Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-10-11

prisoner and tho man In the light coat being
one and the same person rested solely upon
the evidence Of the cabman, Royston. who,
though not intoxicated. was, Judging from
his own Statements, not In a fit state to dis
tinguish between the man who hailed the
cab and the man who got In The crime was
committed by means Of chloroform; there
fore, II the prisoner was guilty, he must have
purchased the chloroform in some shop or
obtained It from some friends. At oil events,
the prosecution had not brought forward q
single piece OF evidence 10 show how and
where the chloroform was obtained. With
regard to the glove belonging to the mur-
dered man found in the prisoners pocket, he
picked 1t up of the ground at the time when
he frst met Whyte, when the deceased was
lying drunk near the Scotch church. Ger
tainly there was no evidence TO show that
the prisoner had picked It up before the de
ceased entered the cab; but, on the other
hand, there was no evidence to show that 1t
had been picked up in the cab It was far
more likely that the glove, and especially
white glove, would be picked up under the
light Of the lamp near the Scotch church,
where it was easily noticeable, than In the
darkness OF a cab, where there was very little
room, and where it would be quite dark, as
the blinds were drawn down. The cabman,
Royston, swore positively that the man who
got out OF his cab on the st. Kilda road wore
diamond ring on the forfnger of his right
hand, and the cabman, Rankin, swore to the
same thing about the man who got out at
Powlett street Against this could be placed
the evidence Of one of the prisoners most
intimate friends-one who had seen him
almost daily for the last five years, and he
had sworn positively that the prisoner never
was in the habit of wearing rings. The cab
man, Rankin, had also sworn that the mar
who entered his cab on the st. Kilda road
aliehted ct Powlett street, East Melbourne.
at Q o'clock on Friday morning, as he heard
that hour strike from the postoffice clock,
whereas the evidence of the prisoners land
lady showed plainly that he entered the
house five minutes previously, and her evil
dence was further supported by that of the
matchmaker, Dendy. Mrs. Sampson saw the
hand of her kitchen clock point to five min
utes to 2, and, thinking it was ten minutes
slow, told the detective the prisoner did not
enter the house till five aninutes past 2 which
would just give the man who alighted from
the cab, presuming him to have been the
prisoner, sufficient time to walk up to his
lodgings The evidence of the matchmaker
Dendy, however, showed clearly that he had
put the clock right Mt ne hour of s
on Thursday night; that 1t was impossible
for it to gain ten minutes before 9 on Fri
day morning, and, therefore, the time, five
minutes to 2, seen by the landlady, was
the correct one, and the prisoner was in the
house five minutes before the other man
alighted from the cab in Powlett street.
| These points in themselves were sufficient to
show that the prisoner was innocent, but the
| evidence of the woman Rawlins must prove
conclusively to the jury that the prisoner
| was not the man who committed the crime
| The witness Brown had proved that the wo-
| man Rawlins had delivered letter to him.
which he gave to the prisoner, and that the
prisoner left the club, personally, to keep
the appointment spoken of in the letter.
| which letter, or rather the remains of it, had
been put in evidence. The woman Rawlins
swore that the prisoner met her at the corner
of Russell and Bourke streets, and had gone
with her to one of the back Sums, there to see
| the writer of the letter She also proved that
at the time Of the committal of the crime the
| prisoner was still in the back slum, by tho
bed of the dying woman, and, there being
| possibly
| have left without the witness seeing him The
woman Rawlins further proved that she left
the prisoner at tho corner o. Russell and
Bourke streets at twenty-five minutes to 9
o'clock, which was five minutes before Roy
| ston drove his cab up to the st. Kilda police
station, with the dead body inside Finally,
the woman Rawlins proved her words by
stating that she saw both the postoffice and
town hall clocks; and supposing tie prisoner
started from the corner OF Bourke and Rus
sell streets, as she says he did, he would reach
| East Melbourne in twenty minutes, which
made it five minutes to 2 on Friday morn
| ing, the time at which. according to the land
lady's statement, he entered the house. All
| the evidence given by the different witnesses
agreed completely, and formed q chain which
showed the whole Of the prisoners move
ments at the time of the committal of the
murder. Therefore, it was absolutely impos-
| sible that the murder could have been COM
mitted by the man in the dock. The strong
est piece of evidence brought forward by the
the prosecution was that Of the witness Ha-
bleton, who swore that the prisoner used
threats against the life of the deceased.
But the language was merely the outcome
| of passionate Irish nature, and was not
sufficient to prove the crime to have been
committed by the prisoner The defense
| which the prisoner set up was that of an
alibi, and the evidence of the witnesses for
the defense proved conclusively that the
prisoner could not, and did not, commit the
murder. Finally, Cation wound up his elab-
crate and exhaustive speech, which lasted for
over two hours Ivy brisians peroratlon,
calling upo.. tAe jury to base their verdict
upon the plain facts of the case, and if they
did SO they could hardly fail in bringing in u
verdict of mot guilty"
When Calton sat down suhdued naurmur
of applause was heard, which was instantly
suppressed, and the judge began to sum up,
which he did strongly in favor of Fitzgerald.
The jury then retired, and Immediately there
was a dead silence in the crowded court-an
unnatural silence, such as must have fallen
on the blood loving Roman popuace when
they saw the Christian martyrs kneeing on
the hot yellow sands Of the arena, and
watched the long, 1.-the forms Of lion and
panther creeping stealthily toward their
prey. The hour being late, the gas had been
lighted, ard there was a siclly glare through
the wide hall, which added to the singularity
Of tile scene. Fitzgerald had been taken out
Of court on the retiring of the jury, but the
spectators stared steadily at the empty dock,
which seemed to enchain them by some
indescribable fascination. They conyersed
among themselves only in whispers, until
even the whispering ceased, and nothing
could be heard but the steady ticking Of the
clock, and now and then the quick drawn
breath Of some timid onlooker. Suddenly a