DELIVERED AT DETROIT_ TIE 11TH5 12TH AND 14T1 OF SEPTEMBEB,:185t, P.ONOGRAPIIICALLY REPORTED BY T. C. LELAND. DETROIT: F, B WAY & COMPANY PUBLISHERS, DAILY TRIBUNE OFFICE. 1851. ~ i i i f w I ~iE p r A IL !Ill ;n~t onfiy as'an important jndicma1 event in the history of \:,ehiga n, hut also) a: etitled to a place amoog the extraordinary State t~ials of 001 country and of our times. Forty and more citizens of this State were accused of a fielony and demanded whpA its :coi'stitution assured them, a trial by jory. _An advocate was 0iniipcns.,xble in suoci a tria. .h~y required me to assume that office, on the ground of neessity. I was an advocate by .pg~-:ioo. For me the law had postponed the question of their gnilt or inn(ocence Ca .alay. one furnish~me with what would have been a sufficient excuse for~ rei~fqs their do,i~ad?.Ho:~m~ime officii eat, ust qaisqiien ciaxilne opus sidig~eat, ira ei poH~s~s'iimmn opi-4wAe,*, -was the instruction given by Cicero. Can the American lawyer find a hottecr ~.~ on~e3, or moderivedt from higher authority?~ :,,.,wor Qen.~:ou the origip and progress of this controversy —not to excuse the ~'~]'ff''""e —"; t —7 i ~t,. Fifteen yrears ago, Michigan attempted to stretch a :-:wt'=-~c_-7~/~L4 fro1h'hore to shore.' It'was honorable even to fail in so -- ~'-" -;'"'-'~ ~~;i~'~~*'~'wa buidlr, reaching from Detroit to Kalamazoo, and -lll__..__ -'__"~'-'':The State conducted it, as ti.e State conducts -,.,t?idfogg, ~'tk~.~ diess twards the' people. Necessity obliged tile ':Ouue.to give" ~7[~,,:o~.,.a Co,rporatio'i which speedily extended the road to the -.rf',at ersmd:;~ i-'' 4..to Engines increased equally in hium_ _4m~r~and ad sped,-'- i~, tji, ~~af e alike useful and important to the ~ ~ J~di.,t an~'tt.-'. ~~.. ~ e w-pub'ic gain was atteniled by the usual ' eeu th~ e: corporation't-l" ~, routes, titles, prices, stations and pro r ~ take;__'wjre'ntror~ we~'~rd ~t reuhwhc it passed were l~' ~ 5nu~'~ a lter' ~'~~l~~~~_~t~s e genrallypoor. Their ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ U' ma~e ~.Puh':f:'. ":.k!er habitually used as -*~. foe ~ -,'-t~(te... *o~'l~~ iti~'" ~ "'rile~ ipr0'0rty, w ere freoquently destr,oy.ed. Th'e'_'-wu" "cuddled" sn'md' "', -~ ~ pr pay.~ dai.a ~'the,~ settler ~', fi~eon U ]Afio ".~~ il:ed.fa t,o settle' th, contested ~ii Ta.'he. corpora'tio(. offing. ~[lrI'e~U='=~.mpf'w:e The saettler regarded this ?} _?ncssion of the righ~t ma~~ on''tlie'kfi'~se..y?fwealth and po wer in. .-d te controversy.: i ic_a-.ii'' se,,~,i] re'etJ~.d~.'~d and ultimately several united ~?,~. m~~~~~~~~~ ~thin trespasss:1"' ~ i ]~ t'e tribun~al, but failed for want t:.? i-nge' Trepss e~t~e~,.] ~'eUb ]~ diJY'mJackson county. On the -.~pi.of th_19th. of November.i. ~.~i~do~' a Detroit~ took fire and was reduced to. rama. No one dreamed, or ever w0.llc ha~ ~.aofa mcenditary, had not a pub'~ Im~l.-ar the tern t'z'" c-.."' r to.'onceived1 the thought of ' % 4 enriching himself by charging the crime emitted here upon persons in Jackson county, obnoxious for trespassses committed there. He secretly gave body and form to that suspicion, and on the 19th of April last it resulted in the alleged disclosure of a long concerted, profoundly contrived and deliberately executed conspiracy by citizens of Leonli for the entire demolition of the rails and strucutres of the Michigan Central Railroad. Thus it is seen that the State,by neglecting to provide for the cohlisequeices of the sudden change of its policy, caused its citizens "to stuible in their ways fiolli thle incilnt paths, to walk iai paths, in a vway not cast Up." Thlere has been t wild and fearful conflict. On one side uLiibiidle(l, licentious speech, retaliation of priv-ate wronLgs lipoli the body litic, by reprisals, ro ickless of ceiditiozn, cx age or and of distinction btetween the offilding ant tile uiltle s; onl the oilh,i a corporate police of mercenary spies, haunting and puisuilng the st-ps op (ill (h x piio (expi, heir suspicion or their malice. Secretly acetisatin(,s were cai eot tCO ili 10,; scriibo nd verified by oaths before magistrates, with the carefullv:tudie and p1)ifouiindly concealed purpose of olbtainin(g, in some way, evidence enoughl to s'0 ti an icotstioi agrainst citizens of Leoni of some crime or crimes for which they could be tried away fiom Jackson county. When all wvas rnatured, an indictment wvas speedily fouiid against Abel F. Fitch and others for burning tieC iepot at Detroit; another for burning the new depot which had arisen in its place; another for burnin the depot at Niles; a*iother for bui ing' tile depot at Marshall; another, in the U. S. Court, for mnanufactui] ani passinag cp iiterfeit money, and still another for burning public mails. Civil actionis wvere siinultan(eoulsly brought against the defendants. Bail, in frightful sums was exacted in each of these actions and on every one of these indictments. Able and sympathising friends were ready to become bound; but the wealth of Jackson county could not meet the large demand, and the de fendants, ever since, have been held fast as in a cage of iron. The corporation employed ten lawyers among the most eminent within the State, and assuming the direction of the prosecution and di,fraying a large portion of its expense,has poured forth,thlrough the lips of its witnesses, the compiled volume of secretly gathered accusations. The prisoi,ers have come daily into Court to encounter these accusations and have returned at night to confront pestilential disease in the jail. The press of Michigan received the disclosures as true and proclaimed them to the world. The press throughout the whole country, accepting the disclosures, responded in expressions of horror to what it regarded as evidence of a univer Bal demoralization