It was the morning of Thursday, and generally understood that the
trial of Mr. Chandos Winslow, for the murder of his late father's
steward, would come on that day. Moreover, it appeared likely that the
case would occupy two days, unless it was early called on, as the
number of witnesses was considerable. Those who are knowing in such
things considered the arrangement as rather ominous: Friday being
looked upon as an excellent day for condemnation. The court was
crowded to suffocation; but the spectators had a long time to wait ere
they had the pleasure of seeing a gentleman placed in the felon's
dock. The court was occupied during the greater part of the morning
with cases of small interest; and, between two and three in the
afternoon, the crowd began in some degree to diminish; many persons
growing tired, and a belief becoming prevalent that the cause would
not be tried that day.
At length, however, when it was least expected, the cause was called
on, and two or three solicitors' clerks ran out of the court to call
the counsel in the case. The appearance of the leader for the crown
excited some attention; but that of the famous barrister, whom every
one knew to have been brought down especially from London, and who was
generally reported to be the intimate friend of the prisoner, created
a murmur which lasted for some minutes. The two lawyers were in the
court, before Chandos Winslow was placed in the dock; for the officers
of the prison had been taken somewhat by surprise, from the rapidity
with which the preceding case had been brought to a conclusion. After
a momentary pause, however, the accused appeared, and there was an
instant movement, causing a good deal of confusion, from many persons
endeavouring to gain a better sight of the prisoner.
It is probable that every one expected to behold a very different sort
of person from that which was now presented to him; but certain it is,
that the actual impression produced was highly favourable. The tall,
commanding, manly form; the air of calm unembarrassed grace; the
grave, but firm, and almost stern look; the lofty brow and speaking
eye; the lip that quivered a little with irrepressible emotion, at
being made the gazing-stock of thousands: all excited in the multitude
those feelings of admiration which predispose to sympathy and
confidence. Bearing his head high, with his shoulders thrown back, and
his chest open, with his eye fixed tranquilly on the judge, and his
step as firm as if he had been treading his father's halls, Chandos
Winslow advanced to the front of the dock; and immediately his friend
Sir ---- rose from his place, and with a kindly nod of the head, spoke
to him for a few moments, as if to show all persons that he was proud
of his friendship.
The indictment was read, setting forth in various counts the charge
against the prisoner. Sir ----, desired to see the instrument, and
then merely remarked, that it was bad in law, and could not be
sustained.
"When the case for the defence comes on, I will hear your objection,"
said the judge.
"I do not know that it will be necessary, my lord;" replied the
counsel. "My friend and client has an invincible objection to take
advantage of any technicality; and, I think, we can do without a flaw,
although I may judge it my duty to show your lordship that there is a
fatal one in this indictment."
When called upon to plead, Chandos replied, "Not guilty," in a firm,
slow, and distinct voice; and the confident tone of the leader for the
defence, as well as the calm self-possession of the prisoner, had its
effect both upon the spectators and the jury. It was soon to be driven
away, however; for the leader for the crown rose after a few words
from a junior; and a very different impression was speedily produced.
The lawyer who conducted the prosecution was a tall handsome man, with
strongly marked and expressive features, a powerful and flexible
voice, and great dignity of manner. He had one quality, however, which
was greatly in favour of a prisoner if he were retained as counsel for
the defence, but which told sadly against him if he appeared on behalf
of the crown. He seemed--it was merely seeming--so fully, so firmly
convinced of the justice of the cause he advocated, his manner was so
sincere, his apparent candour so great, that the jury, thoroughly
believing he had no doubt, and weighing their wits against his,
naturally asked themselves, "If so learned and shrewd a man has
arrived at this conclusion, why should we venture to differ from him?"
On the present occasion, he paused for an instant and rested his hand
upon the table, as if almost overpowered by his feelings--he never was
calmer in his life--and then, raising his head, went on, with the
clear, distinct, grave tones of his voice penetrating into every part
of the court, in which there reigned a dead silence.
