The New York herald., 1872-07-09
l Sensation Day in tho Trial OF
Stokes.


A Sensation Day in tho Trial OF
Yesterday, the fifteenth in the trial for
murder now holding so large share OF public
attention, was one of absorbing interest to
those who followed the proceedings from
day to day. II was climax to the
story Of the shooting, for the details
of the shocking affair were gone
over with all the painful minuteness Of the
law by the chief actor himself. The woman,
too, was there, around whom the two men
futtered-the slayer and the slain-ike birds
fixed by the eyes of the basilisk, that tabled
serpent in whose glittering glance death lurked
for those who met its gaze. Beside the
prisoner sat his mother. One cannot take
In all the light and shadow of that
group, as they sat in the crowded court, amid
earnest wrangling lawyers and before twelve
men soon to tell whether the man should live
or die. Yet the audience and the lawyers
had all the outward excitement to them
selves. What there is of morbid longing
that can find a pleasure In gloating
over poisonous sources Of gorroY and
crime was exhibited thefS. what GOODNESS
a man may muster in telling the tale on which
his very life depends was there, and the maj
esty of the social compact ruptured by ''breaking
into mans bloody house hung like chilling
pail over all the scene. The pub
lie mind, accustomed, unfortunately, to
murder trials, must have rare sensations
nowadays before it becomes profoundly agi-
tated by a homicide. Yet certain crimes stand
out like landmarks in history to be the paral-
lels and comparisons for crime ever since
Deep mystery surrounding the manner of
mans taking off will sometimes create the
necessary impression; but what morbidity
delights in is the murder Of one prominent
before mems eyes during life. How craving
| Curiosity stretches its neck as the curtain OF
the mans inner life Is lifted to show what of
ghastliness, braveness, weakness, infatuation
or phantom-romance may crouch behind! All
these were satisfied yesterday in the court.
The man who shot Fisk, alleging calmly
it was done in self-defence, sat quietly
there pointing to the diagram, as if another
beings life were at stake. His story was
clear and coherent, and the effect on the jury
will tell whether with the rest Of the defence,
it can wash away the guilt of the blood
stains he admitted were on his hands. 1t
was terribly simple story, as it seemed, Of
man anxious te settle some sporting matter,
brought by accident face to face with an un-
doubted enemy, and, by the enemy drawing a
pistol, led to hasty homicide. Whether Justice,
# it be blind, will feel this story weigh down
the dire0:: testimony for the people, is
difficult to say. This evidence by the
prisoner was much to the morbid, but
it was not all. A woman was called
to the stand, whose history is that of brazened
shame, no matter how the animal and the mer-
cenary were softened in the lines Of her face
Nonchalant in bearing and terse in reply she
was; yet it must be remembered that her
character is not the safe test Of her truthful
ness under oath, although it may dam
age her credibility. She swore that the
man now dead had, in his heyday of power,
threatened the life Of this prisoner for part
corroboration she had q note from Fisk asking
O meeting at the time when >she was suing
him at police court for libel. It is with
pain that the cleanly mind must, in considering
this case, take in the coarseness of the circum-
stances which give it that dramatic coloring
which so often has answered for motive and
interest since the days Of Homer. Another
tinge Of blood is thrown upon the already en-
sanguined tale by the indirect recital of a
midnight pouncing by his ready hench-
men, as alleged, upon man who stood
how Stokes had been followed by two
men, believed by the latter to be spies of
Fisk. And so with many wordy wars and
recrimination between counsel the Court
adjourned, leaving the end, doubtless, many
days off, but with the most unwholesome
scenes such as the above, stripped of
the tinsel and false glare - of the
hour, could be craven in their under
horrors upon mems hearts some good might
result. If it be gazed at in sober earnestness
awhile the tawdry garments will wilt into grave
clothes, and the horrifc irony Of the grinning
skull peer hideously forth, showing that,
whether the accused walks forth free, pines for
life in dungeon darkness, or closes his life up
on a scaffold, the elements Of every crime
lie masked behind the fairest exterior that may
come the way when once we leave the rigid
path of right and virtue. Here is neral
from yesterday. q, ..,... .-yr..,,..
THE Wan m Mexico is rich in startling
surprises. But yesterday the revolutionists
seemed 70 have it all their own way. To-day
| this Ia alf chan0ed. The 6oyernrfenf froora