“A sword—a bar of iron—or anything that has weight and force.”
“Do you believe those fractures were given by the same blow?”
“I do. By one and the same blow.”
“Do you think Mary Monson possesses the strength necessary to cause those two fractures at a single blow?”
Witness had no opinion on the subject.
“Are the fractures material?”
“Certainly—and must have required a heavy blow to produce them.”
This was all that could be got from either of the witnesses on that material point. As respected McBrain, he was subsequently examined in reference to the same facts. Dunscomb made good use of this witness, who now commanded the respect of all present. In the first place, he was adroitly offered to the jury, as the professional man who had, from the first, given it as his opinion that both the skeletons were those of females; and this in the face of all the collected wisdom of Duke’s county; an opinion that was now rendered so probable as almost to amount to certainty. He (Dunscomb) believed most firmly that the remains were those of Dorothy Goodwin and the German woman who was missing.
“Have you examined those skeletons, Dr. McBrain?” Dunscomb asked.[asked.]
“I have, sir; and carefully, since the late trial.”