ad so far secured
public favour as to be rewarded with the highest measure of confidence
with which any town could reward him. But having said all that, it was
his duty to deal with the facts which had been brought before them, and
it was for the jury to say whether, in the face of that evidence, the
prisoner was not guilty of the terrible deed of which he was accused.
He referred to the fact that the prisoner had chosen to defend himself,
and as a consequence lessened hid chances of acquittal, but they had
also to consider the inwardness of that fact. What was the prisoner's
reason for being undefended? It was not that he could not afford to
obtain the most eminent counsel at the criminal bar, or because he was
not advised by the judge to secure such counsel. An innocent man had
nothing to hide. It was only the guilty who sought to shelter himself
behind silence. He would like to testify to the prisoner's ability in
cross-examination and of his power to nullify the force of certain
evidence which told against him. But they had not to deal with
sophistries. They had to deal with the hard facts which had been
submitted to them. These facts he enumerated one by one, dealing with
the evidence which had been given in support of them. He admitted that
there might be certain difficulties in their way, certain things hard
to explain, and which could only be explained by the prisoner. Still,
certain facts remained--facts upon which they would have to judge.
Presently came the summing-up of his speech, and it was here that Mr.
Bakewell justified the reputation he had won as one of the cleverest of
criminal lawyers. Everything in Paul's disfavour was set before them
in cold, clear, terse language. One point after another was emphasised
with terrible precision, and so great was the impression made that it
seemed as though both judge and jury could see only with his eyes. All
the things which appeared as difficulties were apparently removed. The
facts of the case pointed to one man as the murderer of Edward Wilson,
and that one man was Paul Stepaside. Mr. Bakewell seemed to be under
strong emotion, but that very emotion strengthened the impression which
he had made, especially when he spoke of the sacredness of human life,
spoke of the terrible responsibility of a jury in condemning a prisoner
to death. Nevertheless, he seemed to make it impossible for them to do
anything else. When he sat down it seemed as though t