Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-05-10
THE MCFARLAND TRIAL.
Opening of Mr.. Graham's Argumen
for the fense-McFarIand,s Al
legged Insanity brought PrOmi-
nentIy Forward.

Opening of Mr.. Graham's Rrgument
for the se-McFarIand's Al
legged Insanity brought PrOmi.
nentIy Forward.
New YORK, May 6.-The announce
ment that the counsel for the defense
would sum up to-day attracted an i'm
mense lhrong TO the courtroom this
morning. 1t Ittranspired at an early hour
that, for reasons unknown to the public,
Judge Davis would not sum up for the
prosecution, and that his connection with
the case was thus virtually ended. This
rumor caused much sensation among the
friends of Richardson, and it was un hes
itatingly asserted that outside influence
had been brought to bear to preclude
Judge Davis from summing up, as was
his intention.
When the Recorder had taken his seat,
the learned counsel for defense com
menced his closing speech amid breath
less silence. Mr. Graham said that for
years the prisoner had borne the pitiless
pelting Of misfortune and wrong, and
now he had at last refuge in a. court of
justice He had loved not wisely but too
well. The story of his woes must have
gone to the depth Of their soals. Could
have done less, and ought Inot do more 2
The allegation of the prosecution was not
that the individual who had passed to his
fate has not merited his doom, but that,
however righteous had been that doom,
he received it at the hands of an unau-
thorized agent The question then for
the jury was the mental condition of the
accused when the deed was committed
There were two incidents in the trial
well worthy of observation. One was
the appearance of private counsel in the
case; the other was the rejection of
three jurors who happened to be coun-
trymen of the prisoner, Those men
were good and respectable citizens; eli
gible as jurors, and their exclusion by
the District Attorney was utterly indie
fensible The jury would remember a
question put by the private counsel to
one of the witnesses, namely: "Was it a
Fourierite establishment that McFar-
land was living inY' Who inspired the
question? Were they to conclude that
this wicked woman betrayed the secret
entrusted to her as a wife? Other ques-
tions by the private counsel proved that
private malice was at the back of the
prosecution. Captious objections to the
course of the defense were raised at
every point When il was sought to
prove that Mrs. Mcfarland had received
the proceeds of the insurance on Rich
ardson's life, an objection was raised:
that the prisoner was prevented from
showing the motives of this wicked
woman in deserting her husband 1t was
charged that the defense had tried to
make the triai sensational, but COM
plant that the trial was monotonous,
which was made in all the papers, suffi-
ciently disproved this absurd charge.
He wished to impress upon the jury that
this was case of murder or nothing
Any such compromise as sending the
prisoner to the State Prison would be
violation Of their oaths. II upon the
whole case the jury entertained doubt
of the sanity of the prisoner they were
bound to acquit him.
Mr.. Grahams plea for the prisoner
was almost entirely devoted thus far, to
the legal and technical questions in
volved in the case, chief Importance
being given to the insanity theory of the
defense. Many authorities, precedents,
anu OulCldl ICpoIlo VI plCNAouc Ndoto NCiC
cited, by which Graham maintained
principles which would justify the ac-
quittai of the prisoner had been fully
established. Counsel entered into dis
cussion of different varieties of insanity,
claiming that if the prisoner was found
insane at the instant of shooting only, he
was not morally responsible, and must
be acquitted.
Mr.. Graham cited the Cole-Hiscock |
case, an exact counterpart of this, and
the Sickles-Key case, paying high com |
pliment to Edwin NJ. Stanton, one of the I
counsel; and the Rogers case, from Mas Z
sachusetts, in which Chief Justice Shaw /
charged the jury that the prisoner must
possess and be in the full exercise. of
memory, intelligence, reason and will to /
be morally accountable for his acts. Mr.. |
Graham said if Mcfarland meant to kill |
Richardson and was sane, he could not /
have chosen a more inauspieioas place I
than the Tribune Office, where the odds 4
were all against him.
The counsel thus far, in argument, has
not commented on the relations between
Ricbardson ard Mcfarland, the alleged |
conspiracy 10 separate Mcfarland and
his wife, and other prominent points of
Mr.. Spencers opening speech
/. a