colors, reminding the
jury that it was all-important to carry with them through the case this
view of his character, as explaining and even justifying many of the
acts he was charged with. "You will," said he, "perceive much to blame
in him, but also much to pity, and even where you condemn deeply, you
will deplore the unhappy combination of events which perverted what may
have been a noble nature, and degraded by crime what was meant to have
adorned virtue! From the evidence I shall produce before you will be
seen the nature of the intimacy between these two men, so strikingly
unlike in every trait of character, and although this be but the
testimony of one who heard it himself from another, we shall find a
strong corroboration of all in the consistency of the narrative and the
occasional allusion to facts provable from other sources. We shall
then show you how the inordinate demands of Dalton, stimulated by the
necessity of his circumstances, led to a breach with his brother-in-law,
and subsequently to his departure for the Continent; and, lastly,
we mean to place before you the extraordinary revelation made to the
witness Meekins, by his comrade William Noonan, who, while incriminating
himself, exhibited Dalton as the contriver of the scheme by which the
murder was effected.

"It would be manifestly impossible, in a case like this, when from the
very outset the greatest secrecy was observed and over whose mystery
years have accumulated clouds of difficulty, to afford that clear and
precise line of evidence which in a recent event might naturally be
looked for. But you will learn enough, and more than enough, to
satisfy your minds on every point Meekins shall be subjected to any
cross-examination my learned brother may desire, and I only ask for him
so much of your confidence as a plain unvarying statement warrants. He
is a stranger in this country; and although it has been rumored,
from his resemblance to a man formerly known here, that he has been
recognized, we shall show you that for upwards of thirty years he has
been in foreign countries, and while he understands that his parents
were originally from the south of Ireland, he believes himself to have
been born in America. These facts will at once disabuse your minds
of the suspicion that he can have been actuated by any malicious or
revengeful feelings towards the Daltons. We shall, also, show that the
most strenuous efforts have been made to suppress his testimo