"Prisoner," observed the judge in a mild voice, "you must answer, Guilty
or Not guilty. It is merely a form."
"My lord," replied I, "my name is not Philip Maddox."
"That is the name given in the indictment by the evidence of your
fellow-prisoner," observed the judge; "your real name we cannot pretend
to know. It is sufficient that you answer to the question of whether
you, the prisoner, are guilty or not guilty."
"Not guilty, my lord, most certainly," replied I, placing my hand to my
heart, and bowing to him.
The trial proceeded; Armstrong was the principal evidence. To my person
he would not swear. The Jew proved my selling my clothes, purchasing
those found in the bundle, and the stick, of which Armstrong possessed
himself. The clothes I had on at the time of my capture were produced
in court. As for Ogle, his case was decisive. We were then called upon
for our defence. Ogle's was very short. "He had been accustomed to
fits all his life--was walking to Hounslow, and had fallen down in a
fit. It must have been somebody else who had committed the robbery and
had made off, and he had been picked up in a mistake." This defence
appeared to make no other impression than ridicule, and indignation at
the barefaced assertion. I was then called on for mine.
"My lord," said I, "I have no defence to make except that which I
asserted before the magistrates, that I was performing an act of charity
towards a fellow-creature, and was, through that, supposed to be an
accomplice. Arraigned before so many upon a charge, at the bare
accusation of which my blood revolts, I cannot and will not allow those
who might prove what my life has been, and the circumstances which
induced me to take up the disguise in which I was taken, to appear in my
behalf. I am unfortunate, but not guilty. One only chance appears to
be open to me, which is, in the candour of the party who now stands by
me. If he will say to the court that he ever saw me before, I will
submit without murmur to my sentence."
"I'm sorry that you've put that question, my boy," replied the man, "for
I have seen you before;" and the wretch chuckled with repressed
laughter.
I was so astonished, so thunderstruck with this assertion, that I held
down my head, and made no reply. The judge then summed up the evidence
to the jury, pointing out to them that of Ogle's guilt there could be no
doubt, and of mine, he was sorry to say, but little. Still they must
bear in mind that the witness Armstrong could not swear to my person.
The jury, without leaving the box, consulted together a short time, and
brought in a verdict of guilty against Benjamin Ogle and Philip Maddox.
I heard no more--the judge sentenced us both to execution: he lamented
that so young and prepossessing a person as myself should be about to
suffer for such an offence: he pointed out the necessity of condign
punishment, and gave us no hopes of pardon or clemency. But I heard him
not--I did not fall, but I was in a state of stupor. At last, he wound
up his sentence by praying us to prepare ourselves for the awful change,
by an appeal to that heavenly Father. "Father!" exclaimed I, in a voice
which electrified the court, "did you say my father? O God! where is
he?" and I fell down in a fit. The handkerchiefs of the ladies were
applied to their faces, the whole court were moved, for I had, by my
appearance, excited considerable interest, and the judge, with a
faltering, subdued voice, desired that the prisoners might be removed.
"Stop one minute, my good fellow," said Ogle, to the gaoler, while
others were taking me out of court. "My lord, I've something rather
important to say. Why I did not say it before, you shall hear. You are
a judge, to condemn the guilty, and release the innocent. We are told
that there is no trial like an English jury, but this I say, that many a
man is hung for what he never has been guilty of. You have condemned
that poor young man to death. I could have prevented it if I had chosen
to speak before, but I would not, that I might prove how little there is
of justice. He had nothing to do with the robbery--Phill Maddox was the
man, and he is not Philip Maddox. He said that he never saw me before,
nor do I believe that he ever did. As sure as I shall hang, he is
innocent."
"It was but now, that when appealed to by him, you stated that you had
seen him before."
"So I did, and I told the truth--I had seen him before. I saw him go to
hold the gentleman's horse, but he did not see me. I stole his bundle
and his stick, which he left on the bench, and that's how they were
found in our possession. Now you have the truth, and you may either
acknowledge that there is little justice, by eating your own words, and
letting him free, or you may hang him, rather than acknowledge that you
are wrong. At all events, his blood will now be on your hands, and not
mine. If Phill Maddox had not turned tail, like a coward, I should not
have been here; so I tell the truth to save him who was doing me a kind
act, and to let him swing who left me in the lurch."
The judge desired that this statement might be taken down, that further
inquiry might be made, intimating to the jury, that I should be respited
for the present; but of all this I was ignorant. As there was no
placing confidence in the assertions of such a man as Ogle, it was
considered necessary that he should repeat his assertions at the last
hour of his existence, and the gaoler was ordered not to state what had
passed to me, as he might excite false hopes.
When I recovered from my fit, I found myself in the gaoler's parlour,
and as soon as I was able to walk, I was locked up in a condemned cell.
The execution had been ordered to take place on the Thursday, and I had
two days to prepare. In the mean time, the greatest interest had been
excited with regard to me. My whole appearance so evidently belied the
charge, that everyone was in my favour. Ogle was re-questioned, and
immediately gave a clue for the apprehension of Maddox, who, he said, he
hoped would swing by his side.
The gaoler came to me the next day, saying, that some of the magistrates
wished to speak with me; but as I had made up my mind not to reveal my
former life, my only reply was, "That I begged they would allow me to
have my last moments to myself." I recollected Melchior's idea of
destiny, and imagined that he was right. "It was my destiny," thought
I; and I remained in a state of stupor. The fact was, that I was very
ill, my head was heavy, my brain was on fire, and the throbbing of my
heart could have been perceived without touching my breast.
I remained on the mattress all day, and all the next night, with my face
buried in the clothes! I was too ill to raise my head. On Wednesday
morning I felt myself gently pushed on the shoulder by someone; I opened
my eyes; it was a clergyman. I turned away my head, and remained as
before. I was then in a violent fever. He spoke for some time:
occasionally I heard a word, and then relapsed into a state of mental
imbecility. He sighed, and went away.
Thursday came, and the hour of death,--but time was by me unheeded, as
well as eternity. In the mean time Maddox had been taken, and the
contents of Armstrong's bundle found in his possession; and when he
discovered that Ogle had been evidence against him, he confessed to the
robbery.
Whether it was on Thursday or Friday I knew not then, but I was lifted
off the bed, and taken before somebody--something passed, but the fever
had mounted up to my head, and I was in a state of stupid delirium.
Strange to say, they did not perceive my condition, but ascribed it all
to abject fear of death. I was led away--I had made no answer--but I
was free.