American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-05-08
VOLUME 4.
THE ARLINGTON HOMICIDE
MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL.
TrEspAY. April %, 1867.

TUESDAY, April %, 1867.
The Court met pursuant to adjourn
ment. John b. Arlington was brought
into Court by the Sheriff, at } p. m.
Gen. j. n. Purviance, on behalf OF
defendant, said it seldom happens that
we are called upon to argue a motion for
new trial where the consequences are
of such magnitude as they are in the
present one We had occupied two weeks
time in the examination of witnesses ;
and there were so many questions in re-
gard to the admission Of the testimony OF
some fifty witnesses, that the degrees of
homicide was almost entirely lost sight
of. The community, who had read the
evidence carefully and calmly, were
shocked at the verdict of the jury. No
one anticipated such verdict as was ren~
dered. The offence was committed du-
ring a general fight in hot and angry
blood. and not with that deliberation ne
cessary to warrant a jury in rendering a
verdict of guilty Of murder in the first
degree.
Cunningham and Teeple commenced
the fight, and were the prime cause of
their own deaths. Oliver, as landlord,
had the right, and it was his duty to en-
ter the sitting room at the time the fight
was in progress, for the purpose of quel-
ling the disturbance. He was instantly
Knocked down by Cunningham and the
fight became general During its pro
eress-within three or four minutes-the
two men, Cunningham and Teeple, re-
ceived their death wounds The time
was too short in which to deliberate and
determine TO commit murder in the first
degree. It could not have been more
than marslaughter. Homicide commit.
ted in the prevention Of an attrocious
crime is iustiflblc, If Teeple and Gun
ningham were killed in preventing them
from numbering John Oliver or others,
the crime would not be murder in the first
degree. Under all the facts and circum-
stances Of the case it was not murder in
The first degree. If the killing occurred
in the heat Of blood upon a sudden quar-
rel. when the whole party had been at
tackled, it would not be murder in the
first degree The whole evidence in this
case went against the presumption that
there was deliberate malice. The whole
party was aggrieved and insulted by the
acts of those who were killed in the affray
they had raised. The defendants wife
was at the party, and the insults and men
aces of the deceased against the ladies' and
gentlemen of the entire party, tended TO
exasperate Addingtou as we'll as Others
against them. This fact should destroy
the presumption of deliberate malice and
reduce the grade Of the crime. At most
this case could not be of higher grade
than murder in the secons degree-the
facts would not Justify verdict beyond
that of manslaughtor.
The zeal of counsel sometimes carried
them too far in cases Of this kind. Some
thirty years ago he lPurviance) was Dis
trict Attorney, and had pressed the con-
viction of a defendant, in a much stronger
case than the facts in this case present,
for murder in the first degree. After
the Jury retired, Judge Gilmore, who was
counsel for defense, said to me, "you
have pressed a conviction for murder in
the first degree; the facts only warrant
conviction in the second the jury will
find him guilty in the first, and the re.
sponsibility will rest on you" The jury
found the defendant guilty in the second
degree, and | think they were right. May
not the counsel for the Commonwealth in
this c9se have gone too far in urging a
conviction for murder in the first degree!
We think they have.
Mr.. Purviance cited the following au~
thorities, and commented fully upon
them:
Crown Circuit Companion, pages Al,
442, 446: Smiths Laws, Pa, vol. 3, P
1S7, sec. 8; American Criminal Law, p.
493-Sd edition, p. 43S; 1 Blackstone's
commentaries, PIP. IA, $50, 1873, lS4, 100,
I91, 1913; Am Grim L., Sd edition, PIP.
43S, 439, 440, AL, 442, 443, 444, AS,
446, 45S, AGO, 46l; 1 Barr, 266; Am.
Grim. l., edition, Pr. 7lO, III, 932.
$40, 966, 971, 987, 9S9.
Webster's definitions:
I" Malice.-E Extreme enmity of heart,
or mslevolence; a disposition to injure
others without cause, from mere personal
qualification, or from a spirit of revenge;
unprovoked malignity or spite.
Prepense.-preconceived, ,premeditated
-aforethought. Malice prepense is ne>
cessary to constitute murder.-(Bl.)
Premedtate.-To think, consider, or
revolve in the mind beforehand; to delib>
crate; to have formed in the mind by
previous thought or meditation"
He knew their honors would consider
well the grave question presented for their
consideration, and which duty requires
them to- decide. In every view of the
evidence, and applying it to the princi,
Piles of law referred 10, he submitted
whether it was possible to sustain the
verdict, for the testimony in its worst as
pect for the prisoner reduces the offence
TO manslaughter or murder in the second
degree. Their hoRors had but to keep
In view the definition of the different
degrees of homicide to see that, in this
case, it was not murder IN the first de-
gree. To constitute the crime in its high
est grade, it must have been committed
wiifully and deliberately, and upon pre-
meditation and with malice atorethought
All the evidence establishes the fac
clearly, aud beyond doubt, that the de
L. I ( "