A Strange Story of the Sea. making them. The security of society would be shaken if testimony of this kind were received. Any convict might gratify his hatred or seek to prolong his days by accusing the fair fame of his fellows; and then if the capital sentence were after all carried out, counsel relying on the confes sion would say, as Mr. Aspinall, Q.C., junior counsel in the " Ibis " case, did say to the jury, " Would such a man be likely to lie, going as he was before the seat of his maker, and bearing in mind the teachings of his youth, " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," and " Lying is an abomination unto me, saith the Lord"? The answer is twofold. Rumbell was probably trying to avoid appearing before the tribunal to which the learned counsel referred; and a man who had coolly disregarded the sixth commandment was not likely to consider the ninth of very peremptory obligation. Foiled in this line of defense the owners of the "Ibis" fell back on indirect and circumstantial testi mony. Rumbell, said they, willfully sank the " Fortuna." But the jury took the op posite view, and having regard to the facts
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that the collision occurred in broad day light, that the excuse given by Rumbell for approaching the " Fortuna," his need of twine to mend his trawl, was proved to be a genuine one, and that the steering gear of the " Ibis " was shown to be in a condi tion which might make it difficult to arrest her progress, it is impossible to deny their right to come to that conclusion. Then it was said that Smethurst found Rumbell a command in his own employ after the loss of the " Fortuna," that he provided him with the means of defending himself against the charge of murder, and that he gave the convict's mother a present of £io. But the plaintiff's books stood the strictest inspec tion, and no jury would have been justified in putting down to a sense of guilt and a fear of detection acts of which charity offered a sufficient explanation. The case properly ended in a verdict for the plain tiff. In addition to its other " notes " of distinction, it gave Sir Edward Clarke the opportunity of making what many regard as the finest forensic appearance in his career.
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