Part 19 (2/2)
She is his only sister; he her only brother; and they are orphans.”
(Here there was a faltering of the voice, a pause, which was very effective; and after apparently a great effort, Mr. W---- went on.)
”She has sat beside him hour after hour, and day after day, in yonder dreary jail, endeavoring to make the weary hours of solitude and captivity less irksome, and lead the prisoner's heart away from earthly trouble to heavenly comfort. Her hope in the jury of to-day is strong.
She believes they will not doom her young and only brother to an ignominious death, and a dishonored grave; she even hopes that they will not consign him to long years of weary imprisonment; she feels that he is changed; that he no longer trusts to his own strength to overcome his naturally strong and violent pa.s.sions; but that his trust is in the arm of the Lord his G.o.d, who 'turneth the hearts of men as the rivers of water are turned.'”
”May He dispose the hearts of these twelve men, on whom the fate of this youth now hangs, so that they shall show, that like Himself they are _lovers of mercy_.”
And Mr. W---- sat down and covered his face with his handkerchief. The hope and expectation of acquittal now were very strong.
And now slowly rose the counsel for the prosecution. Mr. G---- was a tall thin man, of a grave and stern expression of countenance; his hair was of an iron-gray, and his piercing gray eye shone from under his s.h.a.ggy eye-brows like a spark of fire. It was the only thing that looked like _life_ about him; and when he first rose he began to speak in a slow, distinct, unimpa.s.sioned manner, and without the least attempt at eloquence.
”He _had_ intended,” he said, ”to call a few more witnesses, but he found it was utterly unnecessary; those already called had said all he cared to hear; indeed, he had been much surprised to hear testimony on the side of the prisoner which he should have thought by right his own.
No one attempts to deny the fact of the killing, and that the deed was done by the hand of the prisoner. The question for us to decide is, was it murder? was it man-slaughter? or was it _nothing at all_? for to that point my learned adversary evidently wishes to conduct us.”
”The young man it appears, by the testimony of friends and school-mates, has always been of a peculiarly quick and fiery temper; so much so it seems, that a playful allusion, or what is commonly called a _teazing_ expression, could not be indulged in at his expense but his companion was instantly felled to the ground. And was _he_ the one to arm himself with bowie-knife or revolver? Should one who was perfectly conscious that he had not the slightest control over his temper, keep about him a murderous weapon ready to do its deed of death upon any friend who might unwittingly, in an hour of revelry, touch upon some sore spot?”
”As soon would I approach a keg of gun-powder with a lighted candle in my hand, as have aught to do with one so fiery and so armed for destruction. It has been said that it is the custom for young men in some of our colleges to go thus armed; the more need of signal vengeance upon the work of death they do. Gentlemen of the jury, if this practice is not loudly rebuked we shall have work of this kind acc.u.mulating rapidly on our hands.”
”'It was done in the heat of frenzied pa.s.sion, and so the prisoner must go unpunished.' My learned friend argued not so, when he appeared in this place against the murder Wiley; poor, ignorant, and half-witted; who with his eyes starting from his head with starvation, entered a farmer's house, and in the extremity of his suffering demanded bread.
And on being told by the woman of the house to take himself off to the nearest tavern and get bread, caught up a carving knife and stabbed her to the heart, seized a piece of bread, and fled from the house. He had a fiendish temper too; it was rendered fiercer by starvation; and when asked why he did the dreadful deed, he said he never could have dragged himself on three miles to the nearest tavern, and he had no money to buy bread when he got there. He must die anyway, and it might as well be on the gallows as by the road-side.”
”He, poor fellow, had no friends; he had been brought up in vice and misery; he had no gentle sister to lead him in the paths of virtue, a kind word was never spoken to him; a crust of bread was denied him when he was starving; and above all, he had no wealthy friend to pay an enormous counsel fee, and my learned opponent standing where he did just now, called loudly on the jury and said, 'away with such a fellow from the earth!'”
”Do not think me blood-thirsty or unfeeling. The innocent sufferer in this case, the sister of this unfortunate young man, has my deepest sympathy and commiseration, as she has that of this audience and the jury. But could those here present have gone with me”--(here the speaker paused, too agitated to proceed)--”to yonder desolated home; had they seen a mother, lately widowed, and four young sisters, around the bier where lay the remains of the murdered son and brother--their only hope next to G.o.d--he for whom they were all toiling early and late, that, when his education was completed, he in turn might work for them,--had they heard that mother's cry for strength, now that her last earthly prop was thus rudely s.n.a.t.c.hed away, they would have found food for pity there. I tell you, my friends, I pray that I may never be called upon to witness such a scene again!”
Wiping his cheeks repeatedly, Mr. G----resumed:
”These tears surprise me; for I am not used to the 'melting mood,' and I cannot afford to weep as readily as my learned opponent, who will count his pile of bank notes for every tear he sheds, and think those tears well expended. I speak for an outraged community; my sympathies are with the poor--with the widow and the fatherless--with those whose only son and brother has been cut off in his hope and promise, and consigned to an early grave.”
”Shall these things take place unnoticed and unpunished?--and for a light and hasty word, shall our young men of promise be cut down in the midst of their days, and the act go unrebuked of justice? I look not so much at this individual case as to the general good. Were I to look only on the prisoner, I too might yield to feeling, and forget justice. But feeling must not rule here: in the court room, justice alone should have sway; and I call upon the jury to decide as impartially in this case as if the poorest and most neglected wretch, brought up in vice and wretchedness, sat there, instead of the handsome and interesting prisoner; and I call upon the jury to show that, though in private life they may be 'lovers of mercy,' yet, where the general good is so deeply involved, they are determined to 'deal justly' with the prisoner.”
The judge then gave his charge to the jury, which was thought to lean rather to the side of the prisoner, though he agreed with Mr. G----, that some sharp rebuke should be given to the practice, so common among the young men in some of our colleges, of carrying about with them offensive weapons.
The prisoner was led back to the jail; the jury retired; and it being now evening, the court room was deserted.
XIX.
The Sealed Paper.
”Sister, thy brother is won by thee.”--MRS. HEMANS.
The verdict would not be made known till the next morning. Oh! what a night of mental torture was that to the devoted sister of the prisoner!
The terrible suspense left it out of her power to remain quiet for a moment, but she restlessly paced the room, watching for the dawn of day, and yet dreading the signs of its approach. Her aunt, who remained with her during that anxious night, endeavored as well as she could to soothe and calm her excited feelings; but how little there was to be said; she could only point her to the Christian's never-failing trust and confidence; and it was only by constant supplications for strength from on high, as she walked the room, that Agnes was enabled to retain the slightest appearance of composure, or, as it seemed to her, to keep her brain from bursting.
The longest night will have an end, and morning at length dawned on the weary eyes of the watchers. The family rose and breakfasted early, for an intense excitement reigned throughout the house. Agnes begged to be allowed to remain in her own room; and though, in compliance with the entreaties of her friends, she endeavored to eat, she could not swallow a morsel. Mr. Wharton came early; and soon after breakfast, he and Dr.
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