hivers had
admitted--the prisoner said herself that the deceased had never
struck her with a stick. That there had been quarrels he freely
admitted, that the deceased had spoken sharply was not to be
denied. But he asked: What husband would endure that the young
wife who was indebted to him for everything, should resume her
light and reprehensible conduct, or should show inclination to
do so, after he had made her his own? No doubt whatever that the
prisoner at the bar felt the monotony of a farmhouse irksome
after the lively existence in a public house. No doubt she missed
the society of topers, and their tipsy familiarities. But was
that reason why she should kill her husband?

He believed that he had been able to show that this murder had
been planned; that the prisoner had provided herself with the
implement wherewith it was her purpose to rid herself of the
husband who was distasteful to her. With deliberate intention to
free herself, she had waited to catch him alone, and where she
believed she was unobserved. The jury must consider how utterly
degraded a woman must be to compass the death of the man to whom
she had sworn eternal fidelity and love. A woman who could do this
was not one who should be suffered to live; she was a scandal to
her sex; she dishonored humanity.

The counsel proceeded to say: "Gentlemen of the jury, I have
anxiously looked about for some excuses, something that might
extenuate the atrocity of this crime. I have found none. The man
who steals bread to support his starving children must suffer
under the law for what he has done. Can you allow to go free a
woman, because young, who has wilfully, wantonly, and deliberately
compassed the murder of her husband, merely, as far as we can
judge, because he stood in her way pointing the direction to
morality and happiness. Whatever may be said in defence of this
unfortunate prisoner now on her trial, gentlemen of the jury, do
not mistake your office. You are not here to excuse crime and to
forgive criminals, but to judge them with justice. Do not be
swayed by any false feeling of commiseration because of the sex
and youth of the accused. Remember that a wife guilty of the
murder of her husband, who is allowed to run free, encourages
all others, possibly even your own, to rid themselves of their
husbands, whenever they resent a look or a word of reproach. I
will lose no more words, but demand a sentence of guilty against
Mehetabel Kink."

The