of a great case like this? Should
I fail in my duty when invited into this case by the State's
Attorney to assist him in its prosecution? Was the fact that I
first saw the light of day in the same land that Martin Burke did,
going to embarrass my conduct or to hinder me in the performance of
my duty in any respect? A scandal to my profession, and a shame and
reproach to my people, would I indeed be, if for one moment I
forgot my simple function of an American lawyer, in an American
court, before an American jury, pleading for the vindication of
American law. If these men, unfortunately situated as they are
to-day, have been personal enemies, I do not know them. I certainly
have no personal feeling; I contemplate them only with pain and
with regret and with shame. I never saw one of them before the
commission of this crime, except John F. Beggs, and I assure you
that although I had seen John F. Beggs, and had spoken with him and
had a very slight acquaintance with him, I did not know that the
man indicted under that name was the prisoner at the bar, until the
first day that I came into court here. Whatever relation I had with
him was not of an unkind character; so that I come to the trial of
this case free from the impulse of personal motive--having no
anxiety except an anxiety for the punishment of crime, the
vindication of the law, the maintenance of its majesty, the
sanctity of human life, and the punishment of the foulest crime
that has blotted the calendar of this State, or of any other State
of this American Union.

"Now, you have listened to me with patience; I thank you for your
attention through the desultory speech that it was necessary for me
to make after the exhaustive and able manner in which the people's
case had been presented to you by the two distinguished gentlemen
who preceded me, Judge Longenecker and Mr. Ingham. In leaving you,
gentlemen of the jury, and this case and my associates in it, I
trust I leave it without any trace of personal feeling toward
anybody--counsel or anybody else in this case. If, in the sharp
fight of a lawsuit--of a trial like this--under the spur of combat
at times, I have said or done anything that has wounded the
feelings or hurt the sensibilities of any man, no matter who, I am
sorry for it. I w