The daily press. (Cincinnati [Ohio) 1859-1859, 1859-04-11
OF DANIEL E. SICKLES,
CHARGED WITH THE
Murder OF Philip Barton Key.

first shot came from him. As to the two KEYS
found in the pocket of the deceased, the idea is
that they were those of the house in Fifteenth
street, and if so, that circumstance will be put
in evidence.
Two letters from Mr.. Key to Mr.. Sickles, one
Indignantly denouncing the insinuations made
with respect to the familiarity with Mrs.
Stckles, and the other accepting q subsequent
invitation to dinner, will be offered in the evil
dence. If not admitted, the counsel will make
use of them in the argument for the jury.
The pressure for admission becomes greater
as the case progresses. Many persons are pres
ent from New York, among whom We notice
John Kelly, Sheriff; Hon. John Cochrane, John
Clancy, County Clerk; Captain Bowling and
Owen W. Brennan.
Mr.. Bagioli, the father of Mrs. Sckles. has
returned to New York.
TheCourt opened at quarter-past ten o'clock.
After some delay tho prisoner was conducted
into Court and placed in the dock where he
was engaged for some time in n conference
with Messrs. Brady, Stanton and Reverdy
johnson.
The jurors were called and answered TO their
names.
Mr.. Graham proceeded to address the iury
amid the solemn silence and attention of the
whole Court.
Mr.. Graham said, after an eloquent preface,
had Mr.. Key observed tho solemn precent.
remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy"
he might at this moment have formed one of
the living; the injured father and husband rushed
on him in the moment of his guilt, and under
the influence of a frenzy, executes on him n
Judgment which was as just as it was summary.
The issue which you are here to decide Is,
whether this act renders its author amenable
to the laws of the land In the decision of
that issue, gentlemen of the jury, you have a
deep and solemn interest. You are here to fix
the 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 may feel pity in reviewing this
occurrence for the life that has been taken; you
may regret the necessity which constrained
that event, but while you pity the dead, re-
member also that you should extend com
miseraton to the living. That life, taken
away as 1t was, may prove to be your and my
gain. You know not how soon the wife or
daughter of some one of you had been,
in fact you know not but she had been,
marked by the same eyes that destroyed the
marriage relations of this defendant.
You knew not how soon the gardens of love-
illness over which you now preside, had that life
been spared, would have been called upon to
supply their flower to satisfy the Unsuitable appe-
tte of the deceased.
An interference with the marriage relations
must strike every rejecting mind as the greatest
wrong that can be committed on human being
1t has been we'll said that affliction shame, pow
erty and captivity are preferable, and do not
know that 1 can express the sentiment more
ably than in reciting the lines which the great
dramatist has placed in the mouth of the Moor,
on the supposed discovery of the Inconsistency Of
his Desdemona.
You are here to decide whether the defender
of the marriage-bed is murderer; whether he
is to be put on the same footing as the first mur-
derer, and is to be presented in his moral and
legal aspects with the same hue of aggravation
about him.
Mr.. .Grahamreviewedth the opening speech of the
District Attorney in which he spoke of Siokles
going out to carnival of blood; of him being
a walking magazine, and of him standing over
his bleeding and dying victim with his pistol
IN his hand. The arms that the prisoner at
the bar had seen, were not so dangerous to the
community as were the opera glass and the
handkerchief that the deceased carried for the
purpose of destroying the domestic peace and
honor of the prisoner. The world was bene-
flied by the death of such man as Philip Bar
ton Key.
During this part of the speech the father of
Mr.. Sickles wept, and many other persons were
moved to tears.
Mr.. Graham proceeded to cite various legal
authorities in regard to the various degrees of
crime OF murder and manslaughter. 1t was for
the jury to inquire whether the prisoner, at the
time he shot the deceased, was moved by a
violent and sudden passion which he could not
control.
If this should be proved to their satisfaction,
he was not accountable to the law for the deed
he had done. They should inquire and decide
from the testimony to be brought before them,
whether the prisoners mind was not tempo
rarily disordered by the appalling discovery
of the destruction of his wife's virtue. The
prisoner was not guilty of crime, because when
he slew the deceased he was then defending
his household and vindicating an infamous
wrong. In causing the death of one man he
was probably the means of preventing the
death of many who might be tempted to COM
NIT the same crime that the deceased had. If
this ofense were to go unpunished where So
ciety had not protected man from injury by
proper laws, it was the duty of each member of
society to protect himself. He should protect
himself as much against an adulterer as q
burglar. Human laws in all civilized coun-
tries allow man to kill burglar whom he
may discover breaking into his house at night.
The laws sanction the killing of burglar, and
the same authority must sanction the redress of
a far greater injury done by the adulterer.
Mr.. Graham read part of the English law
on the subject, citing the statute of Edward the
First, which makes adultery deadly sin. He
also cited the laws of Massachusetts, Ohio, Vir-
ginia and Pennsylvania, the only States where
adultery is legally punishable. He contended
that Key was trespasser on the home of
Sickles, and that Sickles had perfect right to
punish him, as he would have the right to pun
ish any other trespasser. He denied that the
counsel for the prosecution should prove that
there was malice in the killing, and not leave it
to be implied If they imply, they will fail to
make out their case. The defense need not 20
further. If malice is not proved, the jury
could acquit the prisoner. On the evidence
thus far adduced, jury of twelve Indian saw
ages would Indignantly repel the idea of con-
viction. The prosecution must prove that there
was malice, and the jury can not build a verdict
of guilty on the presumption of thing which
does not exist 1t is tragic thing to shed
blood, but it is not always tragic thing to
shed tho blood of an adulterer. 1t had been
proved by the evidence for the prosecution that
Key had defled the bed of the prisoner at the
bar; the latter had admitted that he was so
wronged, and he had ample proof of it.
The defense might there rest the case and
demand the acquittal of the prisoner, on the
ground of having proved the adulterous inter-
coursej but they would not stop here. They
intend to present to the jury facts of adulterous
proceedings of the deceased, with all their
revolting details; proving that at the very
time that Kew was engaged in than ha was