The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1897-06-09

in the least against these defendants.
Notwithstanding the grave accusation
against them the law presumes them in
nocent and it is your duty to so regard
them, unless the Commonwealth has
shown beyond reasonable doubt that
they are guilty. In view of the serious
nature of the charge, the most serious
known to our criminal law, il becomes
all the more your duty 20 weigh all the
testimony with great canton, without
regard to any possible feeling outside,
and without thought as 10 whether
your verdict will strike popular senti-
ment favorably or unfavorably, or shall
evoke favorable comment or otherwise
but with the sole object and purpose oi
arriving at the very truth of the issue,
If the defendants are found guilty it must
be on the evidence alone.
Were James and John Roddy at the
Berkey home on the night of June >
1896, Are they the two men who tortured
1 and robbed the deceased? Ii the evidence
satisfies you beyond reasonable doabl
that they are the guilty parties it is your
duty to say SO by your verdict, reg ard
| less OF the consequences u them which
may follow. During the course of the
arguments counsel have expressed their
views as to the propriety of capital pun
/ ishment. This is matter which you
need not and should not consider. You
\ have nothing To do with the penalty
which may follow a conviction. but are
sworn 10 determine the issue of fact alone
We do not propose to review the testi-
/ lnony in detail. 1t was argued eNhaus-
( lively and with exceptional ability on
1 both sides during the sessions OF an en-
tire day. Il is thoreinre quite familiar
% you and fresh in your recollec.ions.
But in brief, the theory OF the Common
wealth is that the defendants, with Rich
ard Jackson, planned this robbery some
time in advance; that they went out into
| the vicinity of Berkey's residence the
week preceding aud on the 2ish, eth aud
18th of May, passed about the neighbor-
hood, locating their victim aud prepar-
/ ing for the commission of the crime, and
that their visits of those days were but
preliminary steps to the act of June 2i.
\ number of witnesses apparel who
testified to seeing three persons in the
vicinity on the days IN sntionei in Nay
as well as on the 2i of June, and, under
took with more or less certainty. 10 iden-
tify the defendants as two of them, and
Jackson as the other, some being more
positive in the identification than others.
Besides these witnesses you have also the
the house when the burglary aud rob
berry took place. and who also undertakes
to identify the defendants.
Then there is the dying declaration or
statement of David Berkey, which was
read in your hearing, in which he ex.
are the guilty parties Two witnesses
were also called who claimed to have
seen the defendants on the morning OF
the Sd of June along the b. Il o. Railroad
about the Osborne cut, when, it is argued
they were returning to their home. You
saw the witnesses on the stand and heard
them explain how and why they identi-
| fy the defendants, and will judge of the
value aud sufficiency of their testimony
for that purpose. We will only add that
this charge must stand or fall, as the
identity of the defendants with the per-
when the crime was committed, is prov
ell or fails of proof.
The defendants positively deny that
they were then, or at any other time be
| fore, in Paint township, and deny all
knowledge of, or completely in, the bur.
glary. They say they never knew the
deceased and were never at his home un.
til taken there by the officers after theil
arrest. Even il it should be believed
that they were there on the 9th aud 2stl
of May, it would not follow from that
fact that they were there also on the "a o.
June aud participated in the crime fol
which they stand indicted. But the evi.
denee as To those two days was offered
only as it bears on the nature of their
errand and the probability of their return
on the 2l of June, and for the purpose o
Identification. In addition to the posi-.
| Tive utAiihl vi TIC ucitINthl>s llltN SCI ~
what is known in Law as an alibi, which
means, in plain terms, that when the of
| fense was committed they were else
where, and could not, therefore, have
done this deed.
That defense, when established to the
satisfaction of the jury, is as conclusive
and complete as any that can possibly be
interposed; for "A man can not, in the
nature of things, be in two separate
places at one and the same time. If on
the evening or night of June u the de.
PENDANTS were in Morrellville, as they
say, it is manifest they could not have
been at Berkey's and are necessarily inno-
cent of this charge. You heard their ex'
plantations of how they spent the day ol
the ID, going from their home up to
Johnstown and returning in the after.
noon about o'clock, of the persons
whom they met on the way aud in Nor
rellville during the evening aud that
night. and of their finally retiring and
sleeping at their own home that night
4 number of witnesses sustain them in
their testimony. George Carpenter and
Harry Doughlas speak of seeing them
about o'clock near the p. II. K
bridge. going in the.direciion of Morrell-
vile. Mrs Roddy, Mrs. Lightner, Nor
ris Roddy, Mr.. and Mrs. Arnold, Mrs.
Green, Mrs. Oveidor Mr.. and Mrs
Dixon, A. J. Leonard, and others say
they saw them in Morrellville during the
evening and night Of that day, while
Robert Hill says John worked in his
mine the next day. III the statements oi
these witnesses are believed, they would
seem to make out a complete alibi
| Their credibility, like that of all wit
nesses in the case, is for the jury. II
there are discrepancies in the testimony
| il is your duty to reconcile them, If you
can, on such theory as will sustain tho
integrity of all the witnesses who are in
conflict. II that can not be done, you
will consider what opportunities the sew.
eral witnesses had of knowing, fixing
or remembering the date and the facts ts
which they testified, and on all the levi.
dence determine who is to be believed.
In setting up the defense of an alibi the
/ defendants introduce a separate issue in
to the case, and assume the burden o.