Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-11-13

III tuC SdtnC CdccSOi1 WIN V'ncNS'
i We're Jennie and Robert Deerint
guilty as alleged in the Indictment
That was the question to be settled By
that Honorable Court and jury. The
charge was then delivered to the court
and the jury retired. After an ab-
sence of one hour they slowly and sol
emnly fled into the court room, and
after being polled the clerk asked
Have you agreed gentlemen upon a
verdict" The response was, I'VE, the
jury find the defendants Jennie and
Robert Deering, guilty of the duplex
crime of burglary and grand larceny,
as charged in the indictment, and hx
the penalty of said crime in the State
prison at ten years each"
A vail of anguish rent the court
room, but where the relief? Did each
court and jury give righteous verdict
The world at that time so regarded it,
save few sympathising friends, among
them the distracted father, and the
agonizing mother. 1t is hardly neces-
sary for me to detail to this jury the
many sorrowfnl scenes and incidents
in connection which this trial. / will
only appeal to your indulgence and
state again that my only object in pre-
senting this case, is to show the great
and incalculable evils resulting from
convictions based upon circumstantial
evidence. A few words in reference
to this immediate family wherein Jen-
nie and Robert Deering were innocent.
and we will close the argument. Jen-
ME. Deering, frail and sensitive as
spring flower, conscious of innocence
and purity ofsoul, bent to the pressure
Of excitement and public condemna-
tion, like the slender reed to the gath
ering tempest, refused to be incarcer-
ated in felon's dungeon. Was she
refractory? No: Mans erring judg
ment could immediate her deGcate form
upon the altar of the misguided be-
kests of criminal law. but her spirit,
pare as an angels and spotless as the
rainbow tints of summers cloud,
refused further indignity.. She sunk
to rest, and her bright, beautiful spirit
was claimed among the just made
perfect " beyond the sunsets radiant
glow" aud were it possible for the
spirit to look back upsR the mishaps
and misdoings Of iraii. fallible hu-
msnity, no doubt hers xou.s reach out
from the Paradise Of God. Sad aid er-
ring mortals to ascend the elasa lad
der that reaches from earth to heaeen.
guide them in the paths of truth asd
righteousness, and wave the torch that
dispels the gloom and reveals the beau
tiful picture of the resurrected. 1t is
not my province, gentlemen of the jury,
to paint picture, but rather to present
the many evils resulting from strict
adherence by our Criminal Courts to
circumstantial proof, in a ofits giaring
and hideous deformities, warped. and
twisted, and perverted in great ma
jority of cases by malice. hatred and
revenge, or misguided zeal in endeay-
oring to maintain and uphold the Grim
inal Jurisprudence of our country.
Ask his Honor Judge - how many
righteous convictions, based upon cir
cumstantiai proof, would it require to
e6uuteract or atone for one conviction
of Ike proof. where the party or par
ties charged we're innocent? His
Honor, nor any other mortal being,
has the rightto fix the number. The
case which we have under considera-
ton to-day is similar in all of its as
poets to that of Jennie and Robert
Deering, the whole of it being main
tanned up to this point on circum-
stances alone. I'm the mouth Of two
or three witnesses shall every thing be
established" How established? By
eircumstantial proof showing that the
guilty parties may be other thnn those
before the court? You will natural
ly ask when should circumstantial
proof convict? We answer never,
never. never, when it is possible for
other parties to have committed the
deed, other than those arraigGed be-
fore the court. You may, as public
conservators of the peace and we'll be-
ing of society, admonish as that before
us lies world within whose reeepta
Gle is a lazar house of wiekedness,
and within whose most secret cham
bers is vast charnel house of moral
depravity and infamous corruption, to
cleanse and purify which requires the
earnest and persevering efforts of our
Criminal Courts and juries. True, it
appears th 1t tn, fires Of hell are ar
rayed in one solid phalanx to turn back
the tide of' Bible civilization, and
every good man should buckle on his,
armok aud march with unfaltering
steps to the front In this contest for
moral and intellectual supremacy, in
tegrity of heart aud honesty OF pur-
pose should be the watchword, and in
prosecuting the criminal, spare the in
nocent. If this were a civil action,
founded upon contract, a mistake in
your verdict could be recti6ed, but an
error made in a criminal. prosecution
is past redemption. 1t was so with
Jennie and Robert Deering; they
plead not guilty" and the reveal
ments made at the end of eighteen
months convinced skeptic and obdu-
rate world that that plea was true to
the letter. Mrs. Deering and Jennie
sank under the weight of accumulated
wrong, and passed to higher life
where there is no crime, no criminals,
and no criminal courts. James Deering,
the father, wandered helpless imbe-
cile, repeating like Jacob, me have
ye bereaved Of my children Jennie
IL not and Robert "a MT al these