The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-06-21
LEANED TOWARDS LIZZIE.

LEANED TOWARDS LIZZIE.
Chief Justice Dewey's Charge to the Jury
Favorable to the Defendants.
The court came in promptly at las
o'clock, every seat in the room being occu-
pied as usual. The Chief Justice addressed
Miss Borden by name. telling her that she
now had voice and could say To the jury
what she chose TO say. She arose. some
what agitated. and said to the jury:
am innocent but VIII leave my case in your
hands and In the hands OF my counsel.
Justice Dewey then charged the jury.
He read his charge rapidly and. among
other things embodied therein. was the
caution to take decision only upon the
law aud the evidence glvon. The court de.
fined the degrees of murder and said the
degree was to be determined by the jury.
Continuing, he said:
The government claims that You ought to find
that these murders were deliberately premedi-
tated. In considering the evidence you m ust
needs have several legal principles in your mind.
One Is that OF the presumption of innocence, and
this presumption Is TO be considered in the light
OF evidence, and 1t is q principle founded upon
that Denef1cent law which says every man is in
nocent until be is proven guilty. The character
and previous life OF the defendant must always
be taken into consideration. and understand
the government allows that there is nothing in
defendants past life previous to arrest to be
doubted. Recall the case, put one part with AL
other and see whether you can conceive at this
time this defendant had towards her step
mother feeling that could be properly called
hatred. If this conception is not warranted by
the evidence then it should not have weight in
your minds. The government claims these acts
The aW c IL order m to this
everything claimed must be proven beyond
reasonable doubt.
The government presents this case on circum-
evidence. 4 eyileQcn
jury in reasonable doubt to whether she was
where hor father was when he was murdered,
then the doubt would be fatal TO the govern
ments case. 1t is understood by the court that
the government claimed that an essential fact
was embraced In the note matter: that she had
made statements which she knew were false
when she was making them There are three
grounds to base this on. First. the man who
not been found, and third, there was no note.
What motive had defendant to invent a story
like this! Would not IT have been more natural
for her to say simply that her stepmother had
gone out TO make q CALF Was II a natural thing
for her to say. to invent. that which at any time
might DO brought against herf It is said no
letter was found. But contemplate the posi-
bllity OF there being another assassin Might 1t
not be q part of the scheme OF the assassinf
Might he not have come on her when the note
was there at handi Might he not have had
reason to remove 1t one of the linksl In cir
cumstantial evidence unless every link holds
good. the chain is worthless
Here the justice gave several illustra-
tions of DIS meaning. and then continued:
The jury is asked to bear in mind the supposed
facts that the defendant had no blood on her
clothes when seen first. and that there is nothing
to connect her with the murder so far as out
ward appearances co. In order to warrant con-
viction 1t is not incumbent on the government
TO show that she alone had the opportunity
Was the defendant in the house when these peo-
pie were killed. Are the views OF the experts
cOrrectl Was this defendant capable of doing
this workl The government claims that she was
not In the barn at the time she said she was and
mcTea ra-
fully weigh for its actual weight.
Hero the justice again cautioned tho jury
against reoeiv ing statements for facts.
Calling attention to medical experts. the
court seemed inclined to place small reli-
ance upon them as q general thing. and the
jurors were given TO understand that they
must give to expert testimony just as much
weight as they thought it ought to
against noticing in any way the fact
that defendant did not take the stand
The court said the burden of proof 10 on
the government and the defendant Is not
obliged to shoulder any Of it. The jury was
not to deal with the evidence in a captious
spirit. If not legally guilty the jury was
to say The jury was asked to thin X
over carefully whether q person contem-
plating crime would be likely to tell q
friend of 1t or predict it IN any way tho
dress the court asked the jury to say
whether il could extract from all the de-
soriptiOns of the dress enough by which to
identify il. The quarrel story the court
disposed of In short order and. of course.
left it with the jury to eey whether ls was
reasonable to say that such persona who
were interested In getting Mrs Reagan's 9
story became without having first ascer-
tanned the truth of the matter. The court
said the Jury should lift the case above tho
level of passion into the clear lines of trur rh
and reason.
At the conclusion of the charge the at
torneys consulted few moments. The
jury was allowed to retire and counsel
agreed upon what exhlb bits were TO be put
into the case. after which the jnrors were
by the clerk of courts. and the jury took
the case.
It was just 430 o'clock when the spec
tators. who had kept their seate patiently
during the retirement of the Jury. noticed
q movement indicating their return. A.
moment later the twelve men filed into
their seats and were polled. Miss Borden
was asked 10 stand up and the foreman
was asked TO return the verdict. which he
announced: Not guilty" Then bedlam
broke loose. The people cheered and
shouted, and the justices made no effort 70
stop them. The verdict seemed TO be a
popular one. This evening Mi ss Borden,
accompanied by her friends. went back TO
Fell River.
Ovation to Lizzie Borden.
FALL RIVER. Mass. June 20.-Lizzie Bor-
den received an ovation on her arrival here
this evening. She intended to stop at the