sibly suffer some disadvantage
because of it. I did so for more than one reason. The first I have
just suggested. No counsel could be of any value to me unless I gave
him my absolute and complete trust. Again I say, there are certain
matters utterly and wholly removed from the crime of which I am accused
which I do not wish to make known. Possibly this may tell against me;
but, gentlemen, when you think of the happenings of the last few days,
when you remember, my lord, the wonderful and unprecedented confession
which was made from the chair you now occupy, a confession which
vitally affects me, you can understand that there are other things in
my life--perfectly innocent, yes, and in a vital sense very
sacred--which I do not wish to confide to any man. More on that
question I will not say. The other reason I have for defending myself
is that while an abler man than myself might be obtained, a more
eloquent man, a far more learned man, I could secure no one who is so
certain of my own innocence as I am myself, and as a consequence no one
could plead with the same earnestness, albeit haltingly, yet no one can
plead with the same conviction that I can. For, my lord and gentlemen,
at the very outset of what I wish to say I must again urge that I know
absolutely nothing of this man's murder. I struck no blow, and am as
far removed from his death as the little children who were born in this
city last night!

"Now, my lord and gentlemen, the whole weight of the accusation brought
against me depends entirely upon circumstantial evidence, and you, my
lord, who are so learned in the law, know full well the value that can
be attached to such evidence. You know that again and again it has
proved to be false. You know one particular case especially, when a
man, who was condemned to die on circumstantial evidence, was three
times brought to the scaffold, and three times the rope broke, and
then, because of what may be called the superstitious feelings of the
community at large, that sentence was reduced to penal servitude for
life. I say you know, my lord, that although that circumstantial
evidence seemed complete, when a renowned thief and murderer was
brought to his trial and condemned to die, he confessed to this very
murder. Moreover, you can see that when a man's life or death depends
upon circumstantial evidence, that evidence must be complete. No link
in the chain must be missing. If it is missing, then it woul