Year: 1872

hotel and that he is not the lucky man who is
coming in, but he who is going out.


Summing Up for the Defence In tho


Stokes Trial.


The summing up of Stokes counsel at the
trial for the murder of Fisk yesterday was the
great feature of the eighteenth day Of the trial.
Not without wrangling and unseemly scenes
had the early part of the day passed. The
doctors, with a keen edge of professional
jealousy, had slashed at each other until they
were reminded, in the language of yesterdays
HERALD, that the medical profession or it's
members were not on trial, and that Stokes
alone was DR.. Shine testified to conversa-
ton with Dr. Tripler, in which the latter, he
said admitted giving one hundred and ten to
one hundred and twenty minims Of Magen-
dies solution, or about four grains of NOR
phine, to the wounded Fisk. DR.. Gordon
Buck, in rebuttal, testified that there was
evidence of narcotsm, but that he did not
deem it as affecting the general result of the
injury. The indecent display of professional
jealousy came next, when DIR. Sayre once





self, because DIR. Carnochan had averred that
he (Sayre) had stolen his (Carno-
chans) cases. Beyond general denial
of the charge of case theft he was
indignant and said something about
stealing dry goods from cases at Quarantine,
which, whatever its insinuated meaning, could
scarcely have much bearing on the murder of
Fisk. This personal doctor having been
mitigated by extinction as Witness Surgeon
General Hammond took the stand and gave
evidence to the effect that opium was
q correct medicament under the circumstances,
but he thought that its administration in
large doses might be fatal, according to the
constitution of the patient. A course of barber
evidence followed as to Stokes carrying pistol.
One barber said he carried it, and another,
called by the prosecution, said he did not.
Thus these shaving peoples testimony is
of very little account one way or the
other. A man employed at the Grand Central
Hotel averred that the hall boy Hart said the
bullet found on the stairs did not fit into the
pistol found, but did fit the other. After tes-
timony about the breaking of the probe by
punching" or otherwise the long chain Of
evidence was announced as closed and the
summing up began.


Mr.. Tremain asked that the jury be charged
to find Stokes either guilty or not guilty of
murder in the first degree Their other alter
natives wefe, he stated, guilty of manslaughter
in the third or fourth degree. AS he had
merely made the preliminary steps in his argu-
ment for the prisoner it would not be fair to
speak of it as q whole. AS far as he has
gone, it points, as we promised, to laying the
greatest stress on the unprecedented or acci-
dental nature Of the meeting which led to the
shooting, in opposition to the leading theory
of the prosecution, that Stokes lay in wait
for and pounced murderously on his
victim. The question of how far the
medical treatment influenced the death
of Fisk will be brought forward en-
phatically and the insanity plea will not be
neglected. From the temper Of the counsel's
side allusion to the Erie and city rings it
may be presumed that these exploded and
dangerous combinations, of which the deceased
was one of the leading elements, will
be used largely to show the formidable
nature of the opposition to his client
and the chance of peace of mind which q man
stood who might stand in its way or in its
power. Except as touching upon this insanity
plea, all this, however, must be said to lie
largely outside of the case. When the matter
of Stokes life or death goes to the jury,
as it must before the end of the week,
one of the most exciting trials in
the history of criminal jurisprudence will
demand verdict, and that it may be just
and fearless one is the hope of the commu-
nifty. Murder must be punished to preserve
civilization but, on the other hand, where
prisoner has any circumstances on his side
lessening his guilt they should be given every
consideration, for civilization Furnishes itself
in giving either less or more Of punishment to
a criminal than his crime demands.