reviously in
the house, without suspicion, and who had prepared the way. This is
concert, this is co-operation, this is conspiracy. If the Knapps and the
Crowninshields, then, were not the conspirators, who were? Joseph Knapp
had a motive to desire the death of Mr. White, and that motive has been
shown.

He was connected by marriage with the family of Mr. White. His wife was
the daughter of Mrs. Beckford, who was the only child of a sister of the
deceased. The deceased was more than eighty years old, and had no
children. His only heirs were nephews and nieces. He was supposed to be
possessed of a very large fortune, which would have descended, by law,
to his several nephews and nieces in equal shares; or, if there was a
will, then according to the will. But as he had but two branches of
heirs, the children of his brother, Henry White, and of Mrs. Beckford,
each of these branches, according to the common idea, would have shared
one half of his property.

This popular idea is not legally correct. But it is common, and very
probably was entertained by the parties. According to this idea, Mrs.
Beckford, on Mr. White's death without a will, would have been entitled
to one half of his ample fortune; and Joseph Knapp had married one of
her three children. There was a will, and this will gave the bulk of the
property to others; and we learn from Palmer that one part of the design
was to destroy the will before the murder was committed. There had been
a previous will, and that previous will was known or believed to have
been more favorable than the other to the Beckford family. So that, by
destroying the last will, and destroying the life of the testator at the
same time, either the first and more favorable will would be set up, or
the deceased would have no will, which would be, as was supposed, still
more favorable. But the conspirators not having succeeded in obtaining
and destroying the last will, though they accomplished the murder, that
will being found in existence and safe, and that will bequeathing the
mass of the property to others, it seemed at the time impossible for
Joseph Knapp, as for any one else, indeed, but the principal devisee, to
have any motive which should lead to the murder. The key which unlocks
the whole mystery is the knowledge of the intention of the conspirators
to steal the will. This is derived from Palmer, and it explains all. It
solves the whole marvel. It shows the motive which actuated those,