mulatto arrested him, and then he made no resistance. These were some of the circum stances which helped the jury to believe Charley when he said that he saw " Mate Bram " strike the captain. The task of the jury required careful at tention, knowledge of human nature, the power of judgment and a resolute exercise of it. They were generally expected to disagree, because of the unusual and vigor ous attack upon Charley Brown by the de fence. Mr. Cotter had boldly claimed that since all three murders were evidently the act of one person, — he must have been a mad man, — and Charley Brown had been proved to be that man. Besides, people took it for granted that the jury would welcome any excuse to avoid the responsibility of finding the prisoner guilty. But Mr. Hoar, by an exact and brilliant analysis of the evidence, showed that it did not tend to prove Charley guilty, that it proved that he could not have done it without the knowledge of Bram, and that Charley was not a " madman." There was a powerful climax when, after reciting the proofs of how it was done and who did it, he asserted that it was the work of a devil, — Bram. His argument was sound and convincing. The charge to the jury by
Judge Webb was impartial, and showed them that a man who was morally certain of a thing was free from reasonable doubt about it. And there were grown men on that jury. A motion for a new trial was denied by the judges before whom the case was tried, after arguments citing interesting cases. Their opinion, which wras read by Judge Colt, contained the following words : " We do not see how any intelligent, conscientious and painstaking jury, having listened to the whole trial, and having seen the various wit nesses, could have reached any different verdict." The court has sentenced the prisoner to be hanged on the eighteenth of next June. The learned counsel for the prisoner, con tinuing an acute and indefatigable defence, have taken exceptions which they are ex pected to submit under a writ of error to the Supreme Court of the United States. Whatever the result may be, it is hoped that this study of the evidence may serve to show a part of the public gratitude to the distinguished district attorney and his able assistants for their efficient service to the profession of the law, and to their country men on land and sea, in an extraordinarily difficult case.