"My lord, and gentlemen of the jury," he said, "the most painful task
of a life that has not been free from sorrows is imposed upon me this
day; and I know--I feel--that I shall acquit myself ill. I beg you,
therefore, to bear with me, if my statements are not so clear, if my
reasonings are not so forcible as they ought to be; for, in my anxiety
not to press anything too heavily against the prisoner at the bar, I
fear I may fall into the opposite error, and not give due weight to
many minor facts necessary to a full elucidation of the subject. That
error, however, is far less important than the grave and serious
fault--I might almost call it a crime, in a person in my present
position--of suffering either professional vanity, or the spirit of
partisanship, to seduce me into urging anything unjustly against a
prisoner under trial. Into that fault, at least, I will not fall--of
that crime, I will not render myself guilty. I will make no statement
that I do not feel sure will be borne out by evidence, I will use no
argument which may not be justly applied; and I do assure the court,
aye, and the prisoner, that, if I could have avoided the task, I would
have done so; that if he can prove himself innocent, I shall rejoice;
and if my learned friend can show that my reasonings are not just, my
views erroneous, I shall have a triumph in defeat, and sincere
satisfaction in a verdict against me. But I have a high and solemn
duty to perform to my country, gentlemen of the jury, as you have
also; and we must not suffer any personal feeling to interfere with
its due execution. We must recollect, that mercy to a criminal is
cruelty to society, and that to spare the offender is to encourage the
offence. With these views, I will 'nothing extenuate nor set down
aught in malice,' but succinctly state to you the facts, as many
witnesses will afterwards prove them, omitting all that seems to me
doubtful, and urging nothing that is not necessary to the due
understanding of the case. On the evening of the fifth of February,
gentlemen of the jury, a highly respectable gentleman, of the name of
Roberts, called at the house of Mr. Tracy, of Northferry, in this
county, and inquired for a person of the name of Acton, under which
name, or _alias_, as it is termed, you will find that the prisoner is
also indicted. This Mr. Roberts, it will be shown to you, was the
steward and confidential law agent of the late Sir Harry Winslow, a
gentleman of large property in this county; and in that capacity he
was well acquainted and had had numerous transactions with the younger
son of Sir Harry, a young gentleman, I must say, bearing a very high
character, but, at the same time, of a disposition to which I can only
apply the terms of _sharp_ and _vindictive_, as I shall be enabled to
show. This person, known by the name of Acton, was at the time acting
in the capacity of head-gardener, at the house of Mr. Tracy, where he
had been for nearly three months, or ever since the death of Sir Harry
Winslow. Upon my life, gentlemen of the jury, if the truth of the
whole were not too fatally established, I might think I was reciting a
romance. Mr. Roberts did not mention his business with the person he
inquired for, but being perfectly respectable in his exterior, was
directed by the servants to seek the head-gardener in the grounds,
where he was usually to be found at this hour. Now those grounds are
very extensive, and an authentic plan has been taken of them--I hold
it in my hand--of which a copy has been furnished for your guidance.
You will there see that the real front of the house is turned towards
the gardens, which are remarkable, I am told, for their beauty and
high cultivation: an earthly Paradise, into which murder now first
entered. Before the house is a very extensive lawn, bordered with
thick shrubberies, through which run several gravel walks. This lawn
is terminated by a belt of planting irregularly disposed, so as to
admit here and there views of the distant country to any eye looking
from the windows of the house; but completely concealing a second
lawn, somewhat less in extent, surrounded again by other shrubberies
and other walks, sloping down with a gradual descent to the open
fields, (also the property of Mr. Tracy,) from which the grounds are
separated by a hedge, and in some places by that peculiar species of
enclosure called a haw-haw, or sunk wall, with a broad ditch on the
external side, faced on the side of the grounds with perpendicular
masonry, surmounted by a holly hedge; number 5 in the plan, gentlemen
of the jury. In the inside of this haw-haw and the hedge which forms
its continuation, is a broad walk under beech-trees, called the Lady's
Walk; but just opposite to the part of the walk where the figure 5
appears, the beech-trees are interrupted, and a plot of grass occupies
the semicircular opening in the wood, in the bite or crescent of which
is situated a small building, in imitation of a Greek temple, covering
a fish-pond. Between that fish-pond and the haw-haw is a space of
about twenty-five yards, which is the scene of the tragedy that is
under our consideration: a narrow strip for so terrible an event. You
will see that the broad gravel path, called the Lady's Walk, passes
close to the little building, the temple, number 7 in the plan.
