The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-05-18
The Great Scandal Case.

The great Brooklyn scandal case is
approaching its close, The testimony is
all in and nothing now remains but the
summing up of the case by the counsel
and the charge by the judge, before the
case goes to the jury. 1t has been the
most remarkable trial on record in Ameri.
can courts. During the nineteen weeks
of the taking testimony, public interest
has scarcely tagged. The court room has
been crowded to its utmost capacity at
every session. All the daily papers of the
country have been freighted with its sick
ening details and the great reading public
has avidiously swallowed the foul viapds
and "roled them as a sweet morscl under
its tongue" Ninety.fve witnesses
have been upon the stand, and, with scarce
an exception, they have manifested strong
sympathes with the one party and against
the other. The utmost partisan feeling
has all the time been apparent, and some.
times disregard of professional courtesy
has been manifested among the counsel.
The judge has evidently endeavorcd to
be fair and just to both sides, though his
bias has been, apparently, in favor of the
plaintiff.
1t is now announced that the defense
will occupy about week in the arguments
and Mr. Beach, in the closing argument
for the plaintiff, will take about three
days, and it is thought the judges
charge will not occupy more than three
or four days. If these suppositions are
correct the verdict of the jury may be
reached by the first day of June.
1t is DOW proper, perhaps, for those
who have read the testimony with any
cons iderabe degree of fidelity and care,
to form and express an opinion upon the
main issues. The comments OF the
counsel will only be necessary for those
who have not given the evidence close
attention, and it may fairly be assumed
that the great jury, composed of an in
telligent and reading public, are now
ready to render their verdict. And if
we mistake not that verdict will be, and
is, in favor of the defendant Few be-
sides those constitutionally prone to take
the uniavorable side Of any question
affecting the moral character of their
fellow men, will find anything in the
testimony to warrant even the suspicion
that Mr.. Beecher is guilty of the crime
charged upon him. An exception must
be made, however, with reference to class
of people. We hope it is not large, whose
own lives and characters are such that
they reason out his guilt from deductions
as to how they would themselves act
under similar circumstances. We must
also make a small exception of those who
read papers hostile to Mr.. Beecher and
have not mind or energy enough TO do
their own thinking. One thing is certain.
There is nothing in the testimony upon
which to base supposition of guilt ex.
cept his alleged confessions. And the
evidence of such confessions has been toe
much broken, and the incentives oil
malice and the alternatives of personal
ruin to the witnesses If they fail tc
establish his guilt, are too apparent, tc
allow their reception against the denia
of Mr.. Beecher aud the unimpeachabl,
evidence that the charge has been changed
from time to time as the plaintiff and hi,
friend had more malice and more hope O
effectiDg Beecher's ruin. So the publ,
have already acquitted the great preacher
and the verdict of the Brooklyn iur,
} must follow in the same line.