The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-06-10
THE PROFESSORS TRIAL.
Summing Up Of the Kvidsnes and Appssls %
the Jury BY Counsel for the stats and for
tho Prisonsr-Ths Theory Of SELF
Defence and Insanity-Argu-
msnt sun Unfinished

eestiou Dctng ottenueu uy tuc ffstr OF thr toWu.
The Assistant Attorney General continued ms
argument, abiding TO the claim by council
for the defence. that Vests attempting 10 bur
lemons in o ship chancler's store ana other o. the
prisoners private actions evidences of ins2n-
ity He asked the Jury 20 remember VESTS visit
TO Mr.. williamson's once. IN wilmington. and NJ.
williamson's reading about the webster arkman
murder, and Vests Wild look when the SUBJECT
was alluded TO- II was impossible for Mr. wlTlam-
son 70 disconnect Vests crime with that % Web
ster, and gentlemen Of the jury t vas right IN wa
ainson's once that West conceived has heliish
purpose The testimony shows al the way through
that West was queer, YES. ne was queer. he
was more than queer
M WAS pEvrIIsnl
The fact OF Yves, having had In his possession
human arm IL commented on a. an evidence a
insanity. II Is nothing unusual Tor mcaicai
students 10 have IN their possessoa portions Of the
human frame. They deal in human anatomy.
they cut IL up and saw ~ up. rhey have ne, the
repugnance 10 such things that you and ! would
have. II is hut another evidence of Vests nerve
and GOODNESS that he went 10 his once In the
darkness OF the night and carved has victim from
head to foot, all the time he was visiting among
his friends and going 20 weddings Has lies an
tn tcroppings oi idle life. OF egotistic soul
thirsting for notoriety and desire 10 have people
talking about HIM. In there any better evidence
OF the estimation In which West has been held IN
Dover than the fact that the people entrusted their
children TO him 10 educator Could q man Of TN.
sound mind be an educator OF childrenf he was
selected by his own brotherin-law as guardian ior
his child, and his father, with fun knowledge Of
the facts OF Vests "queerness," went his security
After deducing many other facts IN Vests life.
his business operations and his daily life, and
arguing therefrom that the prisoner il and always
has been a man, the Assistant to the District
Attorney closed his argument
THE ARGUMENT FOR THE DEFENCE.
Hon. Willard salisbury, counsel for West, then
addressed IT., the nry Ne SAID GOD com
Mount Sinai no man has been more prosecuted
than the young man at the bar. You, upon whom
say whether he shall die or walk forth again
among MS fellow men: You have heard IL win
law is concerned whether he lives or dies. should
he be acquitted the songs OF birds, the sunshine OF
June days, or the foliage and beauties Of nature
will have little TO commend TO his admirng sense
You have heard that in his youth ne was remark.
able for peace, good order and quiet and ne had
been consistent throughout all his life until this
unfortunate occurrence is brought mp against
him. No man ever jumped with single bound
the lowest grade OF his species II DEFY the State 70
produce q case in which man has suddenly passed
with one bound from morality TO viliany. Was he
devilish Did he tell devish lies, rs the Christian
Deputy Attorney General has told your Ii Isaac
West Q cruel, malicious, depraved man, with no
have not brought his aged mother, strickenlwife
or unconscious babe to excite your eympathies.
LAY the mention OF his VIE and family West
There sits in that dock one ON whom all their love
is conferred. They are anxously inquiring IN their
own minds, What will that jury doY You have
heard what the insane poet, Cowper, wrote when
he received his mothers picture. How Ike In feel
ing was the heart OF isaac z. west he leaves THIS
dreamed was III. He waits not for the cars, but
starts of on fool and walks seventy miles, and
fvUO min i'm 10 Gn wi Int mn hint
above him. Was this hard-hearted MANI /
Prisoner nnxe s0o sea Henry mat Tnrne
did itin selEdefence and further, that in law he was
propose to show you that the alleged Confession
made by West was never made, but there was
statement made,rhe one we nave seen being
The Attorney General proposes to rely on the fact
OF finding the body Of ''Cooch" Turner in one place
and the members, hands, head, feet, &c, In an
other, and that was enough, IN his estimation, to
convict the prisoner, at the bar, How did they
Unless told BY Isaac Vest 1t might have been
Joe Turner's body. The State has claimed that
the making OF the diagram which led 10 discovery
OF Turner's head was an evidence OF sanity. shall
show you that insane men have made better
speeches. written better and painted better than
gotten clue without Isaac G. Vests aid. per-
feet wall OF defence may in any case, be built up by
% af The mt nn c Of ees
so, though 1t may tend TO do so. We must have
collection OF facts: we must go step by step; we
must forge each link into d chain which cannot be
brokeni
VESTS STATEMENT.
Isaac G. West, voluntarily and OF his own free
viii, returns to Dover ana tells every one where
he Is coming. He makes statement. He need
never have opened his lips. No one could have
the body of subject. which he might have pro.
cured from Philadelphia. No jury in the world
charge OF murder HE lied deviishly," we are
told. 1t may be he did. He he'd about everything
wss ssmp h ae alleged as
an impudent public falsehood, not intentional,
perhaps, but ialsea hoo ID fact ,u he Is a.,
the man cTurner) demanded his money and at
tackled him when it was refused. You are asked to
not on the ground OF self-defence. Oh, no: that
would not agree with the proposed vengeance OF
the prosecutors You may be on lonely road at
bar, but Won may nave pistol, and you shoot him
Of mankind and the laws Of Cod endorse r YOU Sup
pose then this Young man Killed the negro a Turner
limbs Yon are not trying this man for
CUTTING OFF THE NEGROES LIMBS.
You are trying Isaac G. West for killing Henry,
Isaac West told OF this before any one else knew IT,
He meets the very requirement OF the law by
being the first one TO ten OF II. He gives the first
evidence. i ask you to apply your minds to the
defence Of not guilty, because the act was per
formed in sef-deience; The contrary has not been
proven. We claim IL to be as clear a case Of self
defence as was ever presented for the con-
man be walking the streets and person
attacks him may not he defend himself 7
and will he not in all probability avail himself Of
the first weapon that he can reach? He therefore
acts on the defensive, and ne Is known OF all men
to be insane. Crime,is never committed by sane
man without motive; a sane man does nothing
without motive. I challenge the Attorney Gen
eral to assign a motive for the Staying OF Henry
alias ''COOchr Turner. Consult your own Judg-
ments, hearts and consciences, and tell me II the
prisoner had any other motive in Staying this man
save to protect his own life. This was his motive
If he had one. 1t was God-gven gift, given alike
to man and the brutes. You Will remember on the
"a OF December negro went down the street, and
West said, There goes that drunken Joe Turnern
Ii was Henry Turner, but West did not even know
1t was Henry or Cooch Turner. lie called him Joe
Turner. He did not even know the man who Is
alleged to have been murdered by West To con-
sttute murder killing must be done by person
having malice In his heart. What reason could the
prisoner at the bar have for entertaining malice