THE CASE FOR THE CROWN.
'May it please your Lordship,
'Gentlemen of the jury, I am merely repeating a commonplace when I say
that I rise to address you under a very heavy sense of responsibility.
As you have heard, the prisoner at the bar is charged with the crime
of wilful murder. It is now my duty, acting on behalf of the Crown, to
tell you how that crime was committed, according to the view which I
have to ask you to take; and to bring before you the witnesses whose
evidence, if you believe it, goes to establish the guilt of the
accused.'
Thus Mr. Prescott. It was the third day of the assizes. On the Tuesday
afternoon, after a true bill had been found, Mr. Justice Buller had
announced that he should set apart this day for the trial of the
great case. The court had opened at ten o'clock. It was crammed to
suffocation. The intensest excitement, whetted by the interval of
delay, reigned supreme. All eyes were strained towards the dock as the
words were uttered:
'Put up Eleanor Margaret Owen.'
Another moment and she stood before them. Clothed in black from head
to foot, pale as a lily, and trembling in every limb, she sank upon
the chair behind her, and covered her face with her hands.
A great throb of sympathy shook the court. Sobs were heard. The most
prejudiced of those who had bandied her name about for the past few
weeks felt a dim sense of shame. Only a few out of all those present
were unmoved: the judge, schooled to conceal all trace of emotion,
nay, schooled to stifle it as it rose; the jury, too overcome by the
duty thrust upon them to be just then alive to what was happening; the
counsel on both sides, who, for different reasons, forbore as long as
they could from looking at the dock.
She was beautiful. All the suffering she had gone through had not
been able to affect that, unless to render her beauty more spiritual
and delicate. Her hair of that light glistening brown which is best
known as golden; her drooping eyes of deepest blue; her wide, square
forehead, unshaded by that device of ugliness, the artificial fringe
of hair; the full, open lips; the rounded chin--every mark of a
certain order of loveliness was there.
And she wore no veil. Some of the women present condemned her for
that. The matron of the prison had besought her to use one. Her answer
was decisive. She had never put a veil on since childhood, and she
would not wear one now. She would not shrink beneath a false charge.
She would show her face to them all.
She spoke bravely; but she had not realized all that was before her.
And when she came up the dark winding stairs from the underground
cells, and found herself in that--great God! was it some crowded
theatre, or a solemn court of justice?--her physical strength gave
way, and she scarce knew what happened for some moments.
Then her will asserted itself again. She stood up. She faced the
judge, the jury, the crowded bar, the fashionable dames in the
gallery, and showed no more signs of fear. Her name was called, the
hideous accusation was made. She answered it out loud. Her counsel,
dreading another scene like that already recorded, had bent across the
table and warned the clerk of arraigns beforehand of what the plea
would be. The jury were sworn, including in their number the two
onlookers whose remarks on the previous day had been so suddenly cut
short. The last formula had been recited by the clerk.
'Gentlemen of the jury, the prisoner at the bar stands indicted for
that she did wilfully murder one Ann Elizabeth Lewis. To that she has
pleaded that she is not guilty. Now, you are to try the issue, and to
say whether she is guilty or not.'
And now the counsel for the prosecution had begun his speech.
'Two years ago the prisoner was left an orphan by the death of her
father, the Rector of Porthstone. She went to live in the house of a
lady who had known her from a child, and who lived in the same place.
With that lady she remained down to the first of last June, and it is
that lady with whose murder she now stands charged.
'Miss Lewis, the deceased, may be described as eccentric. She was in
the habit for some years before her death of making very large
purchases of jewels----'
'I beg your pardon.' It was the counsel for the prisoner who rose to
his feet and interrupted. 'My lord, I am sorry to interrupt my learned
friend at this early stage, but may I ask him if he has any evidence
that the prisoner knew of the existence of these jewels. If not, my
lord, I submit he is not entitled to refer to them at all.'
The Judge: 'What do you say, Mr. Prescott?'
'My lord, I am entirely in your lordship's hands. This is the first
time it has been suggested to me that the fact of the deceased's
having this jewellery was not a matter of common knowledge in the
household. I therefore can't say at this stage whether I shall be able
to distinctly fix the prisoner with such knowledge.'
The Judge: 'Of course you mean to bring this in as motive?'
Mr. Prescott: 'Yes, my lord.'
The Judge: 'It is a very important matter. If the jury were satisfied
that the prisoner did not know of these purchases, and if there were
no other motive suggested, it might have a very great effect on their
minds.' [At this point the jury tried to look as if something were
having a great effect on their minds, and did not altogether succeed.]
'Perhaps you had better not say anything about the jewels now. You
will have another opportunity after you see what your evidence is.'
Mr. Prescott: 'If your lordship pleases. Well, then, gentlemen, I will
come at once to the night when this crime was committed.'
