Colonel Lewis said that the State had not denied that the revolver
with which Guerin was shot was his own. He called for the weapon and
showed the jury how Guerin might have shot himself if Mrs. McDonald,
in her struggle with him, had merely pushed the revolver around in the
palm of his hand.
Again he called for the blood-stained coat that Guerin wore when he
was killed. It was too good an opportunity to be overlooked by the
fine dramatic eye of the Colonel.
"You remember the speech of Mark Anthony," he said; "how he produced a
tremendous effect with the robe of the great Cæsar? I will not ask for
more than the robe that this Cæsar wore."
Thereupon he spread out the grewsome relic on the railing on the jury
box to show what he said were powder marks. In his mind, there was no
doubt about how the tragedy worked out. Guerin, enraged and terrified
when Mrs. McDonald told him that she had told her rich and influential
husband everything, attacked her. He got the revolver out of his
drawer, probably to frighten her. Mrs. McDonald, half choked, saw it
gleam and pushed it away from her.