London Legal Letter. making such marks were found at Gardner's. He also produced to the police a knife with which the wounds might have been inflicted. It bore traces of mammalian blood, and had, when produced some days after the mur der, been recently cleaned. To meet this strong case for the prosecu tion the accused had practically only the evi dence of himself and his wife and a neighbor to rely upon. Fortunately he had the as sistance of very able counsel and a few sym pathetic friends. He was able to show by ex periments that it was impossible for the wit nesses who spoke to what occurred at the chapel to have heard what they said they had heard, and that, therefore, there was no necessary implication of impropriety in his entering the chapel with the girl at her re quest, she having asked him, as he was work ing nearby, to open the door for her, as she was unable to do so unaided, as it stuck at the bottom. There was evidence that a few days later a workman was called in to rase the door. According to Gardner's story she simply wanted a book, and after obtaining it came out without any delay. The strength of the defendant's case lay in the alibi which was proved by Mrs. Gardner's evidence that she was with her husband the whole of the night, and that, owing to a violent thunder storm and pains in her body, she was unable to sleep until quite light In the morning. When she woke, her husband was soundlysleeping in the bed beside her with one of the children on his arm. A neighbor corrobor ated to a slight extent the movements of the husband and his wife upon this night. It was proved that the murder was committed after midnight, and it was therefore evident that if the wife was telling the truth 'her husband mitst have left her side after she fell asleep at three o'clock in the morning, committed the murder, returned to bed and fallen into a sufficiently sound sleep not to disturb a sleep ing child. Another remarkable feature of the case was that not a vestige of blood or
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coal oil or mud was found on the prisoner's clothes, and from the way in which the mur dered body lay and the condition of the room it would have been hardly possible for the murderer to escape without carrying away some trace of his crime. The bottle containing the coal oil was accounted for by Mrs. Gardner's evidence that she had given it to the girl with medicine in it for a bad cold some time before. No attempt was made by the defence to account for the foot prints, except that the murderer had similar shoes. It was, however, proved that the girl had received indecent literature from a lad in the village, and that from her conduct it was inferable that she had or might have had an other lover. The jury, after four days' trial, were un able to agree, and the witnesses were bound over to the next assizes. Even those who were indifferent to the prisoner or considered him guilty were moved by great sympathy for the wife, who had no means of support except her husband. Before he was arrested lie was earning only twenty-six shillings a week, but this sufficed to maintain his wife and six children. After his arrest the family were utterly destitute. Under these circum stances a fund was raised by public subscrip tion which realized sufficient to keep the fam ily and provide for the expenses of the new trial. Last week the new trial came off, and after another four days of struggle, the court sitting until late at night, the jury have again disagreed. The question now arises what course should the prosecution take? Shall the State go on again, and, if necessary, a fourth time, or even a fifth time, to try to secure a conviction? The effect of each ineffectual trial is to increase the difficulty of conviction, as well as the expense and the difficulties of the defence. Even with an unlimited purse one accused of murder cannot prevent his witnesses from dying or removing out of the jurisdiction, and he cannot assure against fail