in Michigan, and demanded immediate punishment of the accused,with a restoration of the earlier and more rigorous penal code of the State. Meanwhile, death. by removing the lowest and the highest of the alleged offenders, has invested the transaction with the dignity of tragedy. Reaction has come, and with it di vision of opinion and of sympathy. It is a strife between a corporation and the city of Detroit on the one side, and the county'of Jackson on the other. The question is vehe mently discussed, whether Abel F. Fitch died a felon or a victim of cruel oppression. Op position to the corporation, on whatever grounds, confining itself within legal limits, of course gains strength by mederation. Corporate wealth cannot long oppress the citizen in such a country and under such a government as this. Your verdict against these de fendants, if it shall appear to be well grounded upon the evidence, will abate a rapidly rising popular commotion; but, if it shall not be so sustained by the evidlence, a people who make the wrongs of each one the common cause of all,will pick strong matter of wrath out of the bloody fingers ends of a successful conspiracy. You have discrimination, can dor and courage. You have need to exercise them all. You cannot escape present cen sure, whether you find the defendants guilty or innocent. But if your verdict be a truth ful one, it will find its vindication in history. Gentlemen, I want a clear understanding of what we are about, of what we are trying. The clerk has read a description of it from his minutes every morning. Let him read it once more. [Hlere the Clerk read a summary of the indictment.] There, Gentle men, you see that it is a case of Arson that we are trying; nothing more, nothing differ ent. his certainly is not what the world supposes we are about. The world thinks we are trying a case of conspiracy; but the world has been misled, it is at fault. The clerk shows us, and I h)pe the world will now take notice, that the indictment requires an an answer to these four questions and nothing else: 1. Did the defendants here on trial, personally burn the depot at Detroit, on the 19th of November last in the night time 2. Did George Washington Gay burn it I and then, 3. Did they hire and procure him to burn it? 4. Did they, after the fire, with guilty knowledge, harbor and maintain Cay? There is no proof, and no claim is made for a verdict, against the defendants on either the'firtor the fourth of these questions; therefore, you have to answer only the second and third questions. I wish I could go at once to the discussion of those two questions; but prudence forbids. Near a month was spent in receiving evidence of felonies and misdemeanors in Jackson county, out of your jurisdiction and foreign fromi this indict. ment. I must review that evidence. It was received under a promise that it would prove a conspiracy by the defendants to destroy all the property and structures of the company and so including a design to burn the depot at Detroit. It was in vain that we opposed the offer of that evidence, In vain we said it related to crimes that,even if committed by the defendants,could not be proved against theta under this iindictment-thlat if they burned it, or procured it to be burned, it was no matter whether they conspired to do it or not-that if they neither burned the depot nor procured it to be burned, then they could not be convicted here, even though they had conspired; that, at least the proof of these alleged felonies ought to be rejected until after the existence of such conspiracy should have been established. The Court overruled us,as you must assume rightly, and we must for the present acquiesce. So the proof came, tumbling in, helter skelter, and we must now remove it out of the way. Let us understand clearly what is demanded of the defendants in regard to this portion of the case, We Ire to show you, not that the alleged trespasses were not corn mitted, nor that the alleged meetings were not held, nor that the allegedl menaces were not uttered; but that a l the trespasses, meetings and menaces whiclih hiae bon pr oved do not establish the fact of, conspiracy by the defendants, to des-troy a/' the brol)ortv 0i the Miichigan Central lgi!rs,d nor even to destroy the depot t De tBroit.'hce i tis -:al} have been demtonstratec, thiis question of conspiracy will cleaily ppe'l to l;e, a:itle is sue and will fall out fio de case. The testinioriv. under tl.; hed, presents: 1. Overt acts; 2. ieetiogs andi coist-._ 0:ions' S. Metnaces and decla atioi s y de,endntl s. In exa,mining the se se:t of evidence, Wve will poly ti,,i p )riv'-e])lc iz/ -' Whatetver does not le —ad -I ll t ie conclusion that on pitaV exisce ot e K ie-)e ed; 2. \\Whateve,' looks tr.at way, od yet may easilv be exploa.'dl *,-I n t h y'tlhsi:'lfter ent frl-,imi that of copir — y,'inst als) be rejectd. I. Oseit Acts. I aivi-e thse into to classes 1. Tohose wl)i'?-,,- connited -: persons not nowr idedtifiend and which were attended by cicuste s aich lein plained; ". Those whiel w (ei,e conmmnitted by peisoins clained to be identtiieti,s (defilm, - ants and the circumiistances at-teridirg which are exploaited. 1st. Trespass. Stones were thrown at the cars on their passage, at a time not sp)eci fied. Alonzo Holies sas "I was confined at hone, They camte in and said t,e cars had been stoned." Thi is all. The testimony charges nobody with thile assault. The fact is proved by hearsay only, which is no proof at all. 2d. Trespass. A second instance is proved by Levi Carter. This occurred in June, '49, fifteen rods east of L-oni. The witness says "that stones were thrown, that lie put on the breaks, that he heard the stones strike the cars, that the passengers screamed, that a lady handed him a stone that had fallen in her lap, that a gentleman was struck in the breast and severely hurt." This evidence charges nobody; that is it charges everybody and therefore charges nobody. 