The New York herald., 1872-12-25
THE IRISH-ANDERSoN TRIAL.
Charge>ef Judge Pratt to the Jury-What II
Meant by . Reasonable Doubt-Was . Crime
Committed When Edward o. Andsr-
son Died 4Rstiremsnt Of the Jury

At the opening OF the Court Of Oyer and Termi-
ner, Brooklyn, at ten O'Clock yesterday morning.
great crowd was present to Astsn to the address OF
District Attorney Winchester Britton to the jury
on behalf OF the people. A large Number N ladies
were In the audience.
Mr. Brittons address was philosopsicHlly cIabor-
ate and dignifed. He spoke for HearIy three
hours and ct the conclusion Of his remarks tine
Court took q recess
After recess Judge Pratt proceeded to ci9Sge the
jury. Judge Pratt said:-
THE CHARGE TO THE JURY.
GENTLEMEN or THE JURY-This important eial
Is now drawing to q close. 1t Is important To the
this trial; 1t Is important TO the community be-
cause che good order OF society depends npon g
and punishment Shall be meted out when 1t is
proven that crimes have been committed. For
thirteen days you have listened to this evidence
with great care and attention. and you have been
aided in It's explanation by counsel upon both
sides, whose Skill learning and experience are not
briefly state to you the rules OF law applicable to
TINS case. l need not remind you as intelligent
or decision Of ts case rests unoa vow anu You
alone, and the law requires that you approach
the consideration OF il without any prejudice
sss all Eo%y ss tas law
two kinds Of proof, IS has been stated 70 you.
goes upon the stand and testifes to what he knows
OF has own knowledge. In that case tho jury have
r. his eence sser 1s u &
and determine In their own minds whether or not
his story Is credible Then the law recognizes
another kind Of evidence. which is termed oircum-
stantlal evidence, which recognizes and allows
proof OF iacts other than TACT charged or which
fact upon the @ principle Of '1s cause y and and
effect as to LEAD the mind to the conclusion that
the TACT charged Is true: This kind OF evidence Is
OF matter and motion and tho habits and consti.
tuition OF man. and upon which mankind rely for
nnat tinlNs. rfurNf
II has this disadvantage, that the jury have .
double duty to perform in considering IT. The jury
facts are proven, but It Is their duty to draw the
right inference from the iacts that they find to be
proven, SSt NOW alter the jury have determined
ences they VIII draw from all the circumstances,
the law has laid down this rule lin order to'con-
vict In criminal case that all tue circumstances
must be taken together, giving as much weight to-
the circumstances found proven on the part OF the
The rule Is that all the circumstances taken
together must be such as to exclude any
"a Enc that Of the
said before. results from not drawing the right in
ferences from the iacts when they find thOm
Is Did Edward o. Anderson die from the effects Of
poison administered to him by any 0ther hand than
when Edward o. Anderson diedy / don't propose
TO call y0nr attention to what the evidence ID upon
any OF these issues; merely state what the issue
is. You are to find what the evidence Is and what
conclusions sho be drawn from that evidence. If
you are satisfied that Edward Q. Anderson did die
by his own hand that is the end Of the case. That
Is the ISSUE 1t Is claimed on the part Of the
defence that they have raised reason
IL otnsr any that @ svaeeSe wc
they have submitted and the arguments thereon
are sufficient TO raise q reasonable doubt In your
Edward 0. Anderson died. Now you must take
the evidence in this case as the proof OF the first
issue and pass upon It, because If no crime was
committed that is the end OF this prosecution
Take all that the various witnesses said In relation
to IT, app ell tine on a pps to .
fed that crime was committed. II you find that
q crime was committed when Edward o. Anderson
died, then the next material question to be deter
mined here Is whether 1t was done by DR.. Irish.
either alone or jointly with Mrs. Anderson. There
are two counts in tins indictment charging the
fact to be, FIRST, that DR.. Irish admins
tered poison to Edward 0. Anderson alone,
and second, that ne administered It Jointly with
aiding and abetting Mrs. Anderson In the admins
trati0n OF poison from which Anderson died, then
he Is guilty as principal, and verdict " guilty
under this Indictment must be your verdict, but
you must find that he was present aiding and
Anderson. otherwise he must be acquitted. The
law requires that the proof shall be such as to
satisfy the mind Of an man t
to define what Is meant by reasonable doubt. 1t
does not mean speculative theory, having no
warrant in reason or foundation In TACT. The de-
gree OF proof Is generally defined to be this, that
Il must be such as to satisfy the mind OF a common
man and so convince his judgment that he would
venture to act upon it In q matter of the highest
consequence and importance to himself. As | said
before, 1t does not mean speculative theory, but
q degree Of proof which is sufficient to satisfy
common man.
Judge Pratt referred to the question OF motive,
and said that one OF the definitions was laid down
to be desire to preserve character, either general
character or professional or social character. II
the jury found the facts proven IL was no matter
whether motive was proven or not. Improper
intimacy had been claimed as q. motive, but the
Jury must determine whether such intimacy
had been proven. In reference to the
matter OF an attempt to suppress. q witness, the
Court said that the presumption would be against
the party accused; but the presumption was re-
butted when he showed what the evidence exactly
was In regard to declarations, the jury would
have to consider how correctly they had been re-
ported, exactly what they were, &c. Good
character was to be considered with all the other
facts in the case. IT, from oil the circumstances Of
The case; the minds OF tine Jury, were satisfied
that the case for the prosecution was made out
beyond reasonable doubt and the accused was
guilty, they must so declare. On the other hand,
II they were not satisfied, then they must 80 de-
clare and send this defendant forth q free man,
never again to be challenged upon this charge.
The jury retired about half-past two O'Clock.
FIRES THR0UCH0HT THE COUNTRY.