Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-11-25

who would not sail with Dixon again be-
cause Dixon was swearing man and
Shuck was member of church. Captain
Dixon's boat left in the morning aAd wit
ness's boat left the night OF the sane day.
They stopped short time Al Ale4andria.
Looked closely at prisoner but coald not
positively identify him as NE mia who
spoke to him at Briscoe's store
Sam1 f. West testified that he IL u heels
man on the steamer w. w. CorcoFAn. The
steamer, going up the river. passed Dixon's
vessel going down, and he saw Two men on
board besides the man at the wheel. He
did not know the name Of the vessel but
he had seen the sloop two or three times
before and his description caFrespendcd in
some respects, in color, size, anu ~ being
an old sloop with the Mary On cross
examination he said be would nsN swear
point blank that there was i ihirslAnan ON
the boat he is positive there were two men
there were three, butt Is mostly like u
dream to him that there Was tlilrd man.
Harry Graves testified that he was at the
Leonardtown jail tia DAY after The arrest
Of Blscoe. lie heard Mf Morgan fell him
he wanted fuller account than B&coe had
given in the morning Morgan told Biscoe
he understood the clothes were divided be
tween Biscoe and the other man, and as it
stood then, ii was pretty bad on lsim; that
he wanted the truth and II would De better
for him to tell the truth Biscoa always
denied killing the man when witiiess was
present. Biscoe was IN great stale of ire
pidation from rumors Of lynchhlg that
reached him. One morning when there
had been great firing of pistola around
the Jail the night before, Biseoa said he
thought the lyncheFs had come aAer him,
James dordon, colored, taatifie9 that he
was ut the jail, and BisUass Statements
were generally In answer 70 quefAAsns
Evidence was taken in febuttal 1t was
settled that each side should hive two
hours for argument Mr.. Hamnlett com
menced the argument for the State and was
followed by Messrs. Camalier, Edelin and
Magruder for the defence, Mr.. II A. vii.
mer closing for the State.
The case was given to the jury at Z p.
m, and at $40 they had agreeda Judge
Crane, the nearest Judge, was sent flor, and
! ex-Judge Magruder, counsel for Biscoe,
States Attorneys Hammett, of st. Mary's,
and Wilmer, of Charles. Sheriff Simpson
placed the prisoner in the dock, and Judge
| Crane ordered the jury TO be Summoned
into court They looked very serious
There were about rs persons present, many
being colored,
| The prisoner sat unmoved In acrouch-
ing position and looked but once at the
! Jury. He was nervous and wiped ills face
often with a handkerchief The olerk, j.
Samuel Turner, and his deputy, John T.
Davis, were in their places and, inpolling
the jury, as it turned out, had an4impor-
tant part to perform. The Courts first or
der was for call of the jury. ,Allhaving
answered to their names and said thfir fore
man should speak for them, that genlleman,
Leigh M. Switzerland, an ex-sheriH of the
county. said: "Guilty of murderin the
first degree Ex-Judge Magruder quickly
said, "Poll the jury" that Ia, Gu the
clerk to ask each one separately what his
, verdict was, recording the questions and
answers. After the foreman said Murder
in the first degree" each Of the other jurors
was asked, "IIave you heard your fore
mans verdictY" They answered, ayes,
| sir" or "Yes.' The next question was, us
| your foreman's verdict your verdict ~
Some responded Eyes" and others ssIt is"
When each had answered Judge Crane
said Gentlemen Of the jury, yDa have
not given an unanimous verdi1t You
must return to your chamber and agree
upon your verdict You must each res
pond in the same words ii you are agreed
to the first question 81 haveN b the
second question at is" They soon return
ed and answered as instructed. tgxsJudge
Magruder will contend this waserrcneous
and that each juror should have said,
guilty of murder in the first degiee In
answer to the second question Which should
have been, "What Is your verdict
I After these questions and dfRswefTt md
been recorded the jury were told 10 "hear-
| ken to your verdict as the court hath recor-
ed it," The record Is as follows: "You,
and each Of you, find John b. Biscoc guilty
| of the matter whereof he stands indicted"
Judge Magruder will also contend that
! this was an error, and should be guilty of
murder in the first degree instead of the
words guilty of the matter whereof he
stands indicted"
I A motion in arrest Of judgment for these
errors as the defence regards them, will be
made, and if oyerruled the case will be taken
to the Court Of Appeals An exception
was taken during the trial to the admission
of the last confession of Bscoe because Mr.
/ Morgan said "Biscoe, you had better tell
the truth and have no more trouble about
( it," This will also be taken before the
Court of Appeals The sentence will be
suspended until the Court Of Appeals de
cides these points Of law. If that Court
overrues the lower court, lIiscoc will get Il
new trial or be discharged from custody, as
having been tried once. If the exceptions
are not sustained, he will be sentenced to
be hanged.
The jury, when they first retired, stood
one tthe foreman) for murder in the first
degree, eight for second degree, and three
for manslaughter.