Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-06-02

.
facts before your In doubtful cases
very often parties are reinforced py
proof Of good character. But Is this
doubtful case9 Is this . case where
good character can turn the scales? VI
what value is good character when an
offence is as clearly made out as this is
by the circumstances. Why, gentle
men, could not Judas Iscariot, before
his fall, have proved by the eleven dis
ciples that he had frst-class char
acter? Do you not suppose that before
his sin had found him outall save the Son
Of God would have proved for Judas
that he was man Of first-class charac-
ter, and that the disciples would have
put their signmanual toitg Do you not
suppose that Benedict Arnold, before
he betrayed the American cause, could
have obtained proof Of his good character
from the Father Of his Country DOWN.
Did not John W. Webster, hung for
the murder of Parkman, q professor IN
the Harvard University, standing high
and lofty before the world as q man Of
science and Of letters and Of irreproach-
able character, murder his creditor
in his Office and burn him up
in his furnace? Did ever man
prove better character than
he? Did not Eugene Aram, man
whose name shone brilliantly at the
top Of the ladder Of fame and Of letters
in Europe, honored by the world wor-
shipping at his shrine, prove good
characterg But the tempter came and
he fell and twenty years after the
death Of his victim, when his victims
bones, rotten and iieshless, were dug
from the ground, Eugene Aram died in
the face Of the best character that was
ever proved by man. Has it been so
long ago that the case of Colt has passed
frora the memory of some of the older
gentlemen among you? John c. Colt, the
son Of Samuel Colt. the brother of the
pistol-manufacturer, knocked down
with a hatchet and dismembered and
salted up the remains of his victim and
shipped them OFF to southern port.
His sin found him out and he anticb-
pated his doom by suicide in the Tombs.
Did he not prove a good character
1t will not do, gentlemen Of the
iury--it will not do! And when |
looked at the T 'isoner during this trial
and watched his demeanor, his calm
ness, his smiles when he ought not to
have smiled, his defiant bearing, | was
reminded, gentlemen, of another piece
of acting in Scripture which reveals the
difference between the innocent and the
guilty. DO you recollect when the
Lord said to one of His disciples, " One
of you shall betray Me-" that they
began to be exceeding sorrowfui, and
one after another the innocent, trem
bling and whispering, said, "Lord. Is
itlg is it 1? Is it I?"-the pure ant
spotless and innocent one. trembling ant
shaking and cowed But at last th'
guilty one, with brazen front and de
fiant air. said, Lord, is it II" and h
said, Thou hast said it -
Gentlemen of the jury, it seems t
me that have covered. or nearly GOV
cred, all of the material points that it il
necessary to present to you, or that
should be expected to present to you
by my friends on the other side.
My esteemed associate suggests an
other fact-that he not only does no
account for himself that night, but tina
he does not account for himself at an.
other hour in the day when the Com
monwealth says he was at another eel
tain place. He does not account 10
himself when we proved that he was
Belle Isle; he does not account 10
himself when we proved that he wa
at the American he does not accoun
for himself when we got him on tn
street-car he does not account 10
himself when we got him at the hous
of prostitution. Settle these matters
gentlemen, if you can consistently wit
his innocence.
We stand here as the representative
of public justice. We stand here a
the representatives Of the people, q
the State, of the Commonwealth. /
some States the style Of these prosecr
tions is, The People against the Pr
soner ;" in others, "The State again'
the Prisoner" Here we have it, "Th
Commonwealth against the Prisoner.
We stand here, gentlemen Of the jury
as the representatives Of the law
which shelters our homes and protect
our lives which hovers over our cr'
dies and follows us to our graves, an
protects our remains after they are II
TERED in mother earth. Westand here a
the representatives Of our mothers, {
our wives, Of our daughters, our sii
ters. We ask at your hands verde
that shall make women safe in tn
land from the seducers and the murdeI
ers. We say that if his victim ha
been a strong and guarded man "
could feel as if, perhaps, some degree
mercy might be meted out TO hin
But she was a lone and loving an
trusting woman-the mother Of b
child. Great God, gentleman in a
the annals of crime has such q erin
ever been committed? Will they Ia
to you about mercy? Mercy! Has
, not lived too long? Turn him Ioos
for his progeny to vex and plag'
, mankind? Does not that sho
what blood flows in his vein
Holding aloft a wood-cut sketch
, Standing here for the men and WON
OF the Commonwealth Of Virginia, {
/ our beloved women, ! demand his i
as forfeited to the law--his life for b
{ life There is not home in Virgin
, that did not feel insecure after that boz
| came up on the surface. The whole I
/ seemed pregnant with danger; and
t he escapes, who is safe9 Gentlcme
, it is your duty to destroy him. Sta
t up to your duty like men. have Sc
I too many good and brave men sh
r their blood in these trenches arou
= Richmond--the best and noblest Of tn
q race--to falter in my duty in asking
, his life at your hands. Guard
households and guard the daughters
5 the virginians
y This case has become historic. | 81
. few days ago fin the Dispatchl
e picture that has perpetuAted your fac
: Your memories and your deeds win
r perpetuated by becoming record ms