The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-10-08
CHARGE To JURY
Judge Longs Words in
the Rowland Case
State And h Defense and Places
Before the Jury the Law by
Which They Are to
be Guided

u y
At midnight Saturday night. fol-
lowing tIi@ charge Of Judge Long, the
jury in b Rowland case retired to
bed after announcing thai no dclibefa-
ton would be engaged liz until this
morning. It is p~robienlaticaI whether
the verdict will be made today or
Monday.
Judge Long, at fifteen minutes past
eleven o'clock on Saturday night be
gan his charge to the jury IN the case
of DR.. d. S. Rowland and his wife.
Mrs. Lille NJ. Rowland, on trial for
the murder by poison of Engineer
Charles L. Strange on the 9Th of April
Of this year. The court room was
crowded to its capacity during the
reading of the charge, which is as
follows:
Gentlemen OF the Jury: The bill
Of Indictment charges the prisoners
With the murder Of Charles r.. Strange
on the sixth Of April, 1907, and the
prisoners both plead that they are not
guilty 81 the felony and murder
whereof they stand charged; and upon
this issue Joined between the State
and the prisoners the State has offer
ed evidence which the counsel for the
State insist tends to prove the crime
alleged, and the prisoners have Of
fered evidence which they insist tends
to disprove the crime alleged,
YOU have heard the argument of
counsel on both sides, fully and ably
presenting the contentious respective
" Of the state and of the prisoners
IL regard to the law and the evil
dence. and it now becomes my duty
TO instruct YOU with respect to the
law in the case, which it is your duty
to receive from the court, and then
it viii become your duty to find the
facts from the evidence OF the wit
nesseS and apply the law given you
by the court to the facts as YOU shall
find then TO be, Il thus determine
by you verdict whether YOU find the
prisoners guilty or not guilty of the
crime whereof thev stand charged.
The specific charge made by the
State is that the prisoners committed
the offence by means of poison.
The sts tate in North Carolina pro
vides that, "a murder which shall be
perpetrated by means of poison s. g +"
or by any other kind of WiIlful. de
liberate and premeditated Eilling* * 81
shall be deemed murder ia the first
degree end shall be punished with
death. All other kinds of murder
shall BE- deemed murder in the second
degree, and shall be punished with
imprisonment of not less than two nor
more thar thirty years in the States
p~rison."
In order to make out It's case and
sustain the charge of the bin of.indict-
n1ent. it is necessary for the State to
establish by this evidence and beyond
a reasonable doubt the criminal act
alleged and the resulting death there
from, and the actual agency Of the
accused in its commission. It is re-
Guisite that the deceased should be
shown to have died from the effects
ct poison administered az alleged;
and also it must appear that the poi
son was unlaWfuIly aid Willfully and
kn0WjDClr- ~GmtrictopaI nv tha nriG-
Gners as charged. 1t consists not
merely of the objective crime, but also
of the agency Of the accused in the
commission OF the crime. The CON
stituent clements OF the crime OF hOm-
icide-kncWn as the corpus deficit
is made up of two things, first, GER
tain facts forming its basis. as in this
instance the death Of Mr. Strange,
and second, the existence Of criminal
agency as the cause of those facts
forming the basis Of. or causing the
death of the deceased The corpus
deficit. or the body OF the crime, can
not be said to be established In
homicide until it is proved that the
death was not caused by natural
causes or by accident. The mere fact
of death is not sufficient unless it
appears that the death resulted from
the criminal agenCy of the parties ac-
cused. and unless it appears hat it
was not due to accident or to natural
causes Inc fact OF criminal agency,
how ever. nay be established either by
direct or by circGmstantial evidence,
provided sue fact is established to
the satisfaction of the jury and beyond
a reasonable doubt
The State does not claim to have
shown by direct testimony that the
prisoners administered to the deceased
poison which caused his death: but il
relies on circumstance and facts
it CLAIMS to have proven, and
which tic laims will justify YOU in
aTr1vln at the conclusion that the
Death Of Mr.. Strange was caused BY
poison administered by the prisoners
with the intention of causing his
death In other words. the prosecu-
non relies rot upon direct evidence. but
unQ7 clTcuInstantiaI evidence to es-
saoI1sn a charge. When such evidence
Is reled on for conviction every ma
terlal and Necessary circumstance
must be established beyond a reason
abe doubt; and the material eircum-
stances 50 established must be 50 es-
tablSSed as to exclude every reas-
enable hypothesis but that of the
guilt Of the prisoners: each circum-
stance proved must, taken in cennec-
ton With the other circumstances,
tend to prove the guilt of the prison
ers. /