3rd. Trespass. Proved by the same witness. This occurred also near Leoni village., The witness says "stones were thrown from bushes by eight or ten persons. One stone. I think struck the engine." And that is all. 4th. Trespass. An assault of the cars by stones proved by John H. Dexter. "I was sitting in my room, The cars came along. I heard glass rattle. I went down and out. I told Filly that stones had been thrown into the parlor. I found Fitch, Filly and Cor win out towards the railroad. The'Price boys' had been there before I went to bed There was glass on the track next day." Gentlemen, you know that Fitch, Filly and Corwin all lived hard by. It is true they may have thrown the stones at the cars on that occasion, yet it is equally true that other persons, and not they, may have committed the assault. It is certain that Mr. Dexter did not participate in it, but went out from curi osity. Fitch. Filly and Corwin may have gone out from curiosity also. The "Price boys" may have remained after the witness went to bed and may have thrown the stones on that occasion; and on the other hand they may have gone home and not have thrown the stones. It is not proved then that all the defendants named threw stones; and if it be inferred that some of them committed that trespass, we cannot distinguish between the guilty and the innocent, and therefore in the judgment of the law all are guiltless. Wne~fnerl pisLois wer-e nreui -t tve ca-rs or not.'I'le w,telesss se m ot wil'~ing to rely with cointdiiece upon thel,r own sense-s in that respect, Buit if wek-new all thi~s it would still remain true thiat these thriee mien- are -Pot inentified as defc,.i(!,lants in th,is clanse, that their conversation implied ti0 concert nor agriee,ment with ally) other pers,on to comimit aii assault on that occasion, much~ less any couicei't o)r ag,reenme!i, to commiriit -tny a-ssaults or depredations elsewhere ano~, on any other- I'lic-n. Thy 1-,ay hive h-eeni handired to,,ether hv n)ievious corj,-,)iracy h ut,,on thre other hand, thiey i-i,t',a~ve heeni only ae~n talv,tss,,ci'ited. Thils trae,nse-Itiorl thierefore thiuiayo ti0 liglit u-ltie isu(" ef, trie alleged conspiracy. '7th. 1 i'rsi)as-3 A,. assaut upolii tire car-s N;,;tli guns-i -I~rovc,- W I in. Thri'lhi. cc -urredI in j0 u,e "48 He, says the passenge., t~i-aii ways h~~lu ioo ut wNitihoi~t(i(t east of t'ie i a Iat M;Icik —o ir f(-i:,r o, five or. more g,uns wer( d, h-io( tll(l f",e(l" of th p~-e w-il m a till (vitiiS l(((I.O oth',r I (l(Uie aii~ \on' tlhe a Cse Cti ir ii~iii(,-''i kiioa led-, o'C Oi ICl litn~Wil~ U-i(t -~~~.)0I)' d [IC~~~~~ t icxle I ~'O 8t,, A — 1, -i jli~I 1ctr au c,.,,~ lI (C 13 ~~~~~ I o I I Ii II. CoO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ wonrIi I?I I )lI y Uie lII~~~~~II 1-'1 l~Ct's ci 0 i-.~ a-o jb(1iip- -ina I U-I' iC~~~~~~~~ i(~~~i C..d i.i~~~~~~~oloisi)i C',t illp l 030;; ('.,Ici i "tll(ge(I to I CII 10 *To~~~ ~~ill Julie I~( d t c t'3'y(0 1i'ioti ie ~ iesot The tt,i nga tho n ca, c t ~ve take o place west ")fjil —~I I-swshllo h acte o-'1 i,-4 (,, t I e ( 1t-4 11 i (3I ac o at sas h a-nl'Cl'it o~f tllt viicinity hil whi'cti tire (t1 ILCI,,, ill iec if; 1 1 the it l i iiihasy an~i-vsn that bae i''-,I. i-:v,' U. nl 1 iton sI. w I cr o,r vllIiitt Nvee,l- tlte cir or heClil ;iars t it ie*-' ccCi e" 130 mto ila~ns or)~,,,, v-i v Ii iI (I p toi i-.1~I \u.tlles be ion 1111-I I. i-( 1.0 1(Itto'(c iii'( I,()fi v1~I (cci~l-i eih ed; t,int we, iisve01ii' ('Itit 1(0(OC C- I,) (I)- 111ti oie or inoic o- tV l1 eo~ iI C''I!1 d er co-,~ Wl - (i l- 1)101' ll; I I,hey veero ev -.(00lidenco!ei ~t'IV Yl-) tCIIn ie lia, tlio,v ve- C0- V~~'itiv l 1 1i I still les~c ti il1 vtoay 10,se of' buiilil', tli:- (iep()f,it oiU('(r,tny ii,~~ (,n 1 0 1 lc3~ii I come next to consider Overt Actz in which defendants are claimed to be identified' as offenders, and of which the attending circumstances are given or claimed to be gives Of this I notice first, the breaking of a hand car as alleged by the witness Horace Caswell. He states it thus: Filly in May'49 wanted to borrow a hand car of Miller,? agent of the Company to go to Leoni. Miller refused. Filly said that a hand car should not stay at Michigan Centre, it would be broken every night, Caswell adds that "a hand car was found broken in the morning. Filly,who had gone out before daylight, returned and asked who they laid thebreaking of the hand car to." I answered "nobody." Hereplied "never mind; the man who broke it knows who did it, and he probably is the man who lives nearest to it." Although I think this witness will be found unworthy of credit, I assume, for arguments' sake, that this transaction occurred as proved, and I grant also that Filly admitted sufficiently the breaking of the hand car. Nevertheless it wa an act of peevish, personal retaliation for a present unkindness. It proceeded from that act of unkindness. It had no origin before; certainly not in any combination with any other party. It had an immediate object and end-retaliation for that unkindness. Nobody: advised it beforehand, nobody had any knowledge that it was to be committed, nobodyknew when it was committed nor participated in the trespass; nobody knew of it or aup proved of it afterwards. The act was unjustifiable but Filly alone was responsible for it. He was responsible elsewhere not here; in another way, not in a trial for arson. It is simply absurd to claim that this is evidence of a plot or conspiracy between Filly andl other de? fendants to burn the depot at Detroit six months afteiwards. 