The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1871-03-25
SATURDAY MORNING, MARCH @25. 1871.
speach Of E: B. Seabrook, Esq,
in the Porter ar6nes Case.
Gentlemen of tie Lluu:

Gentlemen Of The Juiy:s
! till be exceedingly brief in this
case, bccaGsc l will be followed by other
Counsels, who will moro fully expatiate
upon the whole matter.
The n point of this whole ~transac.
zion to which l would especially direct
your attention, that which furnishes the
key La the whole case, is this: Who made
the assault? In other words, is the story
of tho defendant, that he was GGrs.s as
sauited With a murdcrous weapon by the
deceased, true; or is the dying declara.
ton of the dead man, that he Was first
assaulted with a deadly weapon by the
prisoner at the bar, true? This is for
you to say.
Gentlemen of the, Jury, observe that
this one fsature of the transaction was
witnessed by no human eye save that Of
the deceased, aud that of the prisoner.
If you believe the stuteuiclit of the pri.
sOncI, tlicn yoti m,tst say That he was not
guilty. That sould settle the case. If,
on the other hard, you believe the dying
declaration Of Mr.. Gardner, the de.
ceased, that lie was GrSSt assaulted, your
verdict must be guilty" This is the
sole point.
Now let us consider the reasons for be.
lieriEg the one story or, the OTTER. The
only testimony for The defence upon this
one important point is the testimony Of
the defendant, his naked, unsupported
statement I will not sey = eir:ie ~2.a
to you about ths dnreliability of the tes.
tiinony of defendants generally. But, if
1t be true, gentlemen of the Jury, that
the testimony of men who are interested
is suspicious, then n .f,rtiori that is es.
pccialiy suspicious Of men who have
everything ut stake, even life itself. It
is only OF late years, ff5m humane con.
siderations. that defendants have been nj.
lowed to testify at III /; aud the fact that
the testimony on this one point for the
7aaS'sfuS ETae -rrrren assea
dti!t, is the reason Why YOU should doubt
1t. You know that men will yield to
temptation /; You have felt its power
yourselves aud | say that there eau be
presented 10 no mau, n temptation so
great as that presented to the prisoner Mt
the bar, whose liberty, and indeed, whose
life, is ut stafo. That this is true, is a
plain fact of human nature. No clio
qnence of Counsel can charm away its
truth.
Now, on the other land. what cvi.
dcnce is. there 20. support the view,
which tho prosecution advances; what
testimony to show that the prisoner
made this assault? 1t is the solemn
declaration, gentlemen, of man who
attended Chat statcttcnt repeatedly with
TIC statement that he was going to the
grave. There is no evidence either
more impressive in its character, or more
convincing, than that which falls from
the lips OF Il dl ing man. The world is
passing away from him. He is no fur
Their concerned in the affairs of time.
He has no interest to seek after, no ia.
YER TO pursue, no hatred to satisfy. All
men arc 1'igc to Vim
And not Only so, but the most trcmcn.
dous obligation, under which n human
being can stand, is already upon him.
He is about to atg..' in'q the presence Of
his Maker. If the OATH, fiat is sworn
in Tic Court upon the word of Almighty
God. bears Il solemn sanction how much.
grrrter is the obligation Of hlat %erd,
whivi is spoken, We might say, 70 the.
very ear Of God himself, into whose
prcseacc he, HSio sbcapf, is about to
step. This is nata matter OF mere
rhetoric, mere orntory. 1t is truth
naked, terrible truth. You need no or.
nnmcuts Of speech 10 irHnf@ss upon you
this sofcm1 fact. You can look forward
yourselves to the time when all the
helps of men will be stripped away, ani
you viii fec! Ga a few more revolutions
of the hand Of time will usher YOU into
eternity. You know, from your own
consciousness, that under such circum-
stances you will feel the tremendous
obligation of whatever you may do or
say t,
Moreover there is no opportunity to a
man SO situated to repent of wrongs he
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