The daily gazette., 1874-12-01

IA tuSlr Oplulou uutll tAcI A40A ASsAN
all OF the facts in this case. l
4 Turning to the court Mr.. Hodgson
read some authorities on the subject of
murder, and asked the court to charge
as established law that the fact of a
tresspass gives Q mum no right to kill
the tresspasser. Mr.. Hodgs6n conclu-
ded at 4.i6 p. M. ga" 7H''h'
. At415 Mr.. Spruance opened for the J
defence. as follows. 4
!" GENTLEMEN OF THE Jury 1T now
becomes my duty to discuss for short
time the evidence you have heard, and |
TO endeavor by a careful examination,
and by comparison with circum-
stances and facts which have been |
proved Before you, to assist you In |
concluding whether" the testimony
which you have heard is true or not,
and whether upon that testimony you
can safely act adversely to the prisoner
ut the bar" The learned Attorney
General has charged you with empha
sis to receive as absolute verify the
things these boys have told you. But
/ tell you, gentlemen of the jury, that
you have higher duty it Is your
duty to take the testimony of these
witnesses, to sift and compare it and
to see If there are any discrepancies
which lead your mind to believe that
it Is not true. 1t is your duty to see
whether or not anything they have
sworn to be true has been disproved
as q matter of fact. 1t is your duty to
see whether this prisoner could be
transferred from an honest and upright
man into fiend that they would have
him, and Immediately change back
into the same honest and well mean
ing man. We insist and hope we will
demonstrate that the testimony on the
part of the State is false, and that 1t
bears its falsity upon its very face.
Let us look who are these five boys
that come here to swear away this
mans life. They are boys that go to-
gether in gangs, plundering the counT
try, and taking, as one of them has
since, most anything they could get.
One of them, Skelley, is an acknowl-
edge thief, as proved by police officers,
/ and a boy unworthy of credit. These
boys,on that day were tresspassers and
they were committing an act indicta-
4 bic under our statutes. They were
boys without trade or avocation.
/ Instead OF being at school they were con-
gregated in vacant lot concocting mischief.
We may consider what was done on Wood
4 ward property was done in common. They
held up each others hands that day and
they come here with one common purpose
TO seek revenge from this unhappy prisoner.
Being thus bent upon common purpose
vow will lind their statements concorring.
But there is limit 10 false testimony; it
will not bear the light OF day. 30 when
I,k nd o hat hsNh
they had not anticipated they fail immedi-
ateiy. Now we say that these boys from
the positions where they were could not see
and hear what they Il stiHed to; they have
sworn 10 physical impossibilities. Now YOU
will find that their discrepancies are false.
Notwithstanding all these boys were in the
court room and heard each other testify and
had arranged their statements accordingly.
They lind that Is very hard to lie success
fully aud at any length Mr.. Sprnance
then took up the testimony arguing on it
as great length Ia detail. In conclusion
Mr.. Spruance said: We have found iu tbs
stories Of these boys iryeaGneilabls incon
sistencies and contradictions. We have
found from tho attitude and positions in
which they Rave chosen to put themselves
how impossible it was that they could have
seen and heard that which they have mar.
rated. We have found from the examina-
tion Of the shot i'll the tree, the road upon
the ground, the position In which the boy
was found, and like facts, that the shol
, could not have been forced as the professed
witnesses to the act have described.
We have found this story of dcliheration
cruelty, and brutality so grossly Inconsistent
, with the conduct Of the prisoner before and
' after the short period covered BY the trans
action. We have seen how totally, sudden.
ly, and briefly the whole nature and eharac
!, ter of the prisoner mnsth ave been trans
, formed from quiet, pcaceabie, inoffensive
!, man, toa very devil in cruelty and maglig
nifty II this story even measurably be true
,, And we must reject it as unworthy Of credit
: What is the true th0oryY Were tho pTis-
i oner's apprehensions Of yiolsaee as showr
! by his prccaption in taking with him hi
iguu, rehiissd when he reached the tree
Did those six vigorous young rufians fal
: upon him to beat him aud drive him from
! his own property did he, outpumberse
!. at tpeir hands, clay one Of them In self de,
! ! fence2 OR surrounded ON every side By
! these outlaws, tauated, insalted, cursed
, did he fire his gun merely to frighten then
! away, and was, his vision SO disturbed
. . by the Intervening tree, that he, unskillet
q q i'll the use of arms unhappily pointed hi
!, gun 30 as TO strike thsse boysp Or out
Numbered, surrounded, agitated, ineXperi
lenced, was the gun discharged accidentally
Iwithout his knowledge or violation?
Certainly 1t IL that either of these theories
ls entirely consistent with his conduct i'm
I mediately before and after and With Iii
0 well known cparactSr approved by man,
!. witnesses. While the theory resting on tn,
q Testimony Of three hoys Is wholly irrecon
8 Icilah either With the conduct or character o
n the prisoner
2 With no warrant but the false anl
/. wicked fabrication of these vengeful
r young outlaws You cannot sent
n this man hence to an infamous deatl
g upon the scaffold. You cannot con
!, sign him to life long..gloom and wret
e chedness of felon's narrow CELL xo,
f cannot barehis back 10 the cruel sc6ur
/ Iago, feu eannot assign him the igno
/, miueous yoke of the pillory. Expos,
this neighbor and friend, this dutifu
1 and affectionate husband and father
!. to the jokes and SCOTS of this wretche,
t crew. Nor can you strip him Of Ri
: substance and blight his life and thl
@ lives of bis family after him by sending
t him hence branded as a man slayeg
b DIED.