“Did you smell me?”
A titter ran through the room, which the judge promptly rebuked by calling out “Order!” The reply to the last question was not heard, and the accused told the witness he might take his seat, remarking, at the same time, to the prosecuting attorney:
“I don’t think you have made much out of him—why, he undertakes to tell what was going on when he was sound asleep!”
Aunt Fanny was the next witness. She testified to finding Otis asleep, late in the morning, and described the state of things in his room, at that time. She also related what took place in the kitchen, when she told Ronald to call Otis to breakfast. Jessie was then called to the stand, and corroborated a part of the testimony of Miss Lee.
The evidence for the prosecution all being in, the prisoner said he should summon no witnesses to rebut the testimony given, although he presumed he could call upon every person in the court-room, from the learned judge down to the witness who pretended to tell what took place when he was asleep, to testify to his (the prisoner’s) good character, if necessary. He then reviewed the evidence, and pronounced it all guess-work. Certain things had been done. There was no proof that he did them, and he did not know why they should be so positive he was the offender.
“May it please your honor,” interrupted the prosecuting attorney, “if the prisoner thinks there is any room for doubt, on that point, I can call several witnesses to prove that he has confessed that he did all that we have charged him with.”
“If it please your honor,” replied the accused, “I suppose I could claim that anything I may have said shall not be used against me. Am I not right?”
“Whatever the law or usage may be in other tribunals,” replied the judge, “this court is of the opinion that any confession made by the defendant may be used as evidence against him, unless it can be shown that he was influenced by fear, or a hope of gaining some end, in making the confession.”
“Well,” continued the accused, “I will save the prosecuting attorney the trouble of bringing forward any more witnesses. I merely wished to show him the flaw in the net in which he thinks he has caught me; but I had no idea of crawling off through such a small hole. No, your honor, I admit that I played an April-fool trick upon my young friend.”
The accused then went on to justify himself, in a speech of considerable length, which was very attentively listened to. He took the ground that the custom of playing April-fool tricks was an old and almost universal one; that it was one of the established and inalienable rights of boys; that there is no harm in playing off a pleasant joke in a good-natured way; that he had no malice against Otis, and in reality did him no harm; that there was no excuse for his sleeping till after school-time, even if the room was darkened; that in removing Otis’s plate from the breakfast table, he only made an April-fool of Jessie; that it was not his business to contradict Jessie, and correct her errors; that he did not call Otis, because he supposed Aunt Fanny did not expect him to, after what Jessie had said; and that he did not feel that he had been guilty of disobedience or falsehood, in anything he had done, in connection with this affair. He closed with an earnest appeal to the jury, beseeching them to judge him by his motives rather than his acts, and reminding them that it was better to err on the side of mercy than of severity.