is
that, as the saying is, the devil may have his dues, no more. I wish to
say further that my hearing is impaired by wounds I have about my head.
I could not hear what the Court said this morning. I would be glad to
hear what is said at my trial. Any short delay would be all I would ask.
I do not presume to ask more than a very short delay so that I may in
some degree recover and be able at least to listen to my trial."

Dr. Mason the attending physician, swore that he had examined Brown,
and that his wounds had effected neither his hearing nor his mind. He
further swore that he was not seriously disabled.

Brown knew that this was true, but he had entered his plea. His words
would flash over the nation. The effect was what he foresaw. Although he
had defied the laws of God and man, he dared demand more than justice
under the laws which he had spit upon. And, however inconsistent his
position, he knew that as the poison of the Blood Feud which he was
raising filled the souls of the people through the press, he would be
glorified from day to day and new power given to every word he might
utter.

He had already composed his last message destined to sway the minds of
millions. The response of the radical press to his pose of illness was
quick and sharp. The Lawrence, Kansas, _Republican_ voiced the feelings
of thousands:

"We defy an instance to be shown in any civilized community where a
prisoner has been forced to trial for his life, when so disabled by
sickness or ghastly wounds as to be unable even to sit up during the
proceedings, and compelled to be carried to the judgment hall upon a
litter. Such a proceeding shames the name of Justice, and only finds a
congenial place amid the records of the bloody Inquisition."

Even so conservative a paper as the Boston _Transcript_ said:

"Whatever may be his guilt or folly, a man convicted under such
circumstances, and, especially, a man executed after such a trial, will
be the most terrible fruit that Slavery has ever borne, and will excite
the execration of the civilized world."

The canny old poseur was on his way to an immortal martyrdom. He knew
that every article of the Virginia Code was being scrupulously obeyed.
He knew that the Grand Jury was in session and that the trial was set
at the first term of the court following the crime. There had been no
haste. He also knew that the impartial Judge who was presiding was the
soul of justice in his dealings both with