Page:Trial of S.M. Landis.djvu/33



Gentlemen of the Jury:—The position which I occupy this morning, I would gladly yield to the friend who is my associate in this cause. It is a matter of necessity, that I take the position of Senior Counsel.

This is an important case. It involves more than the good name, the fortune or liberty of any one man, no matter whether he be a physician or a minister. It involves principles.

Never before, gentlemen, did I stand before a jury, in behalf of an individual charged with crime, so impressed with the magnitude of the questions involved in their verdict, as in the present case with one single exception. That exception was my first case at the Bar. The defendant was a poor, friendless, kind-hearted young man, charged with the murder of his best earthly friend. I knew very little of the mere forms of law, but in spite of the jeers of my brethren at the Bar, and the contumacious utterances of the officers of this Court (spoken in the presence of the assembled multitude, and in the very ears of my own son.) for eight successive days and nights, without sleep and almost without food, I did all I could do to save that poor man's life. My noble colleague [II. R. Warriner, Esq.] and myself tried in vain to get the truth into that jury box. I was satisfied then, that unless the truth would save George W. Winnemore's life, he could not be saved.

Gentlemen, did I not believe that the truth would free this defendant I would not ask you to acquit him. I love human liberty, but I love the truth more. The technicalities of the practice and forms of law, kept out what was vital to a true understanding of Winnemore's case. The very air was heavy with the mutterings of the multitude, eagerly demanding a victim, and loud was their cry for vengeance. Believing him innocent of the crime charged, we entreated the District Attorney to allow those technicalities to be overruled, for the sake of human life, and to choose the substance rather than the mere forms of law. But the District Attorney was incorrigible; he snuffed the vengeance of the people from afar, (I hope against the feelings of his better nature.) and insisted upon all the forms. He kept out the truth, and our client was convicted and executed. But gentlemen, up to this hour there has never been a word uttered,