2. An obstruction of the railroad late in'49 or early in'50, claimed to be proved by,, Isaac S. Smith. He says the "cars had stopped at the Whlaite Bridge by reason of the obstruction of a mad-sill, as I supposed. I went down with Marsh, Terrill, Earl and Grant." Terrill and Grant are defendants. The proof does not show that the cars were obstructecby a mnudsill, If that was the case, Terrill and Grant, the only defendants implicated, certainty did not lay the mud-sill on the track. But Smith says farther that, on returning from the railroad, Terrill fell behind, and that he (Smith) saw Terrill putting a-piece of strap rail on the track. Marsh says that Smith pointed out to him the strap iron lying on the track, and he saw Terrill walking away from it. You remember, Gentiemen, that the track of the railroad was strewed with broken pieces of the fiat or strap, rail. It may well be doubted whether Smith did not mistake what Terrill was doing These broken straps lying about the track were l.able to be thrown upon it, by the cars, when passing. Such a piece of iron could not throw the cars off nor impede their mo — tion. But if that were the case, the mischievous act was one of sudden or, at least, immediate impulse. It was Terrill's own act, and no other person was concerned in it at the time, nor before, nor afterwards, 3. Amos Van Valen and George Knox relate, that on a summer afternoon, when theywere driving their cows near the railroad in the vicinity of Marshall, they saw Dr. Ebenezer Farnham, one of the defendants who resided at Jackson, 40 miles distant from Marshall, but who was then at that place, walking on the track and swinging a piece of strasp-. iron for the purpose, as they supposed, of knock)ing out the wedges. They deseribed the motion of the Dr.'s arm in such a manner as to leave no doubt that they mistook his. cane for an iron bar, and its playful motion for a trespass. However that may have been, the defendant even with an iron bar, under such a motion, could not have displaced a wedge that would not have been shaken out by a passing, engine. 4, The prosecution dwell upon the burning of a culvert east of Filley's house in June, '51, proved by W. P. Stanton. He says that he was at Filley's, "that Mrs.Filley came im -w and gave the alarm, that the culvert was on fire. Stanton and Fitch went up to see it Stanton proposed to get water and put out the fire. Fitch with his usual smile (for be was always pleasant to me) answered,'you' will have to go out of this town to find: anybody to put it out."' Fitch's remark certainly does not show that he or any other per son fired the culvert. It was a suggestion naturally arising from the aggravated state of public feeling in that town, but it proves no previous knowledge nor design on thepart of Fitch, much less of any other defendant. The transaction, however, was one capable of being perverted to the use of the informers, and so it was noted in the diary of Phelps and Lake, to be the subject of admissions or declarations made by the defendants. Lake says that Phelps asked Filley how it was done. Filley replied "we can say the wind blew the rails in the culvert and the engine dropped fire upon them," but Lake in forms us that Filley said that the culvert was burned one or two days before his conver cation with Filley, that is to say in Feb.'51, whereas the culvert was burned in June'Son Phelp's stumbled into the same error. He says "we talked about the culvert that was:. I 8 burned. Filley said the wind blew the rails into the cumver and the engine set them on fire, and (hamplin said if they lived -there would be more of such accidents.?' But Phelpe "peaks of the accident as having uccurred while he was gone to Niles in March,'51, and he locates the burning culvert, not at Michigan Centre in sight of Filley's house, but at Le6n;i four wiles distant, where it most certainly did not occur. - These contrad'tty admissions or declarations leave the transaction still more harmless than it was without ~them and certainly it is of no value in the present case. 5. A pile of lumber near the storehouse at Michigan Centre took fire during the last summer. John H. Dexter testified that he was in his room up stairs in Filley's house; that he heard some one come in, as he thought, barefoot, through the house,below, to. wards Filley's bed-room; that twenty minutes afterwards, be saw the fire; that he called Filley and told him that Grant's house was on fire; and that Filley and he went out to see, and Filley turnedround arid said "it is-only a board-kiln;- let us go back or some of the railroad spies will see us." Wm. H. Hudson testified that he found naked footprints about the board-kiln in the morning and he thou,ght they corresponded to Filley's foot. Hudson asked Filley if he burned the lumber. Filiey replied- "there shall be no fence made till they settled with me for the land." Isaac Minkler says that "Fililey spoke of the accident and said the lumber took fire, that he smiled and seemed glad of it, I will not speak of the danger of convicting men upon snt;les and seemi'iis, and upon inferences from indirect admissions; but will grant, for the sake of argument, thai Villey fired the lumber which had been deposited there to build a fence, for The purpose jf obliging the Railroad Company, to pay him for the land to be fenced; and then I say that the act was a secret misde'meanor. It was his own solitary act resulting from his own indiridual'impulse, committed for his own improper nurpose of interest or -ofrevenge, without accomplice, and without consultation or concert with any other defendant, and it therefore excludes all idea of connect;.ionl with ihe alleged conspiracy. 