The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-16
LEGAL INTELLIGEN CE.
The wnllams HOm,cido-sl1th Day.

ant District Attorney.
Mr.. WOrrell continued for the defense, and
Gentlemen of the Jury:-I congratulate you,
gentlemen, that we are about ending this case.
evident desire 10 understand the facts as laid
before YOU You are the jury that we have
selected out OF great number presented to u.s.
with the sole view as to your intelligence and
your integrity. We selected you each indi-
vidually, because we believed that you were
the best and most competent TO pass upon the
grave questions presented to you; and may
say here-without any desire or disposition
to fatter you-that have never seen in this
county, in the Court of over and Terminer,
as intelligent body of men as l now have the
honor of addressing. 1t is hardly necessary for
me to call to your minds that you nave sworn,
in the presence of Almighty God, TO pass upon
this case according to the facts as presented to
you from that boX-upon the facts of the case,
and the facts alone. Your minds are not to be
influenced by theories, faint doctrines, coniec-
lures, or inferences-you are to pass simply
upon the facts as presented and upon them
alone Our position in this case. as l under
stand it, has been one of great and fearful re-
sponsiDilily. 1t is not one such / would
voluntarily assume; as a lawyer, it is not one
such as l would refuse to occupy. We
are here, 1 will say, not as paid ad-
ration have we received or do we expect
TO receive. The poor man-the stout-hearted
hour of trials too poor to fee an advocate.
He wanted and desired, and he had the right
to have, q lawyer to defend his case. My
humanity and my colleagues were appealed to,
and we are here to discharge our ability to the
best of our ability. have gone into this case
with great deal of care. For months past l
have looked at it, turned 1t over in my mind,
looked at it from every possible standpoint
and the more time l occupied in revising
it, the more l considered IL, the more
determined in my own mind, as stand here
in the presence of my Maker, was driven to
the conclusion that this man Gotlieb Williams
was as innocent of the charge preferred against
him as ! myself. We are to investigate this
case not from any outside clamor, nor from any
outside pressure or outside preiudices. We are
TO determine upon 1t, as l have said before, by
tne 1actS presented ana theSe alone; On the
other side of the bar prosecuting for the Com
monwealth we have the ablest lawyer, the best
criminal lawyer perhaps in the United States
in cages of this Kind al 16sn any ia%geP
that can call to mind. For nearly fifteen
years his legal mind has been matured in the
trial of cases of this kind and this character.
He is aided by a gentleman who also has had
considerable experience in cases OF this kind
and character. You will observe that the Dis
trict Attorney has sought to present this case
to you not alone upon the facts, but by all the
inuendoes, by all the inferenceS that he could
get that could not come from the legitimate
channels OF the witnesses. OF that l
complain, and with justice. he, as the
prosecuting officer of the Commonwealth,
should try fairly and calmly. There should
be no undue pressure brought in. He should
try him according to the facts and according to
| the law. Our law admits of presumptive evil
| dence, and allows it to be taken as rule, but
| that it must be admitted with caution. There
| is what is called a violent presumption. Where
! all the circumstances exist that usually point
! to the fact and deed, reason and experience
| there may be all the circumstances that usually
attend the fact without the fact itself. Ex-
! perience eonVinces us that such has been
! the To illustrate my meaning
! Men have been found upon the very scene IN
! dicating murder, footprints, marks of a strug-
! gle upon the ground or floor, blood stains
| covered them, q portion OF the persons gar
! menus lying tnere saturated Win Dlooo, ana
! yet the body of the person supposed to be MUIR
! dered missing, all the circumstances that
! usually attend the facts of murder, without the
| evidence OF the body; and the man arrested,
! with all these circumstance strongs upon him,
! unable to account for his position, has been
convicted, Not one but scores, with such strong
presumptive evidence against them have been
convicted, with their last breath asserting their
! innocence, and after time the person sup
| posed to have been murdered has return ed.
! That, gentlemen, is presumptive evidence; but
on abstract principles conclusion and certainty
| cannot be drawn from presumptive proof,
| because in the case of the most violent pre-
! sumption there is still the possibility of innO-
cence' anu Where unere is posslDlllIy OF lnno-
! cence there is doubt, and where there is a
| doubt you cannot convict. You are bound To
acquit; you are bound to give the prisoner the
| benefit of every reasonable doubt that arises
the doctrine Of eydenee
ought to be positive whereas the just conclu-
sion is, that where you cannot help Suspecting
! you ought to suspect still, but no more. 1t
would be curious question in arithmetic to
| determine how many uncertainties go TO make
Fcertainty. How many possibilities how
| many conlectures-how many lnterences.
drawn from circumstances, would make GER
| tainty? Ten thousand thousand posi- sbilities,
| ten thousand InOuSanu PROBABILITIES, can never
make dead certainty-can never reach dead
level certainty: In homely phrase, "a miss is
| as good as q mile" "
Mr.. Worrell quoted at length from medical
| authority, and showed conclusively that the
| dimensions OF the corpuscles of the human
blood after it had dried. The Commonwealth
have not offered TO rebut that Mrs. Miller COM
| Initted suicide. There were no maaks of a
| struggle in the room. The sun.bonnet on the
table was finely sprinlSled with blood. On
the wall was one spirit of blood which had ran
Il hn hah nd M
finger stains on the bonnet as II
hands had been wiped on it. No blood on the
| floor except that in the immediate vicinity of
| the head and shoulders. The money in the
! pocket-boo in the drawer of the dresser, was
found undistuTbed Mr.. Mann in summing up
the case, sald ne entered, struck blow, a
scream, which Mrs, Neff hears; pause, another
blow, another scream, which Mrs. Neff hears; a
| pause, another blow, scream; he goes to the
dresser, takes out the razor and cuts her throat.
Mr.. Miller cannot identity the razor, but
there himself smears it with blood,
and lays It down by her side. A cold
hearted william must he be VINO would do such
| a thing as thau The murderer would have had
sufficient time to get the money and escape.
and to lock the alleys after him, If that had
| been the object. The screams, as testified to,
were screams of pain, not of terror. What is
| there inconsistent with the theory OF suicide on
| thls uayI ehe nau lost niece. VINO can say
these losses being alone, how these things,
| operating upon her mind, might have infiu-
enced herr She may have been taken with
| Mysteries, may have taken the razor in a
| moment OF desperation, and drew IL across her
throat, fell against the table, and hence the
slight stains upon the bonnet, and then reeling,
| fell and struck herself on the forehead, and
| then railing over, infiict the other wounds, and
| fall down in the original position in which
| she was found. Gotieib Williams, a cripple,
| paralyzed on one side, was not capable OF
| assaulting woman who was asSstrong as she is
| represented. One push would have sent him
| down, and he would have been unable to
| get up without assistance. She could nave
called for help. A ring is missing 1t was a
| very common, ordinary ring, valuable only
| from association. There may have been some
| hallucination about this ring. There is nothing
| inconsistent with the theory that she said, 81