Another walk, winding round the two lawns, and through the thick
shrubberies, conducts to the western side of the building, where it
enters the Lady's Walk. Down this winding path, it is probable, that
poor Mr. Roberts came to meet his death, as it will be proved that he
crossed the first lawn (number 2) towards it from the western side of
the house. I should have mentioned that the hour at which he asked for
Acton, the head-gardener, was five in the evening, when the sun is
just down at that period of the year, but when the twilight is still
clear. He was never seen alive afterwards, that we know of, but by his
murderer; and about ten at night he was found lying on the grass
between the little temple and the haw-haw, with two severe blows on
the head, one of which had fractured the skull, and so severely
injured the brain that death must have been instantaneous. By his side
was found an implement used in gardening, and called, I believe, a
Dutch hoe, which will be produced for your inspection. It was
covered--at least, the iron head was covered--with blood and grey
hair, and the surgeon who made a post mortem examination of the body
will prove, that the wound which produced death must have been
inflicted by an instrument very similar. Such are the bare facts of
the murder of Mr. Roberts as they appear beyond all doubt; and I now
approach with deep pain, reluctance, and even diffidence, the
circumstances which connect the prisoner at the bar with the fatal
event. First, gentlemen, it will be my duty to show you that the
person who, under the name of Acton, filled the humble situation of
head-gardener to Mr. Tracy, of Northferry, is one and the same person
as Mr. Chandos Winslow, younger son of the late Sir Harry Winslow, of
Elmsly and Winslow Abbey, in this county. It might be irrelevant to
inquire what induced a gentleman of such birth and pretensions to
condescend to such an office, but if it could be shown that he quitted
his brother's mansion and abandoned the society in which he had moved
from his birth on some disgust, occasioned by transactions in which
this very unfortunate Mr. Roberts had a share, it might, indeed, be
important in establishing a motive for the act with which he is
charged."
Sir ---- instantly rose, and said aloud, "I hope my learned brother
will not make insinuations which he is not able fully to bear out by
evidence."
"If my learned friend had not interrupted me," replied the leader for
the Crown, "he would have heard me declare that I was unwilling to
press against the prisoner anything that could not be proved beyond
all doubt; and therefore, that it was not my intention to connect any
former disputes between the prisoner and the unhappy Mr. Roberts with
the present charge; but to beg the jury to dismiss from their minds
everything in their consideration of motives but the actual subject of
dispute which I am about to allude to, and which can be proved by
evidence unimpeachable."
"I must beg the interference of the court in protection of my client,"
said the prisoner's counsel, in a firm and stern tone; "it is contrary
to all practice, and, I must add, contrary to all justice, to allude
to imaginary circumstances as facts when there is no intention of
proving them, thereby producing an impression upon the minds of the
jury most detrimental to a prisoner, without giving the prisoner's
counsel a fair opportunity of removing it. Were it not a most
dangerous precedent, I should say that I am very glad such a course
has been pursued by my learned friend, as, in this case, I am in a
condition to rebut his insinuations as well as to disprove his facts;
but, reverencing law and justice, and seeing great inconvenience
likely to occur hereafter from such a practice, I must most solemnly
claim the protection of the court for my client."
"The jury will rely only upon evidence," said the judge; "the
assertions or insinuations of counsel, unsupported by evidence, are
mere wind. The course of alluding even to any circumstance not
intended to be proved, I must say, is very mischievous; but I dare say
it was in the brief."