6. Jacob Wolevar describes an atterl)t to obstr'uct the cars near MIichian Centre in September,'50 I and Corwi went t', Fitch's yird and got an old mill iron that was lyw~ r.. We l!tad' the bar in tho frog or dhe sw-itch. The cars did not ruin ff. Corwinm i'-aj aning'we wil throw them off and keep them here to-night." The next morning'itch s:- d "o mu not - _ an,thing fiori' ni S o i,a fh ey will sus pect me Tale anything else you can Ad bt'"" -:,il iy h(,use." Cnirwin is a defendant and if this statement is true, this trespass or-iginated'n his own sclitai,ry suggestion lio other defendant was an accomplice. It was enpreneditatell even by Cor'win and, clevar. - tos lr ow ede of it DUs: c'ou'redthen E morning and no other defendant ever knew it until the transaction ---- -et j ui oult. u Ftch's rebl-tke is t, t ahe' io e: aa {us occupati'ns of society and all the conditions O ]{f;bm the state prison and the brothel thro6-h the classes of merchants and farmers to the sheriff's office, the bar and the Ie sla tive halls. The witness Phelps, enlisted among the last, took rank at the }ad of the corps, displacing Wesott, all w-thhi was etied with the dispon $ e patronage o"ihpe company as a'broker. Phelp'employs Lake. Wesci' employs 3. Well Wescott offers J. Tyler a good place " if he will come out e railroad company;" while Michael Coy is told by Phelps that if -he will onl, "swear for the company there shall be no lack/of money in his p 5. This sys. tem was in operation six months. It is no wonder if oblivious strenries have be awakened, malicious memories quickened nod feeble memo has been activity; all was activity from tHie beginning' - - "Some tell what they b eard or ta croan monopoly of c r -fwit persons and propery of i Acorporation, enjOYhi nd dm it an income f - zens over a great Ae state, has become, in s sean of alarm, a power gbey threefold the revruethe state itself; and nowe see bthe wisdom of a saying hind the state atejelf a sovereign. Beyond a bt his own court was i. of the son oQf Sraehillar s like these when he admom hed the unw ary: s Curse stead by a nest of thought; and curse not the rich ev n in thy bedchavber for ot the king;, noj eht;andurer norIih ig ot thein~jn~4!rythy voice, and that which hat wings Shall tell of the a bird of thee- a...... matter." Z-~/ as.er.spesan matterdi. Sz3s smere spie s and informers, unconvicted of crime, Reg ard i ~r ached, what is their moral standard in a virtuous o,mo dun autiatr' in f io wre tervlei'" ith: Gay, he applied to him to- know or he could clear Van Sickle, ahd.Gay replied; w'e can do 51 52] it by a plot, and predicate it on the burning of a depot. Phelps himself suggested that, instead of burning a depot in fact, the plot shl4'd be predicated upon the con flagration which had already happened. That suggestion proceeded on the ground, that, although the conflagration had happened by casualty, yet it could be proved by subornation, and that ithad been done by an incendiary, and the suborned witnesses were to prove that fact by fabricated admissions. What are all the pretended admissions of Gay and Fitch now produced here, but the fabrications, thus early foreshadowed? - Nevertheless, Gentlemen, Gay's declarations are not evidence. He is not a defendant. He is not on trial. - If living, he would be a competent witness to prove the facts if he could be a witness at all. But he could not be a witness/if living, because, being the principal, he would not be competent before conviction to charge the crime against accessories. Since he is dead his declarations while living can no more be received than could his oath if living. If you proceed upon the ground of a conspiracy, his recitals of what was past and ended are not competent testimony; "It is only declarations, promises and threats, constituting a part of the felonious transactions themselves and uttered in furtherance of them, that can be received as evidence. [Roscoe, 323.] I challenge the Counsel for the prosecution to show now where in all this voluminous mass of testimony is found one word of proof that any one of the allegations of Gay was ever bronght to the knowledge of any one of the defend ants and confirmed by him, or was ever brought to his knowledge at all. Take the names of the defendants. Have those allegations been brought home to Benjamin F. F. Gleason? No! To Daniel Myers? No! To John Palmer? No! To Lester Penfield? No! To Farnham or to Barrett? No! To Grant or to Lacock? No! To Willard Champlin? No! To Erastus Champlin? No! To E. Price? No! To Abel F. Fitch? No! To Aaron Mount? No! To William Champlin? No! to Richard Price? No! To Ami Filley? No! To Andrew J. Freeland? No! To William Gunn, or any other defendant? No! The testimony of Gay's allega tions came in then unadvisedly. It has done its work. It has,poisoned the public mind against the defendants. You are more than human if you have not been af fected by it. But it is time to discharge this testimony from the case. I suppose the promise on which it was admitted was made in good faith. To retain the evidence since that promise has been broken, would be a fraud. I demand of the Court that the testimony be struck out from the record, and conjure you that it be disregarded altogether. I pass to the supposed admissions of the defendant Smith as reported by Phelps; and Lake. These, like those imputed to Gay, are discredited by internal evidence of falsehood. Phelps says, "Erastus Smith was present when Gay said he receiv ed $150 for burning the depot, and that he knew the man by sight who paid it; that it was raised by a company of men; and Smith afterwards intimated that he re ceived a part of the money." Again, Smith said " that the depot was burned under an arrangement with Gay," of which he was cognisant, and also that Gay told him who paid him the $150." Not