Here the Clerk read the indictment to the Jury, when he continued: "To this indictment, the defendants have plead not guilty, and have put themselves on the country, which country you are, and you are now sworn to try the issue."
District Attorney. "You perceive, Gentlemen of the Jury, by the indictment that has been read to you that Joseph Lee and Oscar Colby are charged by the Grand Jury of the body of this county with conspiracy to defraud, a crime punishable with the severest penalties of the law, and alleged by the indictment to have been committed by them feloniously, wilfully and maliciously. I need not portray to you the sad consequences which have already resulted from this villany.
"We intend to prove that the prisoners at the bar did at the time and place specified in the indictment, conspire together to destroy the last will and testament of one Joseph Lee deceased, and to set up as his last will and testament, a will prior to his last, and did thereby deprive his dutiful daughter of her patrimony,—a daughter who had for years administered to her sick father's necessities, smoothing by her affectionate care his passage to the grave; and that they drove her from the home of her childhood and youth on the very eve of her deceased father's burial, rendering her houseless, and shelterless, but for the protecting arm of her newly wedded companion.
"We intend to prove the sad consequences of this crime to the prisoners themselves."
Mr. Curtiss. "Your Honor, I must object to this appeal to personal sympathy, and personal prejudice."
District Attorney. "Your Honor, I beg not to be interrupted. I was only stating what the prosecution intend to prove. I was specifying the consequences of crime to the prisoners at the bar; but I forbear. The bloated face, and blood-shot eyes of the one, and the ghastly pallor of the other, speak far more than any words I could utter.
"Gentlemen of the Jury, I have no need to caution you against participating in the popular indignation at this crime, or not to fear the consequences of a faithful discharge of your whole duty. Your oath requires you to decide the question of the guilt or innocence of the prisoners according to law and evidence.
"The indictment charges them with Conspiracy. But, gentlemen, I will not detain you farther, except to cite authorities respecting the nature of this crime, the laws and penalties pertaining thereunto, and also to remark on the confidence to be placed in the confession of a dying man, which will soon be submitted to you."
He then proceeded to read from Roscoe on Criminal evidence, Chitty's Criminal Law, Archbold, etc., etc. After which, he concluded by saying, "This charge we expect to prove by the confession of Hugh Fuller on his death bed, where we naturally expect the utmost sincerity, and where there could be no motive for self-accusation, and a confession of that which must forever tarnish the fair fame of the confessor,—no motive falsely to criminate his fellow men. His testimony is entitled to the highest consideration, supported as it will be by an array of circumstantial evidence, amounting almost to a moral demonstration."
He then called George Wilson, Justice of the peace, who after being sworn read the Affidavit, as he took it from the lips of the dying man.