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CLOSING ARGUMENT OF MR. MERRICK9 &c-
Gentlemen of the Jury-1 need not state that it is with feelings of deep
embarrassment that I arise to address
you. I cannot be more sensible than you are of the di&eulties to be
encountered in the examination of so much
testimony, or the necessity that this testimony shall be rightly understood.
i The case, gentlemen, which is presented to you, is of more transcendent
interest than any which has ever be-
fore been presented to the community. A few months since a well known and
respected citizen disappeared:
He was one connected with a family well known in this city; a gentleman
accustomed day by day, and month by
month. year after year, to minglefreely in the community; his friends
naturally took a deep interest in his discovery,
and enlisted the entire official force of the city for that purpose] much
more than this, they enlisted the entire
sympathies of the people in tbeirbehalfwhen all enquiries and all
investigation, all efforts seemed to be utterly baf-
fled, and there was no hope left, and all appeared to be wrapped in
universal darkness; the sudden and as-
tounding notice was given out, that the mangled remains of his dead body
were said to be found.-
The perpetrator of the awful crime which brought that body to the condition
in which it was., was said also to
have been discovered. That individual was one who, in the ordinary course
of things, would have been no more
suspected of such an atrocious crime than you or we, who are engaged in
this criminal trial. That discovery, so
astounding, so overwhelming, was instantaneously followed by the disclosure
to the community, in every form in
which disclosure could be made, that various circumstances conduced to, and
established the fact, that the re..
mains which were found were those of the body of Dr. George Parkman, and
that the prisoner at the bar was
connected directly with the transaction. Incident after incident was
communicated to the public, and every
thing which could bear against this unhappy man was spread abroad, as it
were, on the wings of
the wind. Every sheet gave new token to the community at once of the death
of Dr. Parkman, and, it was
supposed, of the guilt of this prisoner.
In the meantime, gentlemen, the prisoner at the bar was in the cell of your
prison, in silence, while every in-
cident tending to affect him was the subject of daily communication and
discussion through this city. He was
alone, without friends and without help to repel these accusing
circumstances. Gentlemen, he waited not only in
silence, but in hopes that he would be redeemed. He sent forth no appeal to
the community; he suffered those com-
munications of which I have spoken to be spread abroad throughout the
community, until the voice of the echo
came from the most distant parts of our country, andfrom foreign lands,
without ever once asking the public
even to suspend the formation of their opinions. He waited in silence, in
hope and in, confidence, because he
had lived long in our midst, and knew that the time was coming when passion
would die, prejudice give way, calm
reason intervene, and society again receive him. In thathope and that
expectation he has not been disappointed.
He never asked, Gentlemen of the Jury, any delay of this investigation. As
soon as it was the pleasure of the Gov-
ernment, consistent with the arrangements of this Court to enter upon this
trial. he went into it, not prepared by a se-
ries of experiments and investigations, which he could make in his silent
and sombre cell, but prepared fit that
consciousness which enabled him to come before a Jury of his country and
say, whatever might be the appearan-
ces against him, he could confidently trust at once, his cause, his life,
with an impartial Jury, under the in.