only is there no evidence that Fitch ever saw or heard of such a person as Smith, but the admissions themselves shows that he who procured them knew that there was no acquaintance between them. These ad missions, moreover, have all the vagueness and generality of a technical pleading. An "4 arrangement," "cognisance"-such are the words, not of a man giving an ac count of a past transaction from actual knowledge, but of a lawyer framing general interrogatories, or preparing evasive and deceptive answers. Again, Phe'ps reports Smith as saying in iebruary at the Pantheon, that Fitch had left matters for dispos ing of certain witnesses (Lacock and Wells,) with him, and had agreed with Gay to burn the new depot. That he, Smith, had agreed to assist Gay that Gay had given him part of the money," that Smith had told him that "Fitch had applied to him to burm the nBw; depot;" Phelps and Lake both testify that "Smithwas at the Pantheon -in Februay.; talked withPhlelps about bu aing' the -, depot;at Nile,-:anid wanted to know if th'r_d of C,orin and Price for buring thewood: wasto be put over beyond theeMarch term becakuse that would'givethem more time.: 53 I separate these alleged confessions of Smith from other evidence of the same class, and leaving Smith's Counsel to answer for him so far as they relate to himself; I remark upon them only in relation to the defendants. If Phelps enjoyed the unlimversal confidence of Fitch during his visit here in February, and if Fitch had one or more interviews wiih Smith, then why could not those interviews be proved. Fitch was at Johnson's hotel, and Smith at the Pantheon near by. No private interviews could be held in places so public. Phelps having the confidence of both, and desiring to circumvent both, could have brought them together without being suspected by either. Again, Gentlemen, the allegations of Smith, like those of Gay, are to be rejected boause they are of the past, and not a part of the transactions which they descrenbed. The learned District Attorney, however, has relieved me from the necessity of discussing further the alleged confessions of Smith. That gentleman advises and solicits you to acquit Smith. The evidence against Smith consists of the admissions which I have cited, and those admissions are proved by the same Phelps and Lake who prove admissions against the other defendants; nay, Smith's admissions are a part of the evidence against the other defendants. On what ground, then, does the District Attorney advise the acquital of Smith? Certainly, not on the ground that Smith's admitted agency in the crime of burning the depot was trivial or harmless. On the contrary, he was in the city and admits that he aided and abetted Gay in the very act. He alone, then, of all the defendants, ought to be convicted under the first count in the indictment as a principal in the crime; nor does the District Attor ney ask the acquittal of Mr. Smith on the ground that the evidence given against him by Phelps and Lake is false. On the contrary, if the evidence ofthose witnesses against Smibh is false, then their evidence against the other defendants is false. But the District Attorney declares that he advises the acquittal of Smith on the ground that Smith's admissions as proved by Phelps and Lake are false. The District Attorney pleads for him, that under the seduction of Phelps he confessed participation in a crime of which he had no knowledge. Were then his allegations against Fitch true, whilst his admissions against himself were false? No; the whole, of course, were false. When I heard the District Attorney submit this extraordinary proposition, I thanked God and took courage. It revealed the secret ofthis entire prosecution. It showed that Smith had been fraudulently made a defendant that he might utter, without oath,false -allegations to convict the defendants at Michigan Centre, under an assurance that he should be acquitted himseif. And now, Gentlemen, since Smith's allegations are admitted to be false, are Gay's averments made under the same circumstances true? Smith was, indeed, degraded and debased. If Smith was seduced so easily by Phelps, Gay had even less virtue to resist his seduction. I declare, Gentlemen, my profound convic - tion that the whole prosecution was conceived in fraud; that George W. Gay never burned the depot; that he and Smith falsely accused themselves of that crime un der a promise of Phelps to share in the reward of a conviction of the defendants in Leoni; and that Gay, if he had lived to go through a trial' and conviction, would have been recommended for a pardon, and would have shared that reward. No, no, Mr. District Attorney! No, no, most learned Counsel of Ten, that game cannot be played out. I do not say, nor believe, that the defendant Smith is guilty under this in dictment, but I do say thai if any are guilty he is the guiltiest of all. If any one here shall be convicted, he must be convicted first and surest of all. More than this I say that-if there is honesty in Michigan, he will be the last of all the offenders to. be pardoned. Phelps and Lake, either jointly or severally, charge the following defendants with admiss'ions of some agency in procuring Gay to burn the depot, viz., Abel F. Fitch, Ammi Filly, Wm. Corwin, Daniel Myers, Ebenezer Farnbham, Minor T. Lacock, Wm. Champlin, Eben J. Price, Aaron Mount, Andrew J. Freeland, O. D. Williams and John Acekerson. Only two are alleged to have admitted any personal acquaint ance with Gay. All were seventy miles firom Detroit when the;depot was burned and could have had no actual knowledge of the manner in which it was burned. — 54 Even if they had contributed to hire Gay to commit that crime there must have been some doubt in their minds whether