The Gilded Age by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner

accomplished of her sex, blasted by the heartless villainy of man,

without seeing, at the-end of it; the horrible spectacle of a gibbet.

Gentlemen, we are all human, we have all sinned, we all have need of

mercy. But I do not ask mercy of you who are the guardians of society

and of the poor waifs, its sometimes wronged victims; I ask only that

justice which you and I shall need in that last, dreadful hour, when

death will be robbed of half its terrors if we can reflect that we have

never wronged a human being. Gentlemen, the life of this lovely and once

happy girl, this now stricken woman, is in your hands.”

The jury were risibly affected. Half the court room was in tears. If a

vote of both spectators and jury could have been taken then, the verdict

would have been, “let her go, she has suffered enough.”

But the district attorney had the closing argument. Calmly and without

malice or excitement he reviewed the testimony. As the cold facts were

unrolled, fear settled upon the listeners. There was no escape from the

murder or its premeditation. Laura’s character as a lobbyist in

Washington which had been made to appear incidentally in the evidence was

also against her: the whole body of the testimony of the defense was

shown to be irrelevant, introduced only to excite sympathy, and not

giving a color of probability to the absurd supposition of insanity.

The attorney then dwelt upon, the insecurity of life in the city, and the

growing immunity with which women committed murders. Mr. McFlinn made a

very able speech; convincing the reason without touching the feelings.

The Judge in his charge reviewed the, testimony with great show of

impartiality. He ended by saying that the verdict must be acquital or

murder in the first, degree. If you find that the prisoner committed a

homicide, in possession of her reason and with premeditation, your

verdict will be accordingly. If you find she was not in her right mind,

that she was the victim of insanity, hereditary or momentary, as it has

been explained, your verdict will take that into account.

As the Judge finished his charge, the spectators anxiously watched the

faces of the jury. It was not a remunerative study. In the court room

the general feeling was in favor of Laura, but whether this feeling

extended to the jury, their stolid faces did not reveal. The public

outside hoped for a conviction, as it always does; it wanted an example;

the newspapers trusted the jury would have the courage to do its duty.

When Laura was convicted, then the public would tern around and abuse the

governor if he did; not pardon her.

The jury went out. Mr. Braham preserved his serene confidence, but

Laura’s friends were dispirited. Washington and Col. Sellers had been

obliged to go to Washington, and they had departed under the unspoken

fear the verdict would be unfavorable, a disagreement was the best they

could hope for, and money was needed. The necessity of the passage of

the University bill was now imperative.

The Court waited, for, some time, but the jury gave no signs of coming

in. Mr. Braham said it was extraordinary. The Court then took a recess

for a couple of hours. Upon again coming in, word was brought that the

jury had not yet agreed.

But the, jury, had a question. The point upon which, they wanted

instruction was this. They wanted to know if Col. Sellers was related to

the Hawkins famiry. The court then adjourned till morning.

Mr. Braham, who was in something of a pet, remarked to Mr. O’Toole that

they must have been deceived, that juryman with the broken nose could

read!

CHAPTER LVII.

The momentous day was at hand–a day that promised to make or mar the

fortunes of Hawkins family for all time. Washington Hawkins and Col.

Sellers were both up early, for neither of them could sleep. Congress

was expiring, and was passing bill after bill as if they were gasps and

each likely to be its last. The University was on file for its third

reading this day, and to-morrow Washington would be a millionaire and

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