken i'm
preston as to the accusation. Gentle
men of the jury, con6ding in your noto-
rious wisdom and integrity, | have no
fear for the fate of this innocent boy.
leave it to my learned brother Saucy- jaw
to produce the evidence"
The learned counsel sat down amid
thunders ofappIause.
DR.. Zenophon Twigg was called for
the defence, and testified that he had
been called upon to examine the deceas.
ed, and was decidedly of opinion thai
her death was occasioned by the rupture
of blood vessel; as to the tongue, il
might have been washed out by the
blood.
1t appeared, on cross examination, tina
the doctors di ploma was of his own ma
king; that he could neither read mol
write, and hired penny-a-lner to write
his pufs and certificates of unheard o.
cures and that his practice was con.
fined to making up and vending quack
medicines.
And now the counsel for the defence
who had reserved the strongest blow fol
the last produced Mr. Joseph Wilson
who being duly sworn, did depose and
say, that on the day laid in the indict-
ment, and for several days preceding and
following, the prisoner had, in company
with the witness, been engaged in shoot
ing at Hallet's Cove, and consequently
could not have been in the city at that
time.
| There now 7 exclaimed Saucy-jaw,
having triumphantly proved our alibi, we
submit the case to an enlightened jury
The judge charged the jury to the fol-
lowing effect.
'The jury are judges both of the law
and fact. The judge has nothing to do
but to tell them 1hat the law and the fact
is; as it is rather late, and we are all of
us somewhat sleepy, | will not recapitu-
late the evidence. So much for the fact.
As to the law, it is clear if you can't
help finding the prisoner guilty, you are
obliged to do it. But if there is the least
shadow of possibility Of his innocence,
the prisoner is to have the benefit of it.
1t is an awful responsibility to sentence
a young man in the flower of his age to
an untimely prison; and some regard
ought to be paid to the feelings and rep
utation of his highly respectable friends.
If we are to believe the witnesses for
the prosecution, the tongue of the I'M
fortunate woman was seen in the pris-
oner's hand !. but he is not bound to ac-
count how it came there that is for the
prosecution to explain. On the other
hand, by the evidence of respectable
Witness an alibi is satisfactorily proved.
The jury, however, are the proper judg-
es, both as to the law and the fact
this luminous and important
charge from his honor, the jury retired !;
and after doing an hour or two in the
returned into court with
verdict Of not guilty, which was receiv-
ed by the audience with tremendous
shouts. The interesting Mortimer was
carried home on the shoulders of the ex-
ulting populace. The managers of
theatre, on the brink of ruin, made a.
splendid fortune by announcing for six
successive nights, on this occasion only
the celebrated F. Adolphus Mortimer
will honor the theatre with his presence
And to complete the triumphant vindi-
cation of this unfortunate young gentle
man, he brought an actionfor assault and
battery, :, and false Imprisonment, against