Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-05-13
THE TRIAL OF JEFF. PHILLIPS.

A Midnight Session Oh inc CoufiH
Closely Packed Room---Closln% Ar
When the GAzETrE's report of the
trial of Jefferson Phillips for the killing
of George S. Smith closed yesterday Mr..
Edmund Burke, counsel for the Defence
was delivering his argument before the
jury. At quarter past five o'clock
recess was taken by the court until half
past six o'clock.
The largest crowd that had been
seen in the Corporation Court room dur
ing the trial had gathered and when
the doors were opened in less time imam
it takes to tell it every seat inside the
bar and every inch of standing room
without were Immediately pre-empted
and occupied until midnight. During
the evening some commotlon was Gre
ated without the bar on two occasions
one when a man who had had his peck
ct picked of his watch made his loss
known, and another when disturb
ance was created in the street by re-
port that policeman was being rough
ly handled in the street by four men
who had fallen upon him. A number
Quilted the room on both occasions.
Court reconvened at 6:45 o'clock and
Mr.. Burke resumed his argument. The
speaker began by referring to the length
of his argument. He couldn't, he said,
tell what was to follow. 1t was like a
dinner given to Capt. D. l.. Smoot by
the Chinese in San Francisco. The
dinner had lasted three days, during
| which one hundred and torty-slX
courses had been served. He referred
to the fact that the defence had placed
DR.. Roy on the stand and proceeded to
state why the doctor had been taken in
preference to Drs. Brown or Jones,
who had formerly attended the prl-
soner. Mr.. Burke said the law espe-
cially provided that the evidence OF an
expert was necessary on such occasions,
and that had every other physician
beeu called upon to pass upon the ques-
tons at issue the Judge would properly
have ruled them out. He then argued
that Phillips when he killed Smith was
acting under an overweight mind, and
cited the case of Daniel f. Sickles, who
shot Phil. Barton Key whom the jury
acquitted on that ground. A man, he
said, in such frame of mind, while
knowing his act to be wrong was I'M
pelled to commit il, having no control OF
his will power. The jury had held
Sickles guiltless under such circum-
stances, although Key had made
no boasts of his conquests nor
had he threatened SicKles. Key
had not gone TO a bawdy house and
boosted of his exploits. He argued
there was but one verdict for the jury
to bring in-that was justiliable homi-
cide-that was the only verdict which
would be accepted by the people in the
case of Jefferson Phillips. He made an
earnest appeal to the jury to acqult the
prisoner. The latter was in bad health,
his life was span; the hectic flush on
his face showed that he had but short
lease on life; to send him TO the penl-
Tertiary meant death he was now IN
the hands of the jury; he was their
property, and the burden OF RESPONSE
bility as to his disposition rested with
them. The jury could convict him or
clear him. 1t was probably the last
time they would ever meet again col
lectively and he trusted they would act
according to the facts which had been
adduced by the defence in the case. 1t
was % minutes to o'clock when Mr..
Burke closed his argument, he having
been 1 hours and 50 minutes in deliver
ing it. -,
Mr.. Johnson, for the prosecution, fol-
lowed. The crowd in the room by this
time had become very closely packed,
almost to suhocation. Mr.. Johnson
commenced by saying he would not
follow Mr.. Burke through ancient liter
allure, nor to Rome, Carthage, Athens
or Arabia, but would argue the case as
it had been presented to him and from
the plain and direct evidence in the
case. He wanted the jury to pick to
pieces all he might say and gather the
wheat from the chaii'; not to take what
he said without carefully examining
the evidence and the facts in the case
and weighing them for what they were
worth. He desired to present plain evil
dence for everything he intended urg-
ing against the accused The defence,
the speaker said, had brought in many
things in the course of the trial which
were incidental and had nothing to do
with the main facts of the case for in
stance, the assertion that the prisoner
supported his mother and sister. Well,
sunpose he did-what had that to do
with the fact that he had Killed
George Smith? This he knew
had been logged in to incite
sympathy for the man who stood
charged with the murder of his fellow
man, and to evoke the sympathy OF the
Jury. This proved nothing had the as,
sertion been substantiated, but it had
been shown that such was not the case I;
that on the contrary Mr.. Shock, the
Overseer of Outdoor Poor, had testified
that the prisoners family had been re-
ceiving corporation aid for the last five
wears. 1t had been again urged that
Phillips was consumptive. Had that
fact anything to do with the case. or
could it in any wise mitigate the of
Tense of which he stood charged ?
These things had been brought in for
the purpose of unduly exciting the SYM
pathies of the jury, but did not proper
ly enter into the case and should prove
no obstacle to the free and uninterrupt-
ed course of the law. Now it had been
| charged that the deceased, George S.
Smith. had seduced Julia Phillips, a sis
ter of the prisoner, and this alleged Of
Tense had so deprived accused of his
will power that he had slain the de-
ceased. Why had she not been placed
an tho stand and been allowed to make