The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-04-11
Especially reported for the Daily Exchanged
TRIAL OF DANIEL {. SICKLES,
FOR THE
MURDER CAPITALIZATION KEY
SIXTH DAYS PROCEEDINGS.

L II
SIXTH DAYS PROCEEDINGS.
CRIMINAL COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF CO
LUMBiA-JUDGE THOS. II. CRAWFORD,
PRESIDING.
WASHINGTON, April 9, 1859.
The crowd this morning more dense than on
any previous occasion, every foot of space being
occupied, and vast numbers were unable to obtain
admission. At 20 minutes past 10 o'clock Judge
Crawford came in, and the Court opened. Mr.
Sickles brought in and took his seat in the box
at Is minutes before IL.
Hon. Reverdy johnson, and several distinguish
ed New Workers, friends of Mr.. Sckles, were pres
| ent to-day.
! The jury were called and severally responded to
| their names.
Nay 1t please the Court and gentlemen of the jary:
| This is to me the time for solemn thoughts and
rise to address you, laboring from severe strue-
| Cling feeling. 1t is beautiful sentiment, better
! expressed in the Latin than in the transatons
"Amicos res opiaie pdriunt adrerse probant," pros
perity is the parent of friends, but fortune is the
| fire in which they are tried Friendship is the
most sacred of all artificial, as distinguished from
our natural attachments, it stands next to those
which by the hand of nature have been interviewer
| with the objects which she herself creates. Upon
the altar of this relation cast present offering
| 1t carries with it the JUNCTION of warm heart
may it prove to be an ecacious tribute in favor of
my client, | have been the companion of his
sunshine; | am now called here to partici-
pate in the gloom of his present aflction Trouble
is mysterious visitor; it seems to be the unshun-
nable doom of man. 1t has been well said that al
though safiiction cometh not forth from the dust,
neither doth trouble spring out of the ground'-
| that ''man is born unto trouble the sparks iy
| upward'-that same great influence which has i'm
pressed laws upon all the departments of creation
which has studded the heavens with their fires and
| hOmndary lin hafuanp tba Io, o,l
the night-that same great influence which stretch
es over the face of nature verdures green mantle,
and again suppants it with the less pleasing dress
of winter-that same great influence which has des-
ignaed the time for the dropping of the leaves and
the falling of the sparrows, is the will which guides
the hand that holds the rod with which, in this life
we are punished. AS we pass through the proceed
| ings in which are here engaged, may we be per-
| mtted to reach the result which confidently an
ticipate, the congratulaton of this defendant for
this ordeal through which he has passed. "Be-
hold, happy is the man whom God correcteth;
therefore despise not thou the chastening of the
| Almighty. He maketh sore and he bindeth up; he
woundeth and his hands make whole. He shall de-
liver thee in six troubles, yea in there shall
| no evil touch thee"
few weeks since, the body of human being
was found in the throes of death, in one of the
streets of your city. 1t proved to be the body of
confirmed and habitual adulterer. On day too
| when he was forbidden to moisten his brow with
| the stain of honest labor-on day when he should
have risen above the grossness of his>nature-and
though on other DAYS he had sent his aspirations
heavenwards, he should have allowed them then to
pass in that direction-we find him besiegng with
the most evil intentions that castle where for their Sc
curity and repose, the law had placed the wife and
| child of his neighbor. Had he observed the solemn
| precept, Remember the Sabbath day to keen it
| holy" he might at this moment have formed one of
! the living. The injured father and husband rushed
upon him in the moment of his guilt, and under the
! influence OF a frenzy, executed upon him a judg-
| ftt-hI mat MI
issue which you are to decide here is whether this
act renders its author amenabe to the laws of the
land. In the decision of this issue, gentle
men men OF the, the jury you have deep and
price of the marriage bed; you are here to
say in what estimation that sacred couch is
held by an honest and intelligent American jury
| You favored citizens You live in the CITY
| which constitutes the seat of Federal Govern
ment-a city consecrated to liberty above all Others
but not to the liberty of the libertne-a city bear
ing the name of the illusrious Washington, "the
| father of his country" of whom it has been en-
phatcally and truly said, that he was "irst in war;
first in peace and first in the hearts of his country
men, ou may feel pity in reviewing the oc-
currence, for the life which has been taken; you
| may regret the necessity which constrained that
event. But while you pity the dead, remember al
| so, that You should extend commisseraton to the
| living. You know not how soon the wife or daugh
ter of some of you might be-in fact, you know not
but what they had already been--marked by the same
eyes which destroyed the marriage relations of this
| defendant. You know not how soon the gardens of
| loneliness over which you now preside had that
life been spared, would have been called upon to
yield their flowers to satisfy the Unsuitable appetite
| OF the deceased To interfere with the marriage
relation, must strike every rejecting mind as the
greatest wrong that can be commi tied upon human
being. 1t has been we'll said that afiliction, shame,
! poverty, captivity, are preferable,-and | do not
know that can express the sentiment more happily
| than in reciting the lines which the great drama
tlst has placed in the mouth of the Moor, the
| supposed discovery of the Inconsistency of Desde-
mona
"lIad it pleased Heaven
To try me with affction; had he iained
All kinds of sores and shame my bare head;
STEPPED ME in poverty to the very lips;
Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes;
should have found in part Of my soul
drop of patience; but talas,l to make
A fixed figure for the hand of scorn
To point his slow, unerring finger at
| o. o.
