intermission. An indictment for the murder was found against John
Francis Knapp, as principal, and Joseph J. Knapp, Jr. and George
Crowninshield, as accessories. Selman and Chase were discharged by the
Attorney-General.

The principal, John Francis Knapp, was first put on trial. As the law
then stood, an accessory in a murder could not be tried until a
principal had been convicted. He was defended by Messrs. Franklin Dexter
and William H. Gardiner, advocates of high reputation for ability and
eloquence; the trial was long and arduous, and the witnesses numerous.
His brother Joseph, who had made a full confession, on the government's
promise of impunity if he would in good faith testify the truth, was
brought into court, called to the stand as a witness, but declined to
testify. To convict the prisoner, it was necessary for the government to
prove that he was _present_, actually or constructively, as an aider or
abettor in the murder. The evidence was strong that there was a
conspiracy to commit the murder, that the prisoner was one of the
conspirators, that at the time of the murder he was in Brown Street at
the rear of Mr. White's garden, and the jury were satisfied that he was
in that place to aid and abet in the murder, ready to afford assistance,
if necessary. He was convicted.

Joseph J. Knapp, Jr. was afterwards tried as an accessory before the
fact, and convicted.

George Crowninshield proved an _alibi_, and was discharged.

The execution of John Francis Knapp and Joseph J. Knapp, Jr. closed the
tragedy.

If Joseph, after turning State's evidence, had not changed his mind,
neither he nor his brother, nor any of the conspirators, could have been
convicted; if he had testified, and disclosed the whole truth, it would
have appeared that John Francis Knapp was in Brown Street, not to render
assistance to the assassin; but that Crowninshield, when he started to
commit the murder, requested Frank to go home and go to bed; that Frank
did go home, retire to bed, soon after arose, secretly left his father's
house, and hastened to Brown Street, to await the coming out of the
assassin, in order to learn whether the deed was accomplished, and all
the particulars. If Frank had not been convicted as principal, none of
the accessories could by law have been convicted. Joseph would not have
been even tried, for the government stipulated, that, if he would be a
witness for the State, he should go clear.

The whole history