Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-04-18
EContinued from third page. ]


theory. There was the theory of somethin
having been put into the whiskey by th
seller to tone it up, and a fatal mistake migl
nave been committed at this time. Becaus
| If the stryehnine found in the bottle had bee
diluted in all of the whiskey contained i
the barrel, the dose would not have prove
| fatal
! II would be argued that the turning out Q
the poisoned whiskey in the stable BY tn
| prisoner was strongly suspicious of his guilt
But from whom was that fact deriveds Fror
the prisoner himself. Tie told that at tn
inquest, and the circumstances under whic
it was told constituted badge of innocenc
instead of a badge of guilt. If he had beel
guilty would he have directed the officer:
where the evidence of his guilt might b.
found: Was il conceivable that this ho
would put strychnine in whiskey from which
not only his father was in the habit o
drinking, but his brother George and hi
friends aud those invited 10 drink by h.
father! The government had shown nt
purchase of stry ychnine by the boy, nor tina
he had any III his possession except tina
which he had in the stable. Ii had attempt
ed TO show that he tried 10 buy il in Water
VILE, the most preposterous piece of testi
mony ever offered 10 men of common sense
worthy TO go into a collection of curio>itie.
in the law. He sharply criticised the test
mony of the witnesses Carver aud McMauus
pointing out discrepancies i'll the statements
of both, and conteuded that the cvidenc,
showed that the young man who was in the
store that night was after whiskey, and thai
the witnesses were wholly mistaken in the
man. Why did not Mr.. Carver, a coroner
of the county report the fact that this man was
trying TO buy poison with which TO Kill
his father: Or was he looking for another
body upon which to sit at an inquest? This
link in the governments chain of evidence
had entirely exploded, in fact, there was no
chain, because no motive had been shown
for the crime. Judge Hall closed with an
earnest plea for the acquital of his client.
Mr.. Baker commenced the closing argu-
ment on the part of the government at hall
past four. lie said the government had no
considerations of sympathy OF passionate
appeal with which to divert the minds of the
jury, but only TO present clear points OF
proof which should carry with them their
own conviction. ca the fourteenth
of February last n citizen was suddenly
stricken down with a sickness which passed
rapidly into the violent commissions of agoly,
and within an hours time stretched hun in
death in the presence of his family and
friends. What was the nature of that fatal
malady? What was the deadly drug that
did THIS work. for drug il wa. Dad the
counsel imply, as he had Lr ,ed his case, that
a death like that should go uninv, slgated,
or that The man whose act it was that laid
hat citizen low should 20 unwhlpped of JUS
tce! Proof of the guilt of the prisoner,
there should be to the full salts of the
jury, and the officers of the government did
not desire 10 abate one jot or title from this
full conviction which the Jury should have.
Much had been said by the counsel for the
accused about the resources of the govern
ment, the funds of the treasury being open
10 1t; but he had forgotten 10 state that the
law, in its anxiety TO shield the accused and
lefend his innocence if innocent also open
I'd the treasury for the payment of the ex-
penses of the prisoner in his defence. The
counsel also forgot to say that if the verdict
aas against the prisoner he had an appeal,
out If against the government that was the
md of the case, aud though the prisoner
should confess the next day that he was the
guilty party, he could not be harmed The
irst point for the government to establish
sas the fact that murder had been commit
ed Upon this question there could be
10 doubt The testimony showed that Mr..
Beal was murdered. and the counsel did not
venture to assert that he came to his death
n any other way. If he was murdered,
hen ii was by strychnine, and nothing else.
He was poisoned By some uncouth aud in
,xpcrt hand AS shown by the quantity of
poison. Ii had been sho n how he got this
'trl chnine. He had taken it from flask of
shiskcy in the cellar of his store, aud that
iask had come from barrel of TASKS in the
cellar. George also drank from the same
Task, and they were both taken sick. That
lask, the expert says, contained when it
,ame 10 him II grains of strychniue. No
gun was ever more surely shOtted with the
means of death than was that flask with that
irug. 1t was loaded to the death No ac-
;ident had done it, because of all the TASKS
IN the barrel not one contained
rychnine. The bottle holding that poison
vas shotted with death, done of set put-
pose. Done by whomt Not by
sccldent. No fatal blunder ever loaded
hat bottle with % grains of strychninc when
1 was full, or produced in the manner winch
10 eye ever saw, except that of this prisoner,
he deadly sediment of strychnine in that
'ther bottle the contents of which he emptied
lown a scutle in remote stable. One boz
lie containing that deadly drug was drunk
from by the man for whom it was designed,
'nd who fell its victim, and the other was
Trained TO its contents down in that secret
recess IN the Brown stable. Strychnlne in
both and in none other No evidence here
shich tends to point to the man who commit.
ed this act of murder, One bottle causing
he death of the father and the only other
bottle drained secretly by the hand of tie
prisoner
By whom was the drug put in? Who had
any motive to do this, who had any opportu-
nifty to do it, and whom do the proven facts
point out as the man who bad some motive
and an opportunity, aud whose conduct was
such as to crlminate himself This is a
crime that does not seek the roof top to pro-
claim itself, but travels IN the secret ways
Of silence, stealth and solitude. No poison
er's hand is ever seen by mortal eye. No
poisonous drug is ever 10 ,kei upon as
1t is dropped into. drink which is TO give
the fatai dose. lhe poisoner calls in no Wit
ness to see. He prOclalms not his act to
a's man ~ "ee"s We az VI no "'ap anu
comes I, il ,h;na hard :, t,a,., and =, he
proved by circumstances only.
bad a motive for the crime. Not such mo