The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1854-06-23

n UaLspIfcuT
mind and you know that very few could do it, Transfer
il in your minds then the presence only OF parcel Of
frightened sehooboys and after months have passed do
You believe they capable Of giving full history OF the
affair detailing all the in the precise order in which
they occurred and descending the mnutia of the
position of the hands, The mind and particularly the
youthful mind under such circumstances is in state OF
chaos and the memory and the Imagination combine until
IL is impossible to nraye the tangled web and at the
simple truth believe these boys to be intelligent and
honest and highmnded and incapable Of any intentional
Misrepresentation But believe at the same time, that
they incapable of narratng the simple uncoored cir
cumstances of the case and of giving testimony on which
/ the life Of man ought to depend
Another thing these boys from eleven eighteen years
Of age since the of the principal fact in
vesgang have been the scholars and under the tuition
and training, Of Mr. Surgus With all their natural
paie the side Of their eacherwith all these other cir
custances tending to minds bias they have been
from that day to this under the authority and instruction
of urgu the enemy Of Mr. Ward the pursuer Of this pris
oner You, who understand the affairs of men, viii see the
impossiby OF fair and faithful narration Of the even.
from them, under such circumstances You well under
stand how this man--they not knowing it--by word
properly thrown in statement repeated until they were
familiar with il and received it without question: may have
exercised great influence and control the feelings and
recollection of these boys. He is their teacher and guar
dianthey under his charge and though he
here witness for the Commonwealth he not intro
ducrd upon the stand Put all these facts togetherand it
your business where the facts not all known but few
OF potent character are established to infer the others
weigh them carefully in your minds, and then Judge
for yourselves if the probabilities in regard to the character
of the testimony of these boys not all in favor of the
assumption have made.
Now let us examine the testimony After the able man
in which has already been reviewed and considered
it would too much of your time to enter into
minute repetition of its details; but think may safely
say that from beginning to end two of these witnesses
have perfectly agreed that their statements contain
numerous discrepancies and contradictions that the
count of of them is probable and satisfactory and
that they all show from their disjonted nature they only
contain portions and fragments of the facts that occurred
If there be any thing in which there is con-
currence than other points it is in the statement that
| when the uares had eychanppd Ward INN
datey asked Which is the to blame2' etc. Now,
would not this be most extraordinary manner for one
gentleman TO commence conversation with another But
four five of them agree this point and if receive
their testimony you must conclude there other in
PRODUCTION of the subject but that these the first words
uttered by the prisoner Is it reasonable Does not the
very awkwardness OF the question, asked in such
indicate chasm hercsomethng Which did not reach
their preliminary if not for the sake of ordi
nary courtesy at least to give comprehensive expa
nation Of the business And what says Robert Ward on
this point2 He tells you that Matt first informed Butler he
desired conversation with him and after declining to
enter the private room giving as reason that the event OF
which he wished speak had occurred there went TO in
qure what his ideas ofusce and then propounded the
question mentioned which in that connexion natur-
ally enough. Thus, in the very commencement Robert
Ward gives you the only natural and satisfactory account
OF the conversations and this fact alone is sufficient to
show you the agmentary character of the information
possessed by the other boys know Robert stands here
in position which, by the law, exposes him TO mpua-
ton and it is your duty to weigh his testimony carefully
and not to receive 1t unles you perceive IN II intrinsic in
dicatons of TRUTH it is corroboraed by other witnesses
of whose reracity you entertain doubt In this
case call the witnesses of enemy corroborae
him, and contend that by hem he is fully
4 tained as to be entitled 10 your belief.
One of the largest OF these boys and who heard
more of the conversation than any other witness who de-
posed for the Commonwealth was Worthington Yet he
did not hear Ward make Of the term ar at all, and
thus he corroborateS the statements of Robert Again,
Robert tells you that the accused introduced the
ton in natural and reasonable manner, by asking "Mr.
Butler what your ideas OF JUSTICE" Now, how is il
that Of these thirteen boys twelve leave this entirely out
Of ,ha..t
their opportunities for hearing and seeing good
and their recollecons perfect you asked to be-
eye they all discaim any knowledge of this language
But let turn for moment 10 the testimony of little
Prte who frankly confesses he did not hear all that
said and who OF the finest and most intelligent
boys in the whole school He tells you that the first words
he heard from the accused something about deas OF
justice and chesnuts. You must observe that the con-
nexion of subjects is very singular that would
not be likely to be suggested to the mind of schooboy
any else unless he had distinctly heard it, The
minuteness with which this trivial point is recoected
TO giyet more weight and to indicate in unm-
portan degree the uthuness Of the testimony given you
| by Robert Ward
Crawford corroboraes him by the fact that he did not
hear the lie given Benedict states that when nerroga-
ting Butler, Matt asked (which is the worse, the bog
&C. though all the other scholars that he used the
term puppy Now Robert tells you that when he asked
the question the first time he did in the words detailed
by Benedict but that when answer given, he
peated in some irritation and then changed the phrase
ology TO the contemplate little puppy Though the
particular may trivial yet think all these minute facts
general character of his testimony.
/ Quigley confirms him He tells you that Ward was
forced back by Butler before the pistol fred against
the wall and the door Is not this corroboration q
most important pont2 And he further says in corrobo-
ration that when Sturgus out of his room Robert
told him to stand backnot that he told him 10
related by Of the other boys The statement Of
Qugley TO the condition TO which Butler had reduced
Ward agrees exactly with that of Robert word for word
Campbell however, conradicts Qugley in regard to the
language used by Robert to Sturgus and there other
| contradictions between the boys various points
might pursue the subject further but believe it is
cessary. think have demonstrated that but little reli-
ance be placed the testimony Of these schooboys
because they do not agrecbecause Of their
tradicons-becnuse however pure their minds may be IL
comes to you through all these circumstances Of diminish
ed credit combined with the fact that they have been
long under the of Sturgus the enemy of Wardand
by that enmty verify believe the cause OF the unfor-
tunate event which occurred.
Let look at the testimony Of Robert Ward and after
what has been shown you think IL is asking say
ing too much TO claim that this il the only testimony
which has brought order out Of dsorderqven the only
connected and reasonable account of the whole ara
consistent history of the events that tran.pirednaura in
their course and leading directly TO the results that ac
tually occurred.
i You have been told that according 10 the testimony OF
this witness the accused told Butler he desired pripa,
conversation with him; but such word used rs your
own recollection of his language win readily assure you
was public Investigation he desired and when invited
into the recitation room, he declined saying No Mr.
Butler the Of which wish speak transpred
here and this s the proper place to talk of it, Could there
be anything more natural or more proper than this
There the boy whpped-there be had been called
arand there all his companions who had witnessed
4 the whole transaction.
Butler might have said Here are the bows they wit