The daily gazette., 1878-12-07
FIFTH EDITION.
OUR COUNTY .OURT.
This Mornings Session--Open Argument
for the Stdte in the Hdricy q. Bro,cn
T,.;nI


Special to the Gazette.
NEW CASTLE, Dec. 7.-Court opened
this morning at o o'clock. The case of
Harley G.. Brown resumed.
Deputy Staes Attorney Robinson open
ed the argument. He reviewed the facts
in the case, aud concluded that Harley
G.. Brown did know right from wrong
and that he, in placing that tie on the
track, fully knew that the act would
launch some one in eternity. The plea
of the defense would be that he was not
accountable for the act. If man places
anything on the track it is evident that
il he leaves il there that he intended to
throw the train off the track. The de-
fence is absurd. II he didn't mean to
throw that train off the track and if he
thought he threw that tie off the
track, why, In the name of God, did he
run to stop that train ? If this man
Harley G.. Brown is an insane man he
ought to 90 free. No man who commits
murder is not Of unsound mind legally.
Gle read Judge Harringtons opinion on
the Windsor case, showing that to sustain
plea of insanity he must be proven I'M
accountable for the act committed.) This
is question: Do you believe that Har-
ley G.. Brown, when he placed that tie
upon the track, was he governed by a
power greater than his own judgment !?
The law says that every man is presumed
To be sane until he is proven otherwise.
Now what has the defence proven They
tried to prove his unaccountability. They
proved him to be foolish and silly. II
toolishness is an evidence of insanity
then We as a nation are afflicted They
proved his head to have been crushed,
aud since then to have been afflicted
with mental malady, and as
an evidence OF the prevalence of
of diseased fancy he bit his finger nails,
nibbled at the rim of his hat and care
lessly t~ irled his handkerchief; and once
and a while appeared TO be melancholy
This presumption of insanity Then
gentlemen, since the panic of '73 our
country is stocked with insanity.
In concluding he impressed upon the
members OF the jury that they must not
look at the intention. Harley G.. Brown
in leavin; that tie upon the track is In
the eye of the law brfore high heaven and
in this court guilty OF murder in the first
degree. Sociey has claim upon you.-
! The whole country is interested in thi:
matter and the interest of railroads de
mand protection. If every man who /.
out of employment can, with impunity
commit such horrible crimes against so
ciety, and be permitted TO go scot free
then It would be better for us to return
to the old time stage coaches.
Mr.. Robinson here closed aud Mr.. Lor,
addressed the Couit on a point of law
whether the demand ofthe State implied
a desire for verdict guilty under th,
special statute or whether the verdic
NAV be graded.
. The Counsel for the State stated tina
that was matter for the jury.
The CouIt stated that II the proof il
this case be sutii cient to justify TIE jury il
bringing verdict OF murder in the frs
degree under the 81 atue the counts of tn
indictments are sufficient to justify vel
dict in either degree of manslauehte
these counts are sufficiently well draw
:. to susl ain verdrt of murder in the fir.
. degree or in the second degree, or of MAJ
J. slaughter under the common law. Th
Coult however would lot make
decision at this time upon the point raj
t ed but would do SO when ii charged IL
} Jury.
q MI.lIOIt tntll duuItSStu IIle IOuTI aSl
ing it to charge that the intent being
material averment and part of this il
= dictment or defence, must be proven b
the State to the satisfaction of the jury
that in cases whese the confession of IL
= prisoner is introduced in evidence IL
whole of that confession must be taken
that even if the minds of the jury shoul
d halt or waver after hearing the who
p testimony and weighing it carefully, yet
T. there be enable doubt as to Il
guilt of the prisoner upon any one ell
u ment of the crime, they are bound TO gi,
= the benefit of that doubt to the prisone
e Objection was then made TO the coun
in the indictment. In the fourth couI
Mr.. Lore claimed that it was defective
/. that 1t used the words "unlawfull
and maiciously' instead of the lal
, guage of the statute "wilfuliy an
i maliciou.ly." Upon this Mr.. Lore bas,
f his opinion that Harley q. Brown cOu
p not be convicted under the Indictment.
Is In addressing the jury Mr.. Lore r
- verted to the night OF the disaster.
h that crime, IA the State claims 1t to b
s- was done wilfully, then II was the woi
OF fiend inearnate But simply or
" sent to you the circumstances Il at su
rounded that scene, which 90 to sho
a that Harley q. Brown was Incapable
~ snCh crime. ! do not mean to saw IN
Harley q. Brown was wild ranilng or
~, in full acceptalion OF that term. n
N, but do mean to say that he was n
D amenable TO reason that if God
~ heaven was to pronounce Judgment up,
y this case he would breathe forth nj
words mot guilty"
m From the evidence that speaks fro
- the witness stand you have heard of b
,n rs sad, brooding melancholy that chara
~ terized his everyday existence.
II was not from the changing effect
. surrounding circumstances. No. IL "a
IN constitutional-it was IN his blood r
~ unnatural state of his mental capacit
~ was hereditary. All this was height,
w. ed by sundry misfortunes OF which he
80 came the unfortunate victim.
Us ID o had been injured upon the railro,
he had been sunstroke, and lastly he
ceived severe blow upon the head viii
oo gave concussion to the brain which u
III already impaired.
er- This was the final stroke. He wand
'on ed back TO Wilmington, and upon
Oh, night of the 18th of June, the act bel
e5 Claymont station was the ultimate res
yIi of the stroke, that it was the act of n m
ats already impaired by the hereditarv o.