Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1873-01-30
TRIAL OF TEIOs. G.. BOYD.
Able Arguments by Eminent Counsel.
Eloquent Effort of Col. John Baxter for
the Government.
Arguments Concluded and the Case Com.
mitted to the Jury

The case Of the United States VS.. Thos
G. Boyd was taken up and Col Baxter, fol
the Government, made the closing argu-
ment.
He set out by showing 1.-THE beauties OF
our national institutions, for under the pro-
visions of the law the humblest individual
in the land could not be molested by the
highest official until after conviction by q
jury of his own countrymen, and the wis
dom of this constitutional provision was a
wise one.
The defendant stood l3Tina0 tdcie inno-
cent until he was proven guilty. He need
not bring in q Scntilla of evidence to
prove his innocence, it remaining for the
prosecution to make proof necessary to a
conviction, and if the evidence was not
conclusive, he hoped the prisoner would
be released on the Indictment, for it was
better that ninety-ninc guilty men should
escape than one innocent man should suf-
fer.
The defendants counsel had displayed
an extraordinary zeal and physical and
mental energy in their arguments in order
TO lead the court and jury from the case in
issue to others with which there is no con-
nection. In Mr.. Cookies allegory of the
wounded bird, that gentleman had him.
self taken lesson therefrom and was en-
deavoring to lead the minds of the jury
from the points at issue. His happy COM
parsons of Boyd's flight to that of the
Pilgrim Fathers and King David of
Scripture forms, were unheard of in gen.
eral practice. As regards the first, the
Pilgrims left their home for conscience
sake, but they left in daylight and did not
signalize their departure by burning ne
gro. Saul, in the second case, was jealous
of Dayid's rising fame and hence persecut-
ed him to keep from being supplanted, but
he knew of no one that wished to crush
Mr.. Boyd for the sake of SO doing.
Col. Baxter then passed on with an al
lusiOn to the unreliahility of some of the
witnesses, to show the reason why Martha
J. Upton went to B. G.. Petit, being sent
there by Squire Porter. It was not be-
cause Boyd wished her to go to any magis-
trate she chose, but he had written under
the blank place for the officers signature,
County Court Clerk" showing that
he whished the clerk to witness the paper
Taking up the papers, Col. Baxter show
ed on their face that the defendant had
been the guiding spirit in the series of
frauds. He declared it was either Thos.
could be the judge of that. He showed
the coincidence of the manner of writing
the true names and the false of the Mar
tha Upton children. With the former they
were said to have been "born" on such u
date, while with the spurious they were
horned" He showed that Boyd spelled
correctly with the printed form before
him, but when that had passed from his
mind he got the word wrong when adding
the two fictitious names, which occurred
in two places. He then said that the coun-
sci for defense had laid great stress upon
the assertion that Boyd had received only
S17, but who knew how much had really
been paid out?
Judge Nelson explained that it was for
the prosecution to show the sum and not
the defendant.
Col. Baxter said the prisoner was in
dicted not for Withholding the money
from Martha J. Upton, but for fraud
against the Government, and it was by no
means positive that he had turned over all
the money that he had received to the
claimant for whom it was professedly
drawn. Taking up the documents. the
speaker showed the founderings of the
counsel for the defense in regard to the
weakness of some of the witnesses as to the
testimony expected to be adduced. He
showed the Inconsistency of the effort to
prove the question of the guardianship of
the heirs of Samuel Elliott, with perhaps
others in adjoining States. True, Elliott
insists that he is not dead and never was,
but Mr.. Boyd says so, and one Of the
two is mistaken. Some little pOppin-
Jay fellows claimed that the prosecution
were active on account of Boyd's sympathy
with the rebellion. Such fellows were un-
worthy of notice and their heads were so
empty that if a sensible idea were to get in
side they would explode like bombshell.
A strong point was the case of Sarah j.
Hickey, wherein Boyd wrote letter to
Mr.. Falls, proposing settlement of said
claim, by which he was to have the bene-
| fit of the money already paid, but would
turn over to Falls the certificate whereon
he would make good deal of money by
perjury committed only twice year.
He was always sorry for a prisoner when
arraigned for trifiing offenses and thought
often that in criminal prosecutions the
minnows often hunted up and the
whales let alone, the inference being that
| the present case was no ''sardine." BOyd's
example had demoraliZed the whole neigh
| borhood in which he lived, cOrrupting the
Gus for an aggressively honest man to eX-
press his opinion in Monroe county, in OPP
position to the frauds.
| His opponents had depended a great
deal on the testimony of Alex. Inman,
but if he had not sworn falsely in the
| cross examination there was not much re-
lance to be placed in signs.
After general though brief allusion to
the various cases adduced in corollary tes-
timony of the other cases now pending,
Col. Baxter, with confidence in their dis
cretion, turned the case over to the
jury.
/ Judge Nelson asked leave to add a word
in differing from Col. Baxter in regard to
the power'of the magnifying glass shown
the jury to examine papers.
CHARGE TO THE JURY.
At the conclusion OF the arguments, His
Honor, Judge Emmons, charged the jury
as follows:
Gentlemen of the jury: The prisoner
is indicted for making and for presenting
a false and fraudulent voucher for the pay
ment of money alleged to be due Martha