Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-12-06
Jury:
SEVENTH DAY-MONDAY.

The Court came in at 0 80.
The jury were in their seats and the prison
er was in the dock.
The court room was not so densely filled at
the hour of opening, as some previous
mornings, but the hours passed by the
crowd of spectators steadily increased, until
at the time when Nr. Pillsbnry closed his ar
gument, the room was crowded to its utmost
capacity.
The Court, Cat 8: 4O-)You may proceed
Mr.. Libbey-May it please your Honor, 1
understand my associate desires to have
brought in the articles of clothing to be exhib-
tied as evidence in the case at the commence
ment.
The Court-The officer having them in
charge can do so.
The trunk containing them was brought
in.
AT precisely 945, the Hon. f. F. Pills
bury, one of the counsel for the defense, arose
and said -
very opening.
May ii please your Honor and gentlemen of
the Jury:-I am painfully impressed with the re-
sponsibilty resting upon me IN attempting to
make a last appeal in behalf Of this unfortunate,
tempest tossed prisoner, to you. Would that
were possessed of that wealth of wisdom, that
power of eloque that would enable me to per-
form this solemn duty, in a manner betting the
magnitude of the issues involved. lie stands at
the bar, stranger among strangers, charged
with crime involving his life. His lite has been
a lie of tempest and storm-of sorrow and suf-
fering-more than generally falls to the lot of
man; and death, stripped of the terrors
that is sought to be thrown around it, might
well be welcomed by him as haven OF rest. VI
him it may truly be said that imam is born to
trouble as the sparks fly upward"
Born Of humble parents, early cast upon his
ait no % oil
life has been deprived Of parents, of brother, OF
sister, of first one wife, second wife, child;
aud last, last wife-the sole object Of his atfec-
tons upon earth, who after leading him lite OF
bitterness, has at last compelled him to drink to
the dregs the bitterest cup that Is possible fur u
wife to present to a husbands lips. Aud when,
amidst this storm of trouble, in moment OF
frenzy, he strikes down the pollutor of his mar
riage bed and the destroyer Ut his peace, TOR this
act he is arraigned here, aone-with no friend
to encourage, to sit by him and counsel him,
frendless and alone, alone, with the government
with its strong arm stretched out seeking to send
him to m infamous death upon the glllo@s,
his body, to a dishonored grave, above which
the flowers shall never bloom, but instead the
winds, laden with the excavations of mankind
shill forever hiss.
God help me to do my Duty in this hour of
his peril.
Gentlemen, your duties are responsible; prob
ably in all your lives you will never again have
such responsibilities resting upon you as are now
The issues you are trying here are the issues of
life and death. You may he said to be treading
the courts Of death; tread lightly TREAD LIGHT
LY the cords you are to touch here are the
hearts-trings Of fellow being Touch them
tenderly. The powers you IRE exercising here
are the nearest approach to the attributes OF the
Great Judge of All,-that are ever exercised
upon earth; and as you hope for mercy before
Him, judge in mercy, remembering that III all
the earth, before Hun, none are guiltless-not
one, NOT ONE and however guilty this man may
be-. the only difference between him and you
ami me, is hat difference in degree
Impressed with the weight Of responsibility
resting upon us all, and with the solemnity OF