atructions of a learned and impartial Bench. Gentlemen it is impossible
that you could not have heard the circum-
stances of this case before you took your seats to try it. It is
impossible, gentlemen, that you have not, in one form
or another, heard much of that which has been detailed to you in the
evidence which the Government have pro-
duced on the present occasion. You have declared that these circumstancees
have not produed a bias upon your
minds against the prisoner, and he has some right to presume how much
effect this same evidence now presented,
in a judicial form, is calculated to produce in your minds. What,
gentlemen, is the charge which the Government
made ? What issue is to be tried? and by what proofs is that issue to be
made ? The Government charge that on
the 23d of November, in the year 1849, George Parkman was murdered by the
Prisoner at the bar, in various forms,
such as the officers of the Government, upon the investigation which took
place before the Grand Jury; have presented in the Indictment upon which
the prisoner is now tried. It has been stated to you that it is competent
for
the Government or the officers. in preparing the' indictment. to present
the charge in various fornis, and differ-
ent ways, because, upon the trial-the final trial-some difference of
evidence may be recorded, and' different
statements made of the particular ground of charge, which might render the
instrument null and void. I do
not now speak of the particular manner in which the different counts in
this indictment have been drawn up-
enough that the defendant is upon trial for his life, charged with the
murder of Dr. George Parkman. To estab-
lish this charge against the defendant, there are certain facts which it
[is indispensable for the Government to
prove; they must prove the death of Dr. George Parkman; they must prove
that his death was caused by the
agency of another person; they must prove that the prisoner at the bar was
that agent, and that in causing the
death of Dr. George Parkmau, he had acted with malice aforethought. if any
one of these facts is not proved,
the Government cannot ask the life of Professor Webster, and; unless the
death is proved, they can have
no effect, unless they show that he came to his death by the defendant;
that it was with the malice afore
thought-they can have no verdict for murder, but may have it for a lesser
crime-manslaughter. These facts
then, gentlemen, which the Government must prove, they have undertaken to
establish by much evidence,' Time
has been exhausted to an unusual extent in gathering together the facts
which are called the proofs, in this
fact, against the prisoner at tire bar-and though, gentlemen, we have spent
day after day, not one single
case is proved which comes directly to any one of the great points which
the Government are bound to as
tablish. By no direct evidence is it shown that George Parkman is no longer
in the land of the living. By no
direct evidence that he was slain through the agency of another. By no
direct evidence have they shown that
the prisoner at the bar had any agency whatever in procuring that death;
but every one of those facts is sought
to be proven by collateral circumstances, by asking you to ascertain facts
which are known. and from those facts
you are to draw by inferences, those other facts which are yet unknown. Let
us see then precisely what the propoai
Lion of the Governmentiis-let us see precisely what the prisoner at the bar
concedes, and then we shall find the
Mise issue to be triedi and the question which you, upono your high
responsibility, are called to
.0 The precise proposition which the Government undertook t establish by
the indirect testimony which
they have introduced, that on the 23d of November, 1849, Dr. Cleorge
Parkman between the hours of one and two
o'clock, entered into the Medical College. and had an interview there with
the prisoner at the bar, and that he
never left that building; that he and the prisoner never separated, but
that shortly afterwards Dr. P. was found
dead in the College. This is the proposition which the Government
undertakes to prove. Mark. Gentlemen,
that the, Government do not undertake to establish, nor is there any
evidence in the case from which it could by
poss bility be inferred that these parties ever met again, if they
separated there. There is no proof that they
have seen each other since-none, gentlemen. If George Parkman was the
victim of violence there is nothing to
connect his death with the hand of the prisoner at the bar. This is the
proposition of the Government: What
is that of the defendant? He has always stated that, at half past one
o'clock on the 23d of November. 1849, there
was an interview at that College, for a specific purpose, between him and
Dr. P; that that purpose was there accom-
plished, and that Dr. P.Ithen, in life and activity, left that building
orroom in which the interview between the parties
took place. This is the proposition of the prisoner at the bar. That Dr. P.
left this building, after an interview of
a few moments, at half past one o'clock, the prisoner at the bar concedes;
beyond this he denies every thing; and
if he Government will have it that Dr. P. was in the building at a later
hour than that, they must prove it.
Now, gentlemen, upon these two propositions which make an issue between the
Government and the prisoner,
whether Dr. P, did, in fact, leave that building or not, we are to examine
the evidence to show that he did not leave
the building-that he was slain there-that the interview terminated in the
death of Dr. P. All the evidence
comes to different forms. I do not intend to say to you, Gentlemen of the
Jury, by any means, that the chain of
circumstantial evidence which the Government have brought, has not a
tendency to prove the fact charged
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