is that he struck
the blow which eventually robbed Mrs. Clemmens of her life, and the
proof which I propose to bring forward in support of this assertion is
this:

"Mrs. Clemmens received the blow which led to her death at some time
previously to three minutes past twelve o'clock on Tuesday, September
26th. This the prosecution has already proved. Now, what I propose to
show is, that Mrs. Clemmens, however or whenever assailed, was still
living and unhurt up to ten minutes before twelve on that same day. A
witness, whom you must believe, saw her at that time and conversed with
her, proving that the blow by which she came to her death must have
occurred after that hour, that is, after ten minutes before noon. But,
your Honor and Gentlemen of the Jury, the prosecution has already shown
that the prisoner stepped on to the train at Monteith Quarry Station at
twenty minutes past one of that same day, and has produced witnesses
whose testimony positively proves that the road he took there from Mrs.
Clemmens' house was the same he had traversed in his secret approach to
it the day before--viz., the path through the woods; the only path, I
may here state, that connects those two points with any thing like
directness.

"But, Sirs, what the prosecution has not shown you, and what it now
devolves upon me to show, is that this path which the prisoner is
allowed to have taken is one which no man could traverse without
encountering great difficulties and many hindrances to speed. It is not
only a narrow path filled with various encumbrances in the way of
brambles and rolling stones, but it is so flanked by an impenetrable
undergrowth in some places, and by low, swampy ground in others, that no
deviation from its course is possible, while to keep within it and
follow its many turns and windings till it finally emerges upon the
highway that leads to the Quarry Station would require many more minutes
than those which elapsed between the time of the murder and the hour the
prisoner made his appearance at the Quarry Station. In other words, I
propose to introduce before you as witnesses two gentlemen from New
York, both of whom are experts in all feats of pedestrianism, and who,
having been over the road themselves, are in position to testify that
the time necessary for a man to pass by means of this path from Mrs.
Clemmens' house to the Quarry Station is, by a definite number of
minutes, greater than that allowed to the prisoner by th