The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-04-22

L
| men ,ne doctors differed ia their tbeoy;.s =.
uhasa hau h ever done, in nine cases out of ten.
| IL Ie aI uozsn OF them were called upon to de-
,har o,i,;aaa iinai cases depended entirely upon
/ neeses. iooaced as VIII
MT MOORE here quoted from starke. tuave 5oo
oid editlon) with regard to rules of violence. =,
| all the circumstances from which conclnsi -, IA aas
to be drawn should be clearly establ;sbaJ ~ ~
basis be unsound the superstructure canna. Ie he
sound All facts mustbe consistent with the hypotbe
sis; 1ncongruity negatives the hypothesis The ~;
cunstances should be of conclusive nature and ts
dency &c. These together with the argument ad
auced In the chapter on these rules, he presented
tor the enlightenment OF the jury upon the con
nicnng circumstances and theories presented bythe
witnesses about the blood and the Doctors
y Doctors Paine Estell and Marshall, assume that
| II blackburn was stabbed when down he could not
nave rlsen-that the convulsive effort OF nature was
not sufficient TO have enabled him TO rise The 9th
or medical gentlemen differ from these: thew aege
.h .hs. tne deceased could have risen but they limit
o. motion to Involuntary action,
susdVe eHort combined with Inconsistencies Ac.
eorolng to them the deceased could not have direct
en- en- MS motions when up nor could he have pone far
Inc carotid artery, the windpipe, the enllet and
the parvagum nerve, either severed ,r nesrIv
| SO. To shed some light upon the subiect IF ~
power OF motion under fatal wounds in the neck
Mr. Moore quoted from Taylor's Medical iur;snru''
oence, cases OF wounds involving thejagnlar uei,s
as well as the most if all the vessels cut bv the
knfe In biackburn's caee The cases were those
OF two women that had been murd dered-one of
them got up and ran into the garden after being
wounded, and the other ran from the house to the
fence, got over the bars, and short distance in
the road before she fell and died.
The third pool of blood having an important
bearing ON the question to where in the course of
the conflict the knife was drawn the important in
quiry was, has that been establisheds The con.
nlct OF testimony was great and the jury were the
judges. There was no ground to impeach any of
the witnesses to that pool and their testimony
vrhi 1af ot,,at
tive. Positive testimony was stronger than mega.
tive. Ii one man said 81 saw thing" and another
said 81 didn't zee tiff man said II heard a
thing" and another said 81 didn't hear 1.-THE tes-
tlmony OF the men who saw and heard was not
disproved by that of those who did not see and
hear. The positive testimony of one witness was
entitled to more credit than the negative testimony
of dozen Witnesses But the Jury were the sole
judges of the evidence and the credibility of the
witnesses. His duty was to state the case fairly
and the law fairly.
Mr.. Moore cited passages from Starkie on con-
ficting evidence. He then referred more pointed.
ly to the positive testimony of Bumpus, Charlton,
Phillips Figgatt and Campbell to the three pools
OF blood. The two first had seen it the night of
the murder. The others the next day. Yet Mas
sic, Col Smith, Mai. Preston, and DR.. Junkin had
examined the ground patiently-they all, except
Col Smith, had their theories to be sustained or
contradicted by the blood upon the ground. With
this object they searched, and declared their OPT
MONS that it almost impossible that there could
have been such blood there as Bumpus and others
saw. Between them it was for the jury to decide
The witnesses who had testified to three pools
were reliable men, and had no doubt stated what
they believed. Their absence from the Examin-
ing Court to be attributed to their reluctance
to volunteer their testimony in a case of life and
death.
1t was proper, however, that it should be admitted
that in all the evidence, at all times, it never
pretended that the parties were down but once
The settle continued until they reduced to the
PROSTATE condition. The same cause that would
have elected blood at one point from wound Civ
en- and received while standing, would have strown
it the ground the scuffie continued Another
fact was the position in which the stick found
near the hay scales, and near where the parties
fell They were bound to give this fact the weight
II was entitled to.
Nevertheless, whenever the prisoner brings him
self into strat-an exigency,-he has no right to
take advantage of that strait, that exigency de-
stroy fellow creature True, no law could take
away the right of self defence from man; it was
right given him by the God of Nature, and Society
has right to take it from him without giving him
equivalent therefor 1t was the right to protect
his llie or his person from serious bodily harm,
where the law could not avail him. But he must
not exert this right for protection from slight in.
jury that is not serious permanent for the
law afford adequte redress in that case.
The prisoner must be the Judge but he must
judge properly that he is in danger of injury for
which the law could give no equivalent. Above all
he must not have provoked the attack-he must not
have sought the occasion. Mr.. Moore here read
justifablehomcide
The evidence showed the highest grade of offence
or the next highest The jury could come to no
other conclusion Who made the attack Black.
| burn not the aggreived person. But Chris
tan WAS He went to seek redress; Black
burn had noneto ask. 1t is fair to presume that
the person who sought the redress commenced
the attack. Why did he 60 where human
being could witness the redress If his OBJ.
jecs redress why did he not demand it in
presence OF others, so that the apology might have
been as public and notorious as the injury itself
had been But no, he sought redress in the dark,
out of the sight and hearing of Others and whatev.
the apology might have been, it could have been
known only to them and to no othe 8. The diH-
Guilty would have remained just where it was at the
first interview, of which they alone were the wit.
nesses, and about which there was total discrep-
ancy between them These circumstances justify
a conclusion. The burden of proof rests on the
prisoner; and the presumption is that he couInenc.
ed the attack.
An insult offered to man will not excuse him
in resorting to weapons. man has no right to
make use of the passions OF his adversary. If he
offer an insult to a man of spirit whom he knows
will attack him, no matter what necessity, what ext
gency he brings upon himself he has 10 right to use
his weapons No man shall take advantage of his
own wrong.
There was disparity in the size of the prisoner
and the deceased No doubt Blackburn was vastly
superior to the prisoner in physical power and the
preparation made by the prisoner, showed that he
was fully conscious ofthe exigency in which he
This case was in many respects deprived of ex-
cuse, even under the code of honor. The prisoner
! was as he conceived insulted. What did he do =
He was advised to challenge Blackburn; but he de
clined reasons not at all satisfactory He urged
that B. could not leave the Institute to fight him.
had no right to insult him under circumstances
which would not afford him opportunity for re-
dress. B. was bound man of honor to afford
this opportunity and if ne did not, that was his,
BIS fault and upon him would the responsibility
rest. So this excuse not good. The chal.
lenge would have vindicated Christian.
He was advised to use his stick. This he declin'
ed to rely upon alone What other resource did he
select Hetook Blackburn in the dark, to disad-
vantage, against the advice OF friends insults him
and upon his attacking him, draws his deadly wea
pom and kills him. The admits of no excuse
Selfdefence was brought on himself Blackburn
had no expectation ofany contact with any human
being True, Langhorne did cay to Humes that II
was not all over; but Humes did not (and 1t seem
ed to the speaker strange he did mott communicate
this to Blackburn. Mr.. NJ. referring again to the
MURDER again alluded to Christian jumping to the
pavement and looking back at Blackburn The
seeing him lying motonless on the ground and his