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I have sealed my lips during my eonfinenaent, trusting myself entirely to
them-they have not
deemed it necessary, in their superior wisdom, (this was said in an
ironical tune,) to bring for-
ward the evidence which was to exonerate me from a variety of these acts.
The Government
have brought whatever consummate ingenuity could suggest against me, and I
hope it will not
have an undue influence upon my Jury. I will not allude to many of the
charges. There is one
which touches me, and that is the letter which has been produced, and it is
not the first I bad
read in the daily prints which are distributed in my apartments, and
various publications whioh
have been made respecting them; one stating that I had, after the
disappearance of Dr. P..
purchased a quantity of oxalic acid to remove the stains of blood, and it
instantly occurred to
me that this parcel might be saved and produced when necessary.
For several days Mrs. 19. had requested me to purchase some, acid for
domestic use, and as my
wife had repeatedly laughed at me because I had not purchased it, I had
borne it in mind that
afternoon, and had gone into Thayer's store under the Revere House, and
made the purchase,
and waited till the Cambridge Hourly came along, and then jumped into the
Omnibus with
the bundle. I went home and gave the bundle to my wife, and when,
afterwards, I heard so
much said about the bundle, it flashed on my mind in a moment that this
must bye the bundle.
It was to this bundle, and not to any document, that I referred, in the
direction to my wife. As
regards the nitrate of copper-in the usual lectures preceding my arrest, I
had occasion to use
the influence of chemical agents in producing changes of various
subjects-among others, up-
on gases. I prepared a large quantity of oxalic acid gas-a gallon jar was
filled with gas,
is order to produce the changes from dark color to orange, and also in
air-on great heat be-
ing applied to the jar, the gas was drawn through water. As to the nitrate
of copper
spilt on the stairs and floor of the Laboratory, it w< s spilt accidentally
from a quantity, and
by me, in my lectures between the day of Dr. P.'s disappearance and my own
arrest. So, I
might go on in explaining a variety of circumstances which have been
distorted. My counsel
have pressed me to keep calm-my very calmness has been made to bear against
me; but my
trust has been in my God and my own innocence. In regard to money I must
say a word.
The money which I paid Dr. P. on the afternoon of Friday, November 23d, I
had saved up from
time to time, and kept it in a trunk in my house in Cambridge, but,
.unfortunately,
no one ever saw me take it out; therefore, I can only give my word that
such is the fact. Seve-
ral years ago I had students, who were in the habit of being in my
laboratory, and who in;
jured my apparatus; therefore, I prepared every thing for my own use in my
lectures with
my own hands-and that is the reason why I excluded persons from my
laboratory. As re=
Bards my whereabouts from the hour of Dr. P.'s disappearance, I have put
into m
Counsels hands satisfactory information, which will account for every day
had spent during that week, for every day and every hour. I never was
absent from
home. As to being seen by Mr. Sanderson, I was at home every evening. One
thing that has
been omitted by my counsel was, that on the 1; riday on which the alleged
murder was said to
have been committed, I had purchased Humboldt's new work, " Cosmos," and
while waiting
for an omnibus, stepped into Brigham's to take a muttonchop, and on coming
out to take the om-
nibus, had fornotten my book, but after my arrest remembered the place
where I had left it,
and mentioneXit to my counsel. They had sent to Mr. Brigham's, and the book
had been found.
lie then took his seat, but in a moment rose and said-
.
I will say one word more; I have felt very much distressed by the
production of those, ano-
nymous letters; more so than by anything thathas occurred during the trial.
I call my God
to witness, that if it were the last hour of my life, I believe that I
never wrote those letters.
Since the trial commenced, a letter has been received from this very 1°
Civis" by one of my coun-
sel. If this person has any spark of humanity, I call upon him to come
forward-s notice to
this effect has been put in the papers.
Prof. W. having said this, sat down. A deep impression was made upon the
Jury, the Court,
aed the spectators, by the solemn earnestness exhibited by the prisoner in
his remarks.
Charge to the Jury.
Chief-Justice Shaw then rose todeliver his charge to the Jury. remarking,
that he had. thought proper to contt-
nue the proceedings. as far as to deliver his charge in the case to them,
because the nature of the principles deve-
haped in the proceedings were such as would not require him to occupy their
attention a much longer time.
9estlemen:-I rise with the deepest sense of the responsibility which
presses upon this tribunal. You have been
eahong engaged in this important case that I cannot detain you much longer
in suspense. I shall not, at this
Is period, keep you long confined in considering the facts which have been
so fully laid before you, and it is
mainly a question of facts. I shall rather dwell upon a few plain
principles. It is the nature of our lws, under
which our lives are secured, to distribute to the several organs of
government each its several department of du-
ides, and each is responsible for his own. We are not here to make the
laws; but to execute them. This Indict-
ment charges the prisoner at the bar with murder. Murder is the highest
species of homicide. Homicide is a
general term, including several degrees ; some of which are justifiable,
such as those committed in justifiable war,
or by the o5icers of justice, with proper warrants; but I need not dwell on
them. The statute law only pro.
vides that wilful murder shall be punished by death; but that is not the
only law in force among us. We have the
10mmon law. The common law was received by our ancestors from England, but
is really as much in force
among us as any other, and maybe called the common law of Massachusetts.
[The learned Chief Justice read front
a metiorandum of his own on the nature of malice.] In murder, to escape the
imputation of malice, the per
Must prov a the provocation, the accident, or any other circumstance which
goes to preclude the malice er-
aus it is argued from the sot itself. No rovocation of words, however
opprobriouaq eillzoltigate the motive' for
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