the fire was not a casual one, Nevertheless, they are al charged with admissions made with as much certainty and confidence as if'they had been eye-witnesses and had -actually participated in the transaction. Bt, gentlemen, what motive had Abel F. Fitchto engage in such a crime? It istothe credit of his generous nature that. all of these foul and,infamous accusers suggest a mo. tive, not of avarice, nor of revenge, nor even of retaliation, but of sympathy. Thus Phel's states that,Fitch said, at his barn, in January last, that I was well aware as hlie that tge Railroad was a curse to the community, that a number had -leagued to right the wrongs of the people and that he wished to carry the plan further, and would continue until they broughtthe company to terms." Sympathy, then, with neighbors, who had lost a feyr cat tle, was the motive of a man worth ten thousand dollars and more, for a proposition to burn the depots at a cost of one thousand dollars, at the hazard of his own safety and fortune and the safety and fortunes of of the neighbors whose cause hehad espoused. Sympathy with a few obscure men a motive for illumiatin the State with a balefnl conflagration of all the most useful structures upon its greatest highway! . And, what was the inducement of Ami Filley? If all the testimony in the case be not false.he was indeed hostile to the Railroad company, and was a mischievous man. But he was a man of feeble mind and purile conduct, a mere procurer for other mens pleasures. H e kept h is b oat on the Lake, and his netts inthefieldstosupplyyourtables wvith fishes and bir ds, H e kept balls in'his nine-pin alleys, and liquors in his bar, for the recreation and re freshment of visitors. He was never in Detroit nor in Niles,so far asweknow & i cnnterpris in mischiefreached no farther nor higher than committing annoyances in his own neighbor hood. When or where did he ever learn that such a wretch as Gay existed in this capital o elsewhere? As soon would you see a constable leading a revolution, as this bird-catcher of Leoni, organizing such a conspiracy as this. Corwin's migrations were from Cuyken dall's tavern, in ILeoni, to Morrison's grocery, in Jackson, a distance of about eight miles Whenl, where. or how came he to a knowledge of the haunts of crime in this metropolis 7 Daniel Myers. Stand up. There, gentlemen, you see a humble tailor, who follows his shears in an annual orbit of two miles in diameter, encircling the village of Leoni-as ignorant of Detroit, its corruptions, and its crimes as you are of the painful frugality by which he lives Beyond him you see Ebenezer Farnham, a conntry dentist, an early settler in the Genesee county, who has brought the early settler's habits of occasional intemperance into Michi gan.'He iscrazed when in his cups, and his drunken vagaries are brought here by inform erg, who seduced him into intoxication. Harmless when in that condition he is gentle and benevolent when in the possession of his senses. There, gentlemen. is Minor T. Laycock, a country lad of scarce 21, whose simple, good nature leads him into the sympaties and and griefs of his neighbors, and whose principles of fidelity and truthfulness, quite too rare even among us, restrain him from saving himself by becoming a mercenary accuser. Eben J. Price and, if you will, Richard, his brother, are two boys led by oceasional intemperance to join in the disorders of a conitry bar-room, Andrew J. Freeland is an industrious, hard working farmer, loquacious and perhaps zealous, in the controversies around him, but harmless in action as he is free in speech. Orlando D. Williams is a stone mason, civil and quiet, of good behavior when sober, but, like Farnham''falls ometimes into intoxication, and then a braggart and a fool, whos e very extra. ragance assures that he is harmless. John Ackerson and Aaron Mount are two very poor farmers, neither of whom has committed an act or spoken a word in the midst of all the excitement by which they have been surrounded. But they were witnesses aganst Phelps, on his trial for horse stealing, and so they must be made to " feed on the fare" which they premented to him. Behold here then the conspirators, who it is alleged "made up a purse aud furnished a machine to the keeper of a city brothel, to burn a depot in the Commercial Capitol, at the hazzard of the conflagration ef the whole city." Among them all, are only two of whom it is pretended that they had ever suffered an injury from the Railroad company. Accept the testimony of Phelps aud Lake and you have evidence, not that both of them said that they hud seen George W. Gay, but that they confessed they had (!) Reject their testimony and no one o'fthese defendants is proved to have ever heard of Gay, nor even to have seen the city in which he is supposed to have kindled that baleful conflagration. Only one of them was ever convicted of a crime. Gentlemen, if you would secure your dwellings, your store. houses and your public edifices, if you would live in safety and inpeace.extirpate the crime that arises within your own walls. Rase to the ground the haunts in which it is born, and schooled and trained; at least watch them well and closely My word for it, your town and every dwelling and every edifice in it will stand and endure forever, ifthey wait till the torch i applied to them by the farmers, mechanics or even by the felons of the rural population b whom you are surrounded, supported and maintained, Mark:now, gentlemen, the candor of the accusers and the simplicity of these alleged con t.ors. Phelp, speaking of his pretended interview with Fitch at his barn says - Pra-ink' (yes I think are the words) there was allusion made to the burningof the dlepI at Detroit He said it had been burnt