CHAPTER XXIV.

ALL THE TESTIMONY BEFORE THE JURY--JUDGE M'CONNELL'S LUCID CHARGE--THE
JURY RETIRES--A PERIOD OF ANXIETY--POPULAR EXCITEMENT AT ITS
HEIGHT--DEMEANOR OF THE PRISONERS--SUSPENSE AT LAST ENDED--THE VERDICT.

Breathless silence prevailed as the State's Attorney concluded his
argument. Attention was now directed to Judge McConnell. Every eye in
the court-room, including that of the prisoners, was directed toward the
bench. Spreading before him a bulky roll of foolscap, his Honor, after
requesting the close attention of the jurors, commenced to read the
final instructions. These were couched as follows:

"The jury are judges of the law as well as of the facts in this
case, and if they can say upon their oaths that they know the law
better than the Court itself, they have the right to do so; but,
before assuming so solemn a responsibility, they should be sure
that they are not acting from caprice or prejudice, that they are
not controlled by their will or wishes, but from a deep and
confident conviction that the Court is wrong and they are right.
Before saying this upon their oaths, it is their duty to reflect
whether, from their study and experience, they are better qualified
to judge of the law than the Court. If under all circumstances they
are prepared to say that the Court is wrong in its exposition of
the law, the statute has given them that right.

"In the language of the statute, murder is the unlawful killing of
a human being, in the peace of the people, with malice
aforethought, either expressed or implied. The unlawful killing may
be perpetrated by poisoning, striking, starving, drowning,
stabbing, shooting, or by any other of the various forms or means
by which human nature may be overcome and death thereby occasioned.
Express malice is that deliberate intention unlawfully to take away
the life of a fellow-creature, which is manifested by external
circumstances capable of proof. Malice shall be implied when no
considerable provocation appears, or when all the circumstances of
the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.

"Whoever is guilty of murder, shall suffer the punishment of death
or imprisonment in the penitentiary for his natural life, or for a
term of not less than fourteen years. If the accused, or any of
them, are found guilty by the jury