Year: 1872

breakup of the dry season throughout the
northern temperate zone of both hemispheres
Waiting for tho Verdict I'm the Trial


The interest in great murder trial which
claims the devotion of different classes, accord
ing to the phases through which it passes,
gradually reabsorbs them all as the telling
moment arrives when the jury retire to
consider their verdict The trial Of
Stokes was no exception to the rule,
and yesterday the fact that the critical
period had arrived caused as deep an excite
ment to pervade New York as on the night
that Fisk lay dying at the Grand Central
Hotel, in January last The Court assembled
at the usual hour, and the whole room was
crowded instantly. Among the throng were
many prepared to look on the trial as o
farce if the man at the bar did not hang
as high as Haman, and who were not
slow to say so. Others there were who, for old
friendships sake or family reasons, hoped to
see the prisoner free once more and the great
morbid mass of men and women who cared for



It was known that the case must go TO the
Jury, and, although there was Xiesssa&ge Of fate
in every word spoken, impatience for the end
was visible on every face except the prisoners.
We have been told from day to day of the
good spirits Of the accused, as tho visible
emotion or stolidity Of the prisoner in capital
trials has been described for many
years; but the pallor and anxiety which
assert themselves Ct ,ths 1ssss D. moment
came yesterday to Stokes. This is not
wonderful it is nature speaking in defiance
of will at the sight Of the fingers Of fate
raising the curtain Of doom. So, with the
Judge on the bench, the jury in their seats,
the counsel for the defence wary and watch
full, and the prisoner with faculties strained,
despite his restless nervousness, the District
Attorney resumed his summing up.


The line Of argument was clear and kept
carefully in view the theory of the prosecution,
that death resulted from the injury by the
bullet discharged by the prisoner, with inten-
tion to kill and that there was no provocation
Precedents were adduced to prove that killing,





der. Precedents, however, are not always paral-
lels, for no two cases are ever alike throughout
The Rogers and Nathan murders, for in
stance, were not parallel cases, for the great
reason that there never had been o trial in
either case, and the fact that the verdict of
Coroners jury is frequently modified or set
aside entirely by the higher and more formal
inquisition. The implied comparison between
Abraham Lincoln and Fisk, in the fact that
hundreds of thousands thirsted at one time
for the blood of the former-but
he the District Attorney did not
dream that any one would be so base
as to take his lfe-must be considered as far
fetched. Beyond these illustrations he claimed
that the prosecution had proved all it desired.
The defence, he contended, had brought for
ward theories weak in every point, relying
for the main one-want of premeditation-o
the evidence of the prisoner himself. The
District Attorneys style seems to deal
largely in interrogatory, as, for instance,
when attacking the medical line of defence,
he asked, ''Why did he put him in such po-
sition that no skill could cure him?' This is
very suggestive, certainly, but not wholly sat-
isfactory. On the minor points of difference
between the evidence Of witnesses for the pros
ecution he expressed himself as satisfied that
the main story had been untouched thereby.
In conclusion, he said that if the jury
released this man blood would continue to
flow in our streets. That the effect of
Stokes acquittal would be SO sanguinary
seems not q wholly justifable conclusion; for
no man, where the organization of society is
undsturbed, should be inundated purely with
an eye to restraining murderous instincts in
others. The essence of civilized law is that
case be tried on its merits alone, and that the
immolation or acqulttal have reference only to
the guilt or innocence of the accused.


The charge Of the Judge followed Defn-
ing the crime of murder, he recounted the
theories on both sides, and told the jury to
choose only upon the admitted evidence.
Avoiding an opinion on the value of the
medical testimony on either side, he left the
probe and the morphia to the jury. He
charged that if the wound was mortal the ac-
celeration of death by the doctors was
not material. This was excepted to
strongly by Mr.. Tremain. His Honor told
them also that no verdict between murder in
the first degree and manslaughter in the third
was admissible, and, at the request of Mr..
Tremain, that reasonable doubt of the homi-
eide not being justifable would entitle them
to acquit The charge was impartial and
clear


Thus directed, the jury retired. Then came
on that scene Of waiting for the verdict,
where the imagination may find full play
for picturing the anguish of doubt, the
alternations of hopes and fears, where the
prisoned mind bursts its bars and riots in a