The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-09-24
CLOSING ADDRESS TO THE JURY.

man inspected in his life, and unstainel in his
CLOSING ADDRESS TO THE JURY.
Hon William p Frys At,,rns,,-GsosroJ
addressed the Jury as follows;
May it please the court and gentlemen of
the Jury; Ordinarily our lives as citizens of
the Republic glide away pleasantly and peace
fully. Our labors are filled with love; our
burdens are borne for wives and children, and
are felt lightly by us. But now and then
there comes time in the lives of each of US
when we feel what ii is TO be ciizel Of the
Republic-when we know what it is TO bear
thu burdens of citizenship. That time gentle
men has come to YOU now, a1d to me, md 1t
IS our duty to do .ha, and o bear oursel-
yes mani lily. There is to-day sleeping in yOn-
der graveyard one of the nObest-one of the
pe9t-one Oh the purest states men our county
ever has known. 1t came to him TO know
what 1t was TO be cizeR of this Repu Ilic;
him to sit as you now sit, a Juror in the
trial of cause of mag itIde involving the in
terests perhaps the safety of his country, and
he felt the burden which was laid npon him,
which bowed him into the We y dust of the
earth. But gentlemen he iemembered the
laws of his countTy-he RENE inferred e Con-
stitution and he dared to do right. He dared
to do no wrong. To-day while the grass Is
just springing over his fresh grave The crown
>
the brightest jewel in his diaGem is that he
listened to the whispers Of conscience, the
vol e of God.
Gentlemen, what we have got to do to-day
is TO ,lare to do right and listen as he did to
the voice of conscience the voice of God. L
trust that we may all be able to do it. come
in my official capacity here to Jrosechte this
case, with no feeling as | know my own heart
except to do my simple duty, and nothing
moro, hope nothing less. L dare not allow
myself TO wish Tor the qualification of ambi-
ton 10 win a verdict from jury. L should
be guilty Of murder myself if L dared to ask
you to do in this case that which L do not be-
lieve on my conscience to be right L dare
not ask you to do that which L believe on my
conscience to be wrong. L came with no i'll
will to the prisoner at the bar-God knows
pity him, sympathize with him. L pity his
wife, pity his little children, and l would
not injure or harm a hair of his head. You
come here with no purpose but to do your
duty Gentlemen may you have strength TO
do it, withou. fear.
1t is charged upon the prisoner at the bar
that he murdered Patrick Murray. 1 shall
argue to you, gentlemen, under a full sense
of my responsibility, that he is guilty Of muir
der. What is murder? IL Is the unlawful
taking of human life, with malice afore-
| thought. Then there may be lawful taking
of human life? Certainly-as in case OF war,
/ DIS Ill case Oi an exeCuIlOu VI "a CTluliudl,
| sentence by the proper officers. There may
be taking OF human life when it is done by
accident, as when a mau fires gun and the
| bullet glances. There may be taking oil hui
man life in selfdefence. There may be a JUS
| tihcation In taking the lie Of a man to pre-
vent his committing felony, murder, rape,
or arson,-but it must be only when there is
| reason to suppose that he is committing
| felony. Now, gentlemen, it seems to me that
| the great trouble in these cases among men
who are not used to the phrases of law, arises
| flom an enTIfe understanding OF what the
word malice means, and Of what the word IN
tent means. For instance you are told thit-
the man did not intend to commit murder,
and the question arises with you how he can
| be guilty of that which he did not intend.
| And again it is asked how he can be guilty of
malice when there is no indication of malice
towards the man whom perhaps he never saw
before-using the word in the sense OF hatred,
/ or disposition to do wrong, because you
hate man. The word malice, in law, means
no such thing. The man who kills another
| by throwing beam from the top OF his house
| into crowded street, commits murder, and
| does it with a murderous intention, and he
| mag be convicted of murder though he had
| never spoken to the man, or entertained the
idea until the very moment of the act; as in
| this case we aliege that the prisoner did the
moment he threw Murray down stairs.