Here Mr. Pollard was observed to write something on a slip of paper
and hand it to his leader. Mr. Prescott stopped to glance at it, and
then went on:
'I may, however, mention one thing before leaving the question of
motive, and it is this. I shall be able to prove to you that the
deceased on one occasion, in the presence of a witness, made some
promise or offer to the prisoner as to remembering her in her will. It
is, of course, for you to say what weight you will attach to that
circumstance.'
Here the jury tried to look as if they knew what weight to attach to
it, and again utterly failed.
'On the first of June a nephew of Miss Lewis's, and her only surviving
relative, as I am instructed, and who will be called before you,
arrived at Porthstone. He had just returned from Australia, and went
to see his relative. He dined there, and spent the evening. At 10
o'clock he came away to his hotel and at once retired to bed.
'The deceased lady had also retired to her room, and from the evidence
there can be no doubt that she undressed and got into bed. She was
last seen alive a few minutes after ten. The murder was discovered the
next morning at nine. Between those hours the crime must have been
committed.
'The female servants followed their mistress. At half-past ten the
butler fastened the front-door. He will describe the fastenings to
you, and he will also tell you of a peculiarity in the latch, about
which I shall have something to say presently.'
The counsel then went on to detail the events narrated in his brief,
only throwing in an observation now and then as he went along. When he
had described the evidence of the removal of the body by the window,
he said:
'And now we come to one of the difficulties in the case. If the
prisoner lowered the body out of the window in the first instance, why
did she afterwards return to the house, and take a second journey,
carrying a burden of some kind? I am hardly at liberty, after what has
fallen from his lordship, to suggest to you that this second exit was
in order to remove something which the murderer wanted to steal,
something with the object of stealing which she committed the graver
crime. But, gentlemen, there is another explanation, a terrible way of
accounting for that second journey, so terrible and horrible that I
wish it were not my bounden duty to put it before you. And it is this:
'Only a portion of the victim's body has been recovered. That portion
is a hand. Now, in the absence of anything to make us think that the
cutting off of the hand was a solitary mutilation, we are forced to
the probable conclusion that whoever killed this poor woman mutilated
her in a very dreadful manner. It is possible, therefore, that after
lowering one portion of her victim's remains through the bedroom
window, she returned upstairs to bring down some other part or parts
of the body.'
As the counsel with evident reluctance brought out these horrid
points, a shudder ran through the court. The prisoner had borne it all
with tolerable firmness up to now, but she was completely overcome by
this part of the speech, and cowered down into her chair, again
concealing her emotions by putting her hands before her face.
If Mr. Prescott had any idea of making the jury revolt at the thought
of associating such shocking brutalities with the prisoner, his speech
produced the very opposite effect to what he intended. The jury saw in
it nothing but the natural reluctance of a man at making such a
charge, overborne by the counsel's conviction of the prisoner's guilt.
Their faces assumed an aspect of stony horror as they turned their
eyes upon the shrinking girl. A slight frown crossed Tressamer's
countenance, followed by a look of contempt.
'The second difficulty in the case,' resumed Prescott, 'is as to the
latchkey. As I have explained, there were only three keys in existence
so far as the prosecution have been able to discover. These will all
be produced before you. One was found in the pocket of the deceased's
dress, the other was never out of the possession of the witness
Simons, the third was on the prisoner's person when she was arrested.
One of these keys, therefore, must have been used in the latch that
night, and must have been used with such carelessness or ignorance--it
is for you to say which'--[again the jury tried to look as if they
were prepared to say which, and again they broke down]--'that the
latch was raised too high, and stuck. Now, here I must draw your
attention to a very important circumstance. The person who entered the
house last, whether the prisoner or anyone else, and who fastened up
the front-door as it was found by the witness Lucy Jones the following
morning, that person must, for some reason or other, have failed to
notice the condition of the latch. She, if we assume it was the
prisoner, must be supposed to have been so agitated from some cause
that she failed to notice what she was doing when she raised the latch
with her key, and failed again to notice how the latch was caught when
she proceeded to fasten the door inside.
'Gentlemen, it is for you to ask yourselves whether a reasonable
explanation, an explanation that will justify you in coming to an
adverse verdict in this case, is furnished by the suggestion that the
prisoner's mind was excited by the crime she had just committed to
such an extent as to deprive her of the power of observing these
things.'
At this point Mr. F. J. Pollard began to be aware that his leader was
not pressing the case very vigorously. He looked round at his brother
in the solicitors' seat behind. That gentleman looked extremely angry.
He had noticed something curious in his counsel's manner from the
first. He now leant over and whispered to his brother:
'What's the matter with Prescott? I can't make him out. He talks as
if he were the judge summing up, instead of the counsel for the
prosecution.'
