" said the judge, "and I
will do my best to help you. We will take the points in the order in
which you mention them. First, there is the question of the knife, and
in order to fully understand the sequence of this, we will again
consider it from the very beginning. We must remember that the
prisoner was very careful about locking his office. No one was allowed
to enter it when he was absent. He kept the key in his own pocket. We
have to remember, too, that his own partner declared that he knew of no
one who entered the prisoner's office that day, and even if anyone
entered the office, there was no one who, as far as he knew, would dare
to take that knife from the prisoner's desk. The fact remains,
however--and it is facts we must consider, gentlemen, and give them
their due significance--the fact remains that the murdered man was
found with this knife in his heart. Now, gentlemen, it is for you to
decide how that knife could have left the prisoner's office. Was there
someone who could have entered the office, and, with set purpose, take
it away without the prisoner's knowledge, and use it in the way
mentioned? Or, did the prisoner take it away himself and use it as has
been described by the counsel for the prosecution? I say you must
decide on this question because it is most vital. You have heard all
the evidence in relation to this matter, and it is for you to decide
now first whether any outsider obtained entrance into the prisoner's
office and took away that knife and used it for the purpose of murder,
or whether the prisoner himself took it away in the way described?
That is the first point to be considered in relation to the knife. Now
with regard to the ostensible difficulty which appears to you. From
one standpoint, it seems utterly unlikely that a man of the prisoner's
evident intellectual acumen should have used this knife, known to be
his, for the purpose of murdering an enemy, and then have left it in
his body in such a way that it would be inevitably traced to him. I
understand your difficulty, gentlemen, and I appreciate it, and it is a
point that you must keep clearly before your mind. There is, however,
another side which you must also keep just as clearly in view. It is
this. If the prisoner had made up his mind to do this, would not a
clever man, such as he undoubtedly is, probably come to the conclusion
that it would seem so absurd that he should leave the knife in the body
of his vi