Widnes Examiner. — 1892-05-07 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

STATEMENT BY THE PRISONER. . .  When Mr. Walsh sat down, Deeming, acting in opposition to the strongly-expressed advice of his counsel, asked leave to make a statement to the court.  The judge at once gave his consent, and Deeming then made a long, rambling statement of an irrelevant kind. He declared that whatever the verdict might be he would feel that he had not had a fair trial. He asked for justice, not for himself, but in the interests of the public in general. It was not 'the law which had dealt with the case, but the Press had prejudged it. The photograph published in the newspapers gave the first clue by which he was identified. He had been most unjuStly treated. There were, he asserted, not two. hundred people in Melbourne who would not lynch him to-morrow without any trial if they got the charece. If he had been guilty he would much rather have said so than be for four days in court an object of scorn to the ugliest rice of people on the face of the earth;,who grinned at him fromthe galleries, and shook their fists at him. He accused the witnesses Woods and Hirschfeldt of lying. The evidence of Flirschfeldt was, he said. a gross instance of treachery. Many of the Crown witnesses he had never seen before. He complained that the trial had been forced on so that there was no chance of evidence being got from Englaad or Calcutta as to his mental condition. He had borne the trial patiently, and had never in terfered, but nobody had watched the case closerHis nights had been devoted to reviewing the evidence and making notes. His memory was defective ; he would lose it suddenly for months, and then regain it for several months continuously. He felt in his own mind that he was not guilty. He had no reason for killing his wife, who was kind and affectionate. He believed that if there was proper cause for committing such a crime it was justifiable, and that no law should interfere. He, however, had no cause. He had one comfort ha the knowledge that she was not dead. He did not say that to screen himself. He thought no more of life than of a piece of 'paper ; his life was ruined even if he were acquitted, and he should commit suicide in the Yarra. He had travelled over the whole world. On the Zambesi he had been attacked by savages and knocked on the head. On one occasion he entered a den of lions, and dragged one out and gava it to a Mr. Jones, a Liverpool man. Having run such risks, he attached rib value to life. He complained of the treatment which he had received from Dr. Shields, the prison doctor, and declared that it was a disgrace to himself and his fellow-creatures. It was not possible for the judge and jury to give a fair verdict, and whatever the result, he would consider that he had not had a fair trial. He was alone and friendless, and every man' a hand was against him. Even. Miss Rounsevell had been turned against him. He proceeded to deal withthe main features of the evidence, and then suddenly said •—•"-I cannot remember the proceedings of the court, tha witnesses, or the evidence." Throughout these remarks the prisoner spoke boldly. and fluently, though there was an occasional tremor iri- ' his voice. Resuming his address he finishedlup by declaring he knew where his wife, whom he was supposed to have murdered, was now living. He would not, however, disclose her whereabouts, because of her terrible crime. As soon as the accused had stopped speaking, The Judge commenced to address the jury, the summing up being a lucid and impartial review of the evidence, and of, the law as to insanity in cases of murder. . •