The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1873-08-15

run or walked away as claimed BY
1.-The prosecution
( Besides these authorities thus read
TO you, we have bad resort to lhsl
(which is more practical and which hs'
stood before you, face TO face, anC
upon their medical and surgical rePa
ftation, upon their oaths before you
and the court, the opposing counsel
and in the presence OF many OF thei'
professional brethren, Doctors Oester
| lin, Hurd, Firmin and Miller-aH mel
of Learning, high character for in5elli
gence and moral position and all vel
known to you, have said that IN al
human probability the gunshOt wouRc
of the deceased ss described by Drs
Galloway and DetwiIsr would hav,
thrown Bensing to the ground withou
the power to rise again, or if he ha,
again struggled to his feet he woul'
not have been able to have gone I
the spot where Mrs Bensing says sh
found him and near where all TN
evidence shows he must have fallel
Fhis evidence stands before you u
contradictsd. II comes from profes
sionsI men whose high charscte
entitle it to your tnllest cOnEdence
and by it you will further be bound t
say under the rules which I have ex
planned to you, that prsneditstion al,
delIberatiou have not been proven
and you and l, and all Tho have hesrC
this evidence, have reasonable dou6,
as to whether Gartee was deliberately
waiting for his victim, or met hin
south of the wagon shed, or near the
gate, or near the stable door; whethel
sudden encounter ensued N which
BensiDg was shot near the gate or on
the chip pile. II this has not all been
proven TO you so you can say upon
your oaths and upon your oonscienees
1--WE know Gartee was at the stable
door waiting to shoot Bensing." You
must not; you cannot find him guilty
Of murder in the frat degree. Thaye
only a few more words to say. The
prosecution have said that We ask
you to disregard your osths and find
Gsrtee guilty Of less than murder il
the first degree. We do no such
thing. We ask you to stand firmly
by the oaths you have 50 solemnly
taken, be governed by the evidence
and the charge which l know the
court, as an able and humane
jurist, will certainly give you,
and your verdict will not in the future
beset your pathway with embittered
regrets. If you err at all, let it be on
the side of humanity and mercy, and
your own conscieneies will approve It,
and an enlightened public sentiment
will rise up, sustain and congratulate
you upon your fidelity to the duty so
unpleasantly devolved upon you, to
the great trust the court, the counsel,
and the public have committed tn
you: aud above all, this poor boy,
now sitting here with fearless eyes
looking upon you apparently unmoved
by proceedings which seem to others
so solemnly snd perhaps fatally iu-
terestlng to him, when restraint, mora
suasion and christian teaching shall
break down the perVerseness Of his
heart and open up the springs of graf
itude and humanity, will rise up and
honor you, and thrice call you blessed.
Argument on the part Of the prosecution IN
the case OF the State Of Ohio Is. Henry J
Gartee.
Mr.. Pendleton addressed tie jury,
as follows:
GenasnsSa Of he JiiSV:
This is case wherein the people, in
the name of the State of Ohio, prose
cute the defendant, Jacob Gsrtee, fOc
the crime of murder in the first degree.
He is charged by the written iDdict-
ment of the State with having, on the
27th of February last, purposely and
with deliberate, premedtated malice
shot and killed Nicholas Bensing. We,
IN behalf of the State, as officers OF
the law, prosecute HIM simply to the
end that justice may be done him, and
you as jurors, acting under ycm
solemn obligation TO Swell and truly
try and true deliversnce make between
the State of Ohio and the prisoner at
the bar" Jacob Gartee, have no less q
responsible duty to perform. In aid
ing you, gentlemen, in the perform.
ance of that duty, it ought to be the
province of an attorney to labor, not 20
beWilder you with mass of unimport
ant rubbish, but to assist in ferreting
out the truth to the end that justice
may be done. 1t il now near the end
OF the fourth day that we have labored
together to elicit and aequaint ourselves
with the circumstances connected with
this unfortunate affair. In the exam
ination of the witnesses before you, L
have gone into the details Of ell the
surrounding circumstances that in my
Judgment would tend in any degree
to throw light upon the motive tor the
commission of this crime; and such
as / thought pointed to the prisoner at
the bar as the party who did the wick
ed deed. The st'orneys on both sides
have already addressed you at great
length The defense have Occa pied
much time in placing before you a
mass of unimpOrtsnt matter, tending
simply to prove nothing at all. They
have labored very hard to induce you,
gentlemen Of the jary TO believe that
this defendant, Jacob Gartee, IS nov,
and was at the time Of the cJnmls-
sion of this crime, IN sueh state Oi
mind, bordering on imbecIllty and
idiocy, as not to be responsible for
any crime he may have commit
ted. In short, gentlemen, they s1J
be is subject TO fits, and from the eyI-
dsncs they have introduced from
which you are to judge OF their claim
they ask you to draw the inference, at
least, that Jacob Gsrtee Is not respoas
ible TO the Law for his acts, because o.
the lack OF power of mind and reason
to control the involuntary &C. OF BIZ
body. Bro. Shafer, in his argument
before you, has read at great lengtl
from medical sathorities for the puE
pose Of proving to you that thsEe j
such thing as nlG1iG tT1ASitsrs1 an
moral insanity, and that his client, b,
comparison with the cases he cites,
in the opinion Of learned doctors IN
similar state OF mind. de thus woul
have you infer that Jacob GaTtee
irresponsible, under the law, b. reasy
Of insanity. But vii touch aga.
on this insanity question before I clos,
and comment ON the evidence the
Introduce TO establish il, as well ;
the evidence we gave you to show tha
their claim has no foundation Il tact.
As the books tell Us that few sal
men commit murder without SON
, | probable motive, or inducement, y
, have in this cause introduced eYIdenc
of facts and circumstances tens
, | iug to show that Mrs. Bensing an
thus defendant were on terms OF IN
, closest intimacy. As Mrs. We,de
, herself says, "wnen one would go 0u
the other would 90 out too" "hlct
/. together with the fact that they uade
ceTtain circumstances tor two n;gh
AZ least occupied the sane hed al
Mr.. Bensing, and other eEideacs 'g
, fore YOU, we think yOu can saie' y iI9'
,o'tbe criminal intimacy Of the P'iFsis
- rrobable motive tor the CON
! mission of this muFier- F1oia q, -
! ina+ mass OF testimony bs,ors you
',sn,,emen OF the jury, AMI tL'' '''
-, counsel have not III afE''''-e--