|
6 TRIAL OF JOHN W. \VEBSTER.
ROBERT J. BYRAM, (Locksmith.)
THOMAS BARRETT, (Printer.)
JOHN BORROWSCALE, (Slater.)
JAMES CROSBY, (Clerk.)
JOHN E. DAVENPORT, (Painter.)
ALBERT DAY, (Merchant.)
JOSEPH EUSTIS, (Merchant.)
DANIEL T. FULLER, North Chelsea, (Wheelwright.)
BENJAMIN H. GREENE, (Bookseller.)
ARNOLD HAYWARD, (Carpenter.)
FREDERICK A.. HENDERSON, (Furnisher.)
STEPHEN A. STACKPOLE, (Clerk.)
The Court having named Mr. Byram, Foreman, he at first asked to be
excused from serving in that capacity; but on the intimation of the Court;
that they did not perceive the necessity and propriety of the request,
Mr. Byram took his seat in the foreman's seat.
The jury having been duly empanelled, the clerk proceeded as fol-
lows:-
"John W. Webster:-hold up your right hand."
"Gentlemen of the Jury:-hearken to an indictment found against the
prisoner at the bar by the grand inquest for the body of this county."
The clerk then read .the indictment, as before given on page 1.
Having concluded the reading, he proceeded:--
"To this indictment, Gentlemen of the Jury, the prisoner at the bar
has pleaded Not Guilty; and for trial has put himself upon the country:
which country you are. You are now sworn to try the issue. If he is
guilty, you will say so; if he is not guilty, you will say so, and no more.
Good men and true! stand together and hearken to your evidence!"
The Attorney General, in rising to address the jury, first submitted
to the Court the following motion:-
"May it please Your Honors,
In the preparation of this cause for trial, owing to the voluminous
mass of testimony to be examined, and the engagements of the Com-
monwealth's Attorney for this county in another court, I have been under
the necessity of calling to my aid the services of my friend, Mr. Bemis,
a member of this bar. He has rendered me that service; and the Court
will readily perceive that from his familiarity with the case, and the ex-
tent of the inquiry before us, likely to occupy the Court for many clays,
if not weeks, a continuance of his assistance will be highly desirable. I
should have been glad to have him open the cause to the jury; but a
sense of official propriety, concurred in by the opinion of friends with
whom I have conferred upon the subject, seems to require that the legal
representative of the government should address the jury in both the
opening and the closing of the cause. I, however, move, Your Honors,
that Mr. Bemis may be permitted to aid me in all other respects in the
conduct of the trial as associate counsel."
Mr. Merrick: We do not think the request, under the circumstances,
an unreasonable one.
Chief Justice: The Court sees no objection to the allowance of the
motion. It is granted.
The Attorney General thereupon proceeded to open the case as fol-
lows:
May it please Your Honors, and You,
Mr. Foreman and Gentlemen of the Jury:
In entering upon our respective duties, in a case of such interest
and importance as the one now before us, I am sure that none of us
|