"I bow to the decision of the court," said the leader for the Crown;
"but I can assure my learned friend, that I intended to produce no
impression upon the minds of the jury but a just one; and, without at
all recurring to the past, I am perfectly prepared to show by evidence
that at the time the murder was committed, the prisoner at the bar and
the unfortunate Mr. Roberts were engaged in a very sharp dispute about
some property left to the former. I have said, gentlemen of the jury,"
he continued, with perfect tranquillity and satisfaction, "that it
would be irrelevant to inquire what could induce a gentleman of the
prisoner's rank and pretensions to accept the humble post of gardener
in the family of Mr. Tracy. However, the fact that he did so will be
established, and in that situation he inhabited a cottage (number 9 in
the plan) close to the hedge bordering the Lady's Walk, and was
entrusted with a key of the small gate into the grounds (at number
10.) It will be in evidence, gentlemen, that after having been absent
for about a month, by Mr. Tracy's permission, during which he had
resumed his station, mingled with his own rank of society in London,
and fought a duel with Viscount Overton, in which the latter was
desperately wounded, the prisoner returned to his cottage at
Northferry on the afternoon of the fifth of February, the day of the
murder, and almost immediately went out again. It will be shown to
you, that the sun was then setting, or had already set, and that he
entered the gardens, and took his way towards the very spot where the
crime was committed, having in his hand the identical hoe (or one
precisely similar) which was afterwards found by the dead body. This
will be proved by two witnesses, whose veracity will not, I presume,
be impeached. You will soon have it in evidence, that he did not
return to his cottage till six, when he was in a state of much
agitation; that he then went to his room, and, after washing his
hands, threw the water he had used for the purpose out of the window;
but that, nevertheless, there was upon the towel a red stain, as of
blood diluted with water. You will find, that one arm of the fustian
coat which he wore that night was stained with blood; and it will be
also shown that footmarks, exactly corresponding with the shoes he
wore, even to the most minute particulars, were found coming and going
from the spot where the murdered man lay to the haw-haw. Now,
gentlemen of the jury, it may seem difficult to prove to you that the
murder, which was not discovered till ten, took place between the
hours of five and six. There would indeed be a presumption that such
was the case, from the fact of Mr. Roberts having gone down in that
direction at five in search of the prisoner, who was then in the
garden, and never having got further than the Lady's Walk; but still
there would be a doubt, and I should be the first to entreat you to
give the person accused the benefit of that doubt. But, unfortunately,
I regret most deeply to say it, by one of those strange accidents
which ever, sooner or later, bring their guilt home to the
perpetrators of great crimes, I have the means of showing that the
fatal deed must have been done some time between ten minutes or a
quarter after five and half-past five." Sir ---- leaned forward and
listened eagerly, and the leader for the prosecution continued, with
an air of solemn sadness, "I allow from ten minutes to a quarter of an
hour for any error that Mr. Tracy's servants may have made in regard
to the time of Mr. Roberts' visit to the house, and for the time
occupied by him in seeking through the grounds for the prisoner; but
at half-past five, it then being almost dark, a little boy, the son of
a gipsey woman, saw, in passing along as he returned from the school
at Northferry, a dark body lying on the ground, like the figure of a
man asleep, close by the little fish-pond or basin near which Mr.
Roberts was murdered. The boy's history is not without its interest.
He had, it seems, aided in saving the life of General Tracy, Mr.
Tracy's elder brother, from the attack of a furious bull. The General,
in gratitude, took the boy under his protection, and placed him to
board at the cottage of the head-gardener. The hour at which he
ought to have returned from school to the cottage was somewhat
earlier--about five, I believe; but he met with his mother in the
village, and lingered for a time with her. In order to shorten the
way, he stole through the gardens, and got over the gate near the
head-gardener's cottage, thus passing within twenty or thirty yards of
the spot where the body lay. He will prove that he thought it was a
man asleep, and that he is quite certain that it was a man."
