As soon as the lawyer had ended the defence, the merchant was
called upon by the judge to give his own version of what occurred.
He rose:
"Why," said he, "it was just so as has been said. I wished not to hurt
the fellow; but he called me a swindler. Well, I knew the man was in a
passion, and I did not care. I only said, 'How dare you, Sir?' and I
threw the piece of iron just to frighten him. Well, to be sure, the
blackguard fell down like a bull, and I thought it was a humbug. I
laughed and said, 'None of your gammon;' but he was dead. I think the
thing must have struck something on the way, and so swerved against his
head. I wished not to kill the fellow--I be damned if I did."
The jurymen looked at each other with a significant and approving air,
which could be translated as accidental death. Gabriel touched the
merchant upon the shoulder, "You should have said to him, that you
merely wished to kill a musquito upon the wall."
"Capital idea," cried the defendant "I be d----d if it was not a
musquito eating my molasses that I wished to kill, after all."
At that moment one of the jurymen approached the merchant, and addressed
him in a low voice; I could not hear what passed, but I heard the
parting words of the juryman, which were, "All's right!" To this
dispenser of justice succeeded another; indeed, all the jurymen followed
in succession, to have a little private conversation with the prisoner.
Pages:
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438