tepfather as this there was no love lost. There were scores, ay and
thousands of boys in England who similarly hated their stepfathers, and
was it to be said that, if any of the men came to a sudden and violent
death, these boys were to be suspected of their murder. But in the
present case, although he was not in a position to lay his finger upon
the man who perpetrated this crime, they need not go far to look for
him. Had they not heard that he was hated by his workpeople? Evidence
had been laid before them to show that he was a marked man, that he had
received threatening letters from secret associations which had, as was
notorious, kept the south of Yorkshire, and indeed all that part of
the country which was the seat of manufacture, in a state of alarm. So
imminent was the danger considered that the magistrates had requested
the aid of an armed force, and at the tame this murder was committed
there were soldiers actually stationed in the mill, besides a strong
force in the town for the protection of this man from his enemies.

The counsel for the prosecution had given them his theory as to the
actions of the prisoner, but he believed that that theory was altogether
wide of the truth. It was known that an accident had taken place to
the machinery, for the mill was standing idle for the day. It would be
probable that the deceased would go over late in the evening to see
how the work was progressing, as every effort was being made to get the
machinery to run on the following morning.

"What so probable, then, that the enemies of the deceased--and you know
that he had enemies, who had sworn to take his life--should choose this
opportunity for attacking him as he drove to or from the town. That an
enemy was prowling round the mill, as has been suggested to you, I admit
readily enough. That he stumbled upon the rope, that the idea occurred
to him of upsetting the gig on its return, that he cut off a portion
of the rope and fixed it between the two gateposts across the road, and
that this rope caused the death of William Mulready. All this I allow;
but I submit to you that the man who did this was a member of the secret
association which is a terror to the land, and was the terror of William
Mulready, and there is no proof whatever, not even the shadow not even
the shadow of a proof, to connect this lad with the crime.

"I am not speaking without a warrant when I assert my conviction that it
was an emissary of the associa