The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-01-22
THE CLOSING SPEECH,

When Senator voorhees, sat down, D. +
Patterson arose, and for the prosecution
closed the argument In this great trial
ne said, the great aim Of the great advocate
who have 80 tkilliully tried the other par
Of the case, was to impress you that Dnkei
was an excessively bad man.. and The
Mutt family excessively good. The defense
bias been most admirably conducted. HI
did not assume TO say what the verdict
was goingto be. But no one could deny
the TACT that he was charged with murder,
and had without any immediate provoca
ton shot down a human being on the
streets. He did not consider that there
was any deluslon In the shooting Of Dukes
BY Mutt; his mind was worked up by real
facts. lie was not In an insane condition
OF mind at the time he perpetrated the act.
Capt. Mutt stated in the letter to Dukes,
that II his accidental death should come
some person else would avenge him. That
was James Nuts legacy that was the red
flag waved at him, and as often as he read
and pondered over that paragraph It added
luel to 1t until he finally killed Dukea.
The prisoners remark to Sheriff Hoover
that he was prepared for 1t and did 1t, was
that Of a sane man. James Mutt is not en-.
titled to any sympathy. You are to try
this case under the law and evidence, II
you find the prisoner was irresponsible
then acquit him. II otherwise, convict
hiin.
Court then adjourned until 7 o'clock.
During the arguments the speakers were
frequently interrupted with applause or
misses; and the Judge bad to stop the pro.
ceedings several times to restore order.
During Mr.. Patterson's address Lizzie Mutt
placed her head on her mothers shoulder
aud wept convulsively. - =; y s2i ~, ~ ;i
t,eg9i JUDGE STOVES eHaRoR. q s.Iis
FTheJudge charged the;ju to giveia ver.
dict in accordance with the law fand the
evidence Tie prisoner Charged with
killine.N. L. Dukes..s II guilty he. Is guilty
Of murder in the fiat degree, OF is not
guilty because Of bis mental condition.
You have the right to return verdict OF
murder in the first or second. degree, or
Of manslaughter. Ju lge Stowe here
defined manslaughter aud voluntary man.
slaughter, thus conveying the impression
that Mutt should bs convicted OF one Of
the two grades Continuing be said. "In
order to aequit the prisoner this jury must
find from the evidence that be WAS subject
to power greater than his own will. For
my part have little faith in that insanity
which shows itself moment and then dies
away, leaving no trace behind it. You
have no right to infer insanity from the
ac', but have right to consider in con.
nection with the killing any peculiaritv Of
action Oh the part Of the prisoner. You
have the evidence Of expert witnesses,
which mus! be valued as the jury may see
III, for rhey are usually selected with q
view to their ability to give favorable testi-
mony, and very often f,r hire.
The actual line between sanity
and insanity is not easily drawn. This is
serious inquiry for us to engage in, but
We must meet it. You must be care
ful to distinguish between the act Of sane
mind in person and the act OF an unsound
mind. II you aequit him, you must
state that you do 30 on the ground
OF insanity. II 1t has been
shown by fair weight OF testimony
thas Mutt WAS irresponsible, be should be
acquitted; il by fair weight OF testimony
he ID shown to be sane. he should be con-
vlcted OF come degree Of crime. The Com
monwealth does not demand acquittal any
more than conviction, but she does de-
mand q just verdict.
The jury retired 10 minutes before 8, and
at $50 had failed to agree upon a verdict,
and Judge Stowe decided to adjourn court
until morning, and the prisoner was re.
moved to jail.
Aa the jury 6'ed out Mutt peered into
their faces with troubled look. His
mother came over to him, and with her
arm around his neck talked to him for q
little while and then ast down, kissing him
and covering her face with her handker-
chic: Lizzie came over to her brothers
side Ind soon had him smiling cl eerfully.
Nuts friends are fearful that the slow.
ness OF the jury in arriving at a verdict
bodies no good. Counsel for the defense re-.
gard the charge as able aud impartial and
are quite satisfied with the conduct of the
trial from first to last.
Major Brown, counsel for Mutt, received
a letter after adjournment tonight from
Manager Starr, OF Harris Museum, offer
in,g James Mutt an engagement upon his
liberation.