There were wet eyes in the courtroom as the real Dora McDonald
was brought to life in the closing address of Mr. O'Donnell. The
bickerings and the charges and the abuse that had made the courtroom
like a pothouse brawl all day were forgotten. The woman's black clad
figure and her white, despairing face became the living picture of the
world-old tragedy of the judgment and the problem of pardon.
"The tragedy was in that room," said Mr. O'Donnell, pointing to a plat
of room 703 of the Omaha building, "and no one knows how the life of
Guerin was ended.
"I am not going to place a wreath upon the brow of this woman. She is
not all that a man would wish his wife to be. She has traveled the
devious pathways and her eyes have fallen upon the shifting scenes of
life.
"The Sabbath is coming on. Her ancestral people lit the candles at
sundown last night. Somewhere in this city a light is burning where a
Jewish mother is praying and hoping for her erring daughter. You are
approaching the moment when you must do your great duty. You are here
only to say whether she killed Guerin with a criminal intent in her
heart.