Here the Atty. Gen. read from numerous
reported cases, and interspersed his reading
with running comments of his own applying
| the legal principles to the case at the bar.
| The counsel for the defense says that you
| cannot consider the question OF manslaughter
in the case at all. do not see how you can
| consider the case without that question oc-
curing to you. If the hypothesis is correct
that the prisoner threw this man. Murray,
down those stairs and killed him. it is either
murderer it is manslaughter. If done without
sufficient provocation it is murder, and if done
with sufficient provocation il is mansla lighter
and that is for you to say
If a man strikes another with deadly
weapon without sufficient provo:ation it is
mnder;if lie strikes him with tone upon
the skull and brushes il, it is tue same Thing.
If he throws a mans bead upon stoae and
| crushes it,, it is the same thing. If the throw
| ing OF a nan from the height OF twelve feet,
and across the width of ten feet upon bard
solid floor is likely 10 kill i'm then the doing
Of that is the striking of mIn with deadly
weapon in the law. II you find that Murphy
threw Murray down that flight OF sta rs SO
| that he did not strike from the top ulIi. he
| reached the bottom o. the stairs, aud the
fracture OF his sku was produced and the
| fracture caused the breaking of Al artery so
tht' he died frt IN it and there was no sufti-
| cient provocation to Murphy to do that act il
| IS murder, and if there was Efficient provOca-
ton it vas manslaughter, lust as much muir
lea rs il he had taken pistol and deiibeIate-
lv shot at Murray. What are the chances?
| Would y on let a man file pistol twenty leet
rom you and take Your chance OF being kill
ed, rather than be thrown head Tor. most
some ten, twelve, or fifteen feet down flight
| OF stairs like this?
Ii Murphy threw Murray down stairs, it
q m nj mo m lar ~
there is no justifabe homicide about it.
Now with the permission of the court, I
propose 10 read some law and TO G. tie some
cases which 1 find in the books in
order to illustrate these propositions which
have laid down. 1t may weary you gentle
men OF the jury, but in case of this magni-
tude we must be willing TO bear something of
that. 1t is very desirable that there should
be no misunderstanding in this case.
| Why are you so anxious now, ana why do L
| feel so different from what do when trying a
civil cause? IL is because it concerns the life
| OF man. Why does the law regard the life of
| a man? The law takes the life of this man
| and encloses it In citadel, ard builds wall
| all round it, and says 10 the government you
| shall break through this wall and break down
the citadel itself before you shall ind the life
| OF this man. 1t encloses him in almost inn
| pregnable armor; it does not leave one single
unbaptised spot. The law saws that the gov
eminent shall break every link Of the chain,
break through the armor, before you touch the
| life within. The law says whoever negligently
| takes the life of fellow-man is guilty Of man
slaughter. The law says that if a man reck-
lessly throws timber from the roof of q house
| and person be killed thereby 10 Is murder.
| The law watches over the lives of meu and
| holds them sacred.
Gentlemen, it is safe for you and for me to
go to onr nice hotels, pay our high prices, re-
| ceve the care and attention which our money
| commands; but, Mr.. Foreman, when poor
| man and stranger enters the city, be is
| often obliged to go to your lowest hotels,
which are full of danger and replete with cru
city and brutality. When they 20 into those
hotels they take their lives into their hands,
| and their only safety is in their landlord and
| in the care which he may give them. These
poor emgrants are under the protection Of the
| law; they are entitled to the protection of the
| law; and il is your duty to teach those land
| lords that a reckless, brutal assault cannot be
made upon men who on account of their pow
erty are obliged to resort to this class Of public
houses. Now we are trying this case not
so much to punish this man as to sustain the
law which throws its protection around every
class of the community, the humblest as well
as the highest.
Now, gentlemen. as to the degrees of murder.
l admit do not understand the difference IN
| degrees. / admit that they are somewhat mis-
| ty to me. do understand apd have learned Dy
bitter experience that the degrees OF tue crime
of murder are as various as tne cAses tuen,
| selves Tn INV own experience have sat by and
LaarS tha nrssent distinguished Judge of this
Tonrt nv "a prosecuting officer, man tor the
| ha month after month and