They Hanged My Saintly Billy (78 page)

I
have
now,
Sir,
to
tell
you
that
the
same
Charles
Newton
has
been twice
in
custody
for
theft
at
Nottingham;
and
that
some
of
his
more recent
acts
are
under
investigation
by
the
Police.
Ought
this
man
then to
be
relied
upon
in
a
case
of
life
and
death,
under
the
circumstances I
have
narrated?

As
to
the
witness
Mills,
she
swore
at
the
trial
that
she
slept
with Mrs
Dutton,
when
lodging
at
the
house
of
Mrs
Dutton's
son.
I
assert, upon
most
unimpeachable
testimony,
that
Mrs
Dutton
lives
four miles
from
her
son's
residence,
and
has
not
been
in
his
house
for
over nine
months.
It
may
be
said
that
perjury
by
a
witness
to
conceal
the offence
of
fornication
is
venal,
and
that
the
rest
of
the
testimony
of such
a
witness
can
be
perfectly
relied
upon.
My
belief
is
that
any person
who
departs
from
the
paths
of
virtue,
and
then
perjures
herself
to
cover
her
shame,
may
also
commit
perjury
for
motives
not more
honest.
Again,
let
me
ask
whether
life
should
be
sacrificed
on such
evidence?

I
now,
Sir,
approach
a
most
important
part
of
the
case—which
is medical
and
chemical
testimony.
So
much
has
been
written,
spoken, and
laid
before
the
world
on
this
head,
that
it
requires
but
a
few words
from
me.
Sir,
the
point
upon
which
so
much
doubt
exists
has created
a
universal
and
wide-spread
feeling
relative
to
the
justice
of the
verdict.
No
man
ought
ever
to
ascend
a
scaffold
with
a
doubt attached
to
his
guilt.
Let
not
that
ill-fated
man,
Will
iam
Palmer, whom
prejudice
has
long
since
consigned
to
the
gall
ows,
do
so!

Dr
Leth
eby
and
Professor
Herapath,
two
most
eminent
toxi
cologists
of
this
day,
declared
upon
their
solemn
oaths
that
they
could discover
the
fifty-thousandth
part
of
a
grain
of
strychnia
in
the
body of
a
dead
man;
and
that,
if
Cook
died
from
that
poison,
they
could now
find
it.
Their
opinions
were
confirmed
by
almost
equally
distinguished
members
of
the
schools
of
London,
Leeds,
Edinburgh, and
Dublin.
Yet
the
body
of
Cook
did
not
yield
to
the
manipulations
of
Drs
Taylor
and
Rees
the
smaUest
particle
of
strychnia.
Since the
unfortunate
end
of
the
trial,
my
table
has
been
laden
with
letters from
scientific
men
in
support
of
Dr
Letheby
and
his
party.
If
you honour
me
by
your
commands,
I
shall
be
proud
to
place
these
letters before
you.
Yet
I
hope
that
the
new
light
thrown
on
the
characters of
Newton
and
Mills
alone
justify
me
in
the
strong
assurance
that a
respite,
for
the
object
of
further
inquiry,
and
for
the
consequent elucidation
of
truth,
will
be
granted.

Upon
the
last
point
which
I
am
calling
to
your
attention,
I
must, to
a
certain
extent,
be
mute—I
mean
the
Lord
Chief
Justice's
charge to
the
jury.
As
an
officer
of
his
Court,
I
owe
him
every
respect
and duty,
so
that
nothing
but
the
dearer
interests
of
my
cli
ent
would induce
me
to
criticize
his
conduct
of
the
trial.
I
cannot,
however, refrain
from
saying
that
if
a
similar
rule
existed
in
the
criminal
law
as in
civil
law,
my
Lord
Chief
Justice's
charge
would
be
open
to
the complaint
of
misdirection.
The
voice
of
the
public
has
unanimously condemned
it
as
one-sided
and
mistaken.
Upon
this
point
I
pray your
earnest
thought.

I
sincerely
trust
that
I
have
given
sufficient
reasons
to
postpone
the hour
of
death,
and
that
the
14th
inst.—a
day
which
will
witness
the nation's
common
celebration
of
joy
with
our
brave
all
ies,
the
French, in
the
baptism
of
the
future
Napoleon
IV
¹
—may
not
bathe
in
tears

¹
The Prince Imperial. Killed by the Zulus in 1879, while serving with the British cavalry
.

of
bitterness,
sorrow,
and
resentment
all
the
numerous
relatives
and friends
of
the
unfortunate
William
Palmer.

May
I
seek
as
early
an
answer
as
is
compatible
with
the
consideration
of
this
sincere
plea?

I
am,
Sir,
your
most
obedient
servant, John
Smith

John
Smith
had
his
answer
on
the
next
evening:

Whitehall,
June
12, 1856

Sir,

Secretary
Sir
George
Grey
has
received
and
considered
your
letters of
the
10th
and
11
th
inst.,
in
behalf
of
William
Palmer.
He
directs me
to
inform
you
that
he
can
see
nothing
in
any
of
the
points
that you
have
pressed
upon
his
attention
which
would
justify
him
in interfering
with
the
due
course
of
law
in
this
case.