Mr. Pollard, the barrister, shrugged his shoulders and bit his lip. He
could do nothing. It was not for him to offer advice to his leader. A
man of Mr. Prescott's standing was not likely to tolerate any
interference from a young fellow just called.
But the offender proceeded to cap his misdeeds by a new suggestion,
which had never occurred to either of the Pollards. It had been noted
down long ago by Tressamer, though.
'The third difficulty in this case, gentlemen, is one which has
doubtless been present to your minds all the time I have been
speaking.'
This time the jury made a desperate effort to conceal their
astonishment, and to look as if they perfectly well knew what was
coming. But no one was deceived.
'I refer to the disposal of the body. On this point we have exactly
two pieces of evidence. A young woman like the prisoner was seen
walking in the direction of Newton Bay, about midnight, by the
witness Evan Thomas. On the following afternoon the severed hand
was discovered on the beach of Newton Bay by a visitor.
'How did it get there? It is for you to say. On behalf of the Crown,
it is my duty to suggest to you that the prisoner in the dock may have
carried the result of her crime to that distant spot, in several
journeys, one of which happened to be seen. I must put it to you that
piece by piece she accomplished her revolting task, and that she
sought to hide the traces of her guilt in the sea. If you think that a
rational and likely course of circumstances, no doubt you will say so.
'Gentlemen, I have done. I trust I have not detained you at undue
length over this case, which must strike you as one of the most grave
and difficult that could well come before a court of justice. I shall
now, with the assistance of my learned friend, put the evidence before
you. If you are left in any doubt after hearing it, and, after hearing
the prisoner's defence, if you feel that there are mysteries in the
case which have not been properly explained, and difficulties which
have not been fully met, then you will, I feel sure, be only too glad
to acquit the prisoner of this dreadful charge. But if, on the other
hand, you are fully and entirely satisfied, if you feel no doubt
whatever--of course, I mean no reasonable doubt--you will, I am
equally sure, do your painful duty by returning a verdict of guilty.'
The barrister sat down, and his junior, who had listened impatiently
to the close of the speech, at once started up, and called out:
'John Lewis!'
And now, for the first time, Charles Prescott ventured to look towards
the dock. After the first involuntary glance at Eleanor's entrance, he
had steadily kept his eyes averted. During the whole of his address,
which took up nearly an hour, he never once looked round. He was
afraid to trust himself. That one brief glance had revived the
memories of old with an added force which almost overwhelmed him.
Yet he was not what would be called an emotional man. His was
one of those natures which maintain a seeming coldness under all
circumstances, but which often conceal in their depths a strength of
passion and devotion compared to which the fiery outbreaks of others
are mere 'sound and fury, signifying nothing.' And now this hidden
force was stirred. It held him in its grasp, and his whole being shook
and quivered to its centre.
Not love at first sight, for he had seen her before. Yet love,
awakening suddenly as he looked upon her in the full bloom of opening
womanhood, surrounded by a halo of suffering, and peril, and mystery,
the fated victim of an accusation which he would not believe and could
not disprove. This it was that overpowered him; this it was that led
to that feeble, halting advocacy which surprised all who heard it.
They could not recognise the keen, trenchant Prescott who had made
such a name for himself on the circuit. The Pollards were the only
ones there who resented it, but they were by no means the only ones to
be puzzled at the change.
But Prescott did not easily give way to his feelings. The sense of
duty was sufficiently strong in him to keep him from absolute
abandonment of his cause. He had gone faithfully through the case,
and he was now preparing to take his part in examining the witnesses.
Pride and professional training asserted themselves, and he stood
firm.
At this moment, however, and when he was suffering most acutely, one
of those happy accidents which men call good fortune or Providence,
according to their dispositions, came to his aid. A solicitor's clerk
hurriedly came into the court and made his way to the barrister's
side. An unforeseen event had occurred. A case in the other court
which had been expected to last all day had suddenly come to a
settlement by agreement between the parties. The next case on the list
was one in which Mr. Prescott was engaged, and engaged by himself, and
his immediate presence was called for. Breathing an ejaculation of
thankfulness, he got up, and quickly withdrew, leaving young Pollard
to manage the witnesses as best he could.
The judge looked annoyed, and the solicitor Pollard somewhat dismayed,
at this sudden disappearance of the leader for the Crown. But young
Pollard himself was only too pleased. At last he was to have his
chance. He was left captain of the ship. If all went well he might
hope to get through the evidence, and have the concluding speech in
Prescott's absence. And his satisfaction was shared by Tressamer.
Tressamer knew his man. For the first time that morning a look of
satisfaction crossed his face, and he settled his wig firmly on his
head as he prepared to encounter the moving spirit of the prosecution.
And Eleanor? She did not altogether understand what had happened. But
she saw that the man who had put the case against her so mildly had
now gone out of it altogether, and her heart gave a great beat of joy
for the first time since she had parted with George Tressamer two days
before the memorable first of June.