Year: 1862

The Br0adway Murder Case-Aa A6ssrd
Verdict.


In the case of Mary Real, who has been
under trial for week past in the Court


of Oyer and Terminer in this city the jury rem


dered yesterday the anomalous and absurd yer


dict of"guilg Of mans laughter in the third dc


grec,.' and the prisoner was thereupon sen.
{ tenced to tNp and halt vaers' '''--' :
---- .mpl moulzzR"s =


the State prison. This verdict will take I'll.


community by sur prise much more than If tht


accused had been found guilty of the capita


crime of murder. There would have beer


some consistency in such vesdict; in the one


rendered there is none whatever.
What are the facts of the case! Few and
| simple. The murdered man and the accused


stood toward one another In the closest reia


tions. Some sort Of marriage ceremony, or at


least solemn promise of marriage, made her


regard him in the light Of husband and it was
IN evidence that on several occasions he recog-


M ed that relationship But the irregular mar


ria9e. snr the promise Of marriage, or whatever
tie bound them together, was never publicly
solemnised or legalixed. The girl regarded
herself as his wife; ,se does not seem to have


treated the matter 90 - 1ously Neglect, aban-
donment, her anomalous pc>s sition-neither maid
nor wife, and stitl In her own conscience a vir
tuous woman--his refusal evcu Is provide for
her support, and stories Of his gailantry to
other women, all wrought upon her>highly sem
stive nature, and produced settled meIan-
choy and Depression of spirits, which on
two occasions at least Fed to that last refuge
Of unhappy woiaen--attenpted self-aestructiou.


On the morning OF the l:ssb June lass clrcum-
stances occurred which intensified her bitterness
OF heart. Her cup OF suffering aud sorrow over
flowed and her capacity of endurance gave
way. Then an Irresistible impyalse seized upon
her to rid the world either Of herself or Of him
who had brought her to tis pass. Which of
those determinations possessed her. or whether
she had resolved on their mutual destruction.
can never be ascertained, SO far as tho purposes
of justice are concerned; and it is more than
probable that. in the whirl of her tseranged
senses, the girl herself had no definite idea OF
what she was about She procured . pistol.
came down to his place of business in Broad
way, had an interview with him in the store.
retired with him to the landing, and there in
some sort of scufle that took place-the cause
and object of which are also hid from the eve of
justice-the pistol was discharged into his
breast, and in few minutes afterwards he was
but lifeless clay.


These were tho few plain, simple facts on
which the jury had to decide on the fate of this
girl. To all logical minds there were but two
solutions to the question Of her guilt or inno-
cence. Either she deliberately premeditated
his death, and carried out that fixed plan-in
which case she was guilty of murderer she had
resolved to kill herself in his presence, and in
his efforts to wrest the pistol from her grasp
the fatal shot was accidentally fred-in which
case she was innocent of all crime. There was
no medium course-at least none which any
sensible mind would follow. The additional
defence Of moral insanity did not complicate
the issue for If the accused was In state of
temporary alteration of mind she was not
guilty Of any crime at all. This case went to q
jury composed of much more intelligent class
of men than are usually found in the jury boxes
Of our criminal courts, and after nights de-
that jury brought in the ridiculous
verdict Of manslaughter in the third degree,
and Immediately afterwards stultiied them
selves still more by promising to sign peti-
ton to the Governor for remission of her
sentence. II she was guilty of manslaughter
did she not deserve punishment! And if she
was not guilty of it why did the jury make
fools of themselves by saying that she was
We did not need this manifestation of absurdity
to convince us that the much auded institution
of the jury is one Of the veriest humbugs trans
mitted to us by antiquity. We understand that
counsel fer the defence purpose to have re-
course to the Governors pardoning powers.
OF course they are the best judges of the in
terests of their client but, in the interests of
justice, they ought rather to move to set aside
the verdict as one against evidence.


We have not touched upon the question of
provocation, because the law does not recor-
nize the principle Of private vengeance but
there is an unwritten law in the hearts of this
whole community-whchs should also have had
its interpreters in the jury box that vllanies
such as that practised by the man Real deserve
no other end than that which he suffered. We
think that the verdict should be Immediately
set aside, or, II not we hope that the Governors
attributes Of mercy will be exercised in her
beh alf.


A PRosrEcr OF THE DEFEAT or WADE AND
SuMNER.-There seems now fine prospect that
both Wade and Sumner will be defeated in their