The learned gentleman paused, and, from under his bushy eyebrows,
turned a glance towards the face of the leader for the defence. What
he saw there he did not exactly understand; for there was a very
slight smile on the great barrister's lip; but that smile had
something of triumph in it. He knew not if the smile was sincere, or
whether it was not assumed to cover mortification; but yet, it was
evidently kept down rather than displayed, and in this state of doubt
he might not have called the boy, perhaps, had it been possible to
avoid it. The passing of these considerations through his mind did not
arrest his eloquence for more than a moment, and he went on as
follows:--
"I have now, gentlemen of the jury, given you a brief outline of the
case against the prisoner, as I believe it will be fully proved by
evidence; and I do not think, if such be the case, and if the
respectability of the witnesses is unimpeached and their testimony be
not shaken by cross-examination, that you can come to any other
conclusion than that which, I grieve to say, I myself have arrived at.
You will hear what they have to say, you will judge from their words,
and even the manner in which their evidence is given, what credence
they deserve. God forbid that you should attach more to their evidence
against the prisoner than to any testimony which can be fairly adduced
in his favour. What course of defence my learned friend may adopt I
cannot divine, but mere testimonials of character, learning, high
qualities, and previous integrity cannot avail here. Nor must rank and
station be taken for one moment into consideration. A prisoner at the
bar of justice stands stripped of all adventitious advantages. He is
there as before the throne of Heaven, only in the common character of
man. If he be of high rank and good education, it is no reason for
pre-supposing innocence or extenuating guilt. Quite on the contrary.
Crimes of the most serious magnitude have been proved against persons
greatly elevated in station. Peers of England have suffered on the
scaffold for deliberate murder; and the advantages of rank and
education, in the immunity which they give from ordinary temptation,
only serve to aggravate the offence. Nor can a previous upright,
honourable, and even peaceful life, if it could here be proved, weigh
much to neutralize distinct evidence. We have too many instances,
gentlemen, of men, the great bulk of whose life has been high, holy,
and innocent, yielding to some strong temptation, and committing acts
which on cooler reflection they have often shuddered at. Need I cite
the case of the unfortunate Dr. Dodd? You must look upon the prisoner
merely as a man; you must weigh well every tittle of the evidence
against him. You will find that, as in almost all cases of murder,
that evidence is purely circumstantial; no man but a madman commits
such a crime when the eyes of any but accomplices are upon him. But
you have all too much good sense and experience not to know that a
long chain of circumstantial evidence, perfect and unbroken as this
seems to me to be, is more strong, more conclusive than even direct
evidence. In such cases, to suppose a fraud on the part of the
witnesses for the crown, is to imagine that an immense number of
persons are all combined in one common league to destroy another, and
that they have so well arranged their scheme that cross-examination
will not unravel it: whereas, in direct evidence, often afforded by
one or two witnesses only, a much greater opportunity is to be found
for successful falsehood if any motive for injuring a prisoner exists.
I do not ask a verdict at your hands. I am far from desiring one
against the prisoner at the bar. I pray Heaven that he may be able to
exculpate himself and quit that dock free from all suspicion. Even if
there be a reasonable doubt in your minds, you must give him the
advantage of it; but you will remember that it must be a reasonable
doubt. You must not say to yourselves, 'Perhaps he did not commit the
act, after all,' because no one saw him commit it; but if the chain of
evidence is clear and convincing, you must remember your oaths, your
duty to your country and your God; and, having consulted only
conscience, express by your verdict the conviction of your minds, as
you will answer for it at the dreadful day of judgment."
The learned gentleman sat down after having produced a terrible effect
upon the minds of the jury; but the judge, who was accustomed to such
speeches, and moreover hungry, interrupted the further proceedings by
inquiring, in the most commonplace tone in the world, if the evidence
for the prosecution could be got through that night. There seemed some
doubt upon the subject; and as it was now late; for the counsel had
spoken very slowly, his lordship suggested that it would be better to
take the evidence of one witness, and then adjourn to the following
day. The testimony given was of little importance, for it only went to
prove the identity of Chandos Winslow with John Acton--a fact which
there was no intention of denying; and after it had been heard the
court rose.