! Yet could bear that too we'll very well
But there where have garnered up my heart.
Where either must live or bear no life
The fountain from the which my current rurs
Or else dried up; to be discarded thence
Or keep it as a cistern for foul toads
To knot and gender in! Turn thy complexion there,
Patience! thou young and rose lippd cherubium.-
Ay, there, look grim as hell"
You are here, gentlemen of the jury. to decide
whether the defender of the marriage bed is a mur
derer-whether he is to be put upon the same foot
ing with the first murderer, and is to be presented
in his moral and legal aspects with the same hue OF
aggravation of heart. Gentlemen the murderer is s
most detestable character. Far be it from me tc
justify him before this any other jury. Societ,
cannot, 1t ought not, to contain him. Calm cold
calculating, he saves his malice as the miser saves
his treasure. His bosom is the vault in which he
deposits it. Age possesses no claim upon his
consideration, nor'does sex interfere with hin
in the execution of his bloody purpose. II
the very air he sees his weapon, and it marsha
him in the way he is going. He selects some obec
of innocence for his victim, and he chooses some
lonely spot for the perpetration of his horrid deed
In the drapery of the night he wraps himself and
the hour, when over onehalf the world nature
seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtaineC
sleep, he steals forth to the accomplishment of hi
bloody design. Afraid of his own movements, ht
is compelled to address the earth itself in the Ian
guage OF supplcation, and entreat it not to hea
his steps, which way they walk, for fear the yer,
stones pirate of his purpose Between the act which
has placed the defendant in his present position
and the act OF criminal like that, if you can trace
any similarity, it will be for you to institute ant
perfect the comparison. 1t is not in my power.
There are some other matters to which shall
very briefly allude, before l proceed to the dis
cast upon me by the concurrence of my learned as
sociatcs upon the part of the defence; and the ONLY
regret | can experience in entering upon the dis
charge OF this duty, is that / shall be called upol
to impose upon you a heavier task than, unde
| other circumstances, would be reconcilable will
propriety. There are some features in thi
trial, gentlemen, which to be borne il
, mind by you at this time. In the first place
"ost cAlTdoTuindry occurrence CansplreQ IN tht
empanelling Of the very body which is composed b,
yourselves. You have heard the explanation @
the learned prosecutor for this county, for tn
$ course he then pursued; and you were called upol
to witness the moving spectacle-for the Court hat
no alternative but to administer the law-of tn
son of misfortune being thrust from his rights fo
no other reason than because he had the misfortun
to be poor. 1t does not speak strongly in favor O
the intelligence of the law; but you will remembe
how strongly his Honor, upon the bench expresses
himself at the time he was forced to sustain thes
objections, because he evidently desired to avo
infiicting anguish upon the bosoms of these unfor
a tunate men. You will remember how tenderly hi
Honor expressed himself at the time he felt calle
h upon to sustain the objections. | say it speaks no
strongly in favor of the law; and from what trans
pired at the time these objections were discussed be
fore the Court it appears that this particular lay
5 has about 1t the errors of a centurys age.
Another feature to be regarded about this tria
the appearance of extra counsel upon the part
the prosecution. am informed that extra counse
have not been assigned in this bv the act of tn
government, and it will be for you to say, althoug
; there may be legal proprietv in the appearance
extra COUNSEL how far the exigencies in this case jus
ty the appearance of extra counsel upon this occa
: sion. Another feature in this case to be borne
mind by this jury is the extraordinary character
the opening by the learned counsel for the govern
. ment 1t was an albeit an eloquent produc
tion. 1t reflected credit upon the mind from whic
o IL emanated, for it was stamped with high orde
of ability But it will be for you to say, when yo
pass that opening in review before your minds
whether or not it was warranted by tn
humanity which should ever attach itself to HI
: position. You will remember the extraord