and could be again." How frank and generous pot at' 55 was it in Fitch to repose such confidence in a man whom he had caused, five years before, to, be consigned to the State Prison! How probable it is, too. that a country gentlenman, having five Railroad depots to burn, would organize a joint stock company of forty share-holders with a capitol of $950, to execute the enterprise! How very probable that such a person, would appoint a meeting of the incendiary with the stockholders, on the occasion of apublic shooting, match at a ball alley on Christmas! How natural it was in that samne country gen tleman to show his machine tor burning the depots to the incendiary, who had not yet accepted his proposition, and was cheapening the twin oxen which were to be received by him in payment. When that same country gentleman met the incendiary, by appointnt,me in De~troit, to consult upon the enterprse of burning the new depot in that city, howadmirably fie'selected the place for consultation-the trunk table in the car-house, among — the newly arrived passengers, the conductors and baggage men, laborers and spies of the corporation whose depot was to be destroyed. How kind it was on the part of Fitch instead 6fsending Phelps to Gay's house, on a rainy day in February, to cousult about the crime, to appoint the interview between them, just around the corner at Savinac's saloon' on. the most public wharf in the city. It nes-ei occurred to Fitch that although he might hire, five depots to be burned for a thousand dollars, that he would thereby pledge his whole es-. tate and all future aquisitions in security against betrayal by his accomplices. But it is re-. plied that Fitch supposed he had control of the police authorities of Jackson county, and a sure reliance on the affections of its whole people. What security could all these afford, against-indictments which must be presented, not in Jackson county alone, but iu Wayne. Calhoun and Berrien -counties. The learned counsel reply that Fitch was prepared to. make away with the witnesses against him. Is there any man so simple as not to know that assassination of many witnesses is not the surest way of securing the verdict of a jury?-, But PheIps replies that Fitch promised him to procure a change of venue. Ah! there IF detect tile lawyer in his fraud. Pheips was familiar with those terms; F itch, ignorant of courts, probably never heard of a change of venue in all his life. Again, how nicely the tone and spirit of' Fitch's reported conversations are in keeping with his known character and disposition. "We are preparing to give Detroit another touch.' They are buildinganother depot and I design to burn it as soon as it is up; I don't care a damn who it kills if it be the Governor of the State.' -It will give the State a luminous appearance to light it, up at both ends "'- If detected you had better dig your graves before you go." Consider now how happily i iteh chose the place for the final departure of the incendiaries to Niles! Not his own barn, not one of the many private chambers in his own houses but the open, public bar-room in a tavern! Consider, too, the occasion and the circumstances;. a drunken revel, in the presence of'wo well known neighbors not accomplices, and a traveler, who, like himself, refrained from the cup and read newspapers. Mark, too, the caution and economy manifested in the direction for the use of the match —"You will have to get camnphene out there.";Yes, to get the camphene to burn the depot at Niles. in the town of Niles! I ask you next, gentlemen, to examine the alleged admissions in detail. They are allI coin of the same die, whether related by Phelps or Lake. Phelps-"Fitch said it cost him a cow and $25 to burn the old depot." Lake —Fitch said he had paid $50 to a man to burn the new depot, and was to pay $ 5(' more when it was burned." Phelps-'eCorwin told me his contribution towards burning the old depot was $12," Lake-' Filley said he had paid $30 of the $150 for burning the old depot." Phelps —'Erastus Champlin said a purse had been raised to pay for the burning of the de pot last fall." Lake — Fitch said Lacock knew that a purse of $150 had been raised for burning the de — pot last fall, but did not know to whom it was paid." Phelps-"Fitch said if I succeeded in burning the depot at Niles, I might take the oxen and the balance ofthe money when I came back." Lake-"O. D. Williams said his share of the fund was $17, and afterwards said it was: $20.' Phelps —"Freeland said he had paid $14 to Fitch, his share for burning the depet lastfall.". Lake-"Aaron Mount said he had known Gay from a child; we raised a purse and sent it down to him to burn the depot at Detroit, and he burned it so quick we hardly knew it'" Lake —"Freeland said he had paid his share to Fitch towards burning the depot, and Fitch had paid it over to a man in Detroit." Phelps-"E. Champlin said a purse has been raised to burn the depot at Detroit again.'i Lake- -Williams said at Leoni that the best thing they did was the burning of the depot at Detroit; but they got no credit for it.". Phelps-"Myers said on the way to Michigan Centre that the burning of the depot at Detroit was done so nicely.that they did not suspect any thing. and therefore we got no credit.. for it." Lake-'Farnham said it was done so slick that they got no credit for it, and were neversuspected." 0 56 Phelps-"Fitch said the Railroad Company was not able to discover the cause of the fire; theywe*ie not smart enough 5 and if they would pay enough, he would show them before their -yeu how to do it." Phelps-"Willard Champlin said he would like to have been where he could have seen the depot burn, and seen Brooks in it." Phelps-"Dr Farnham said we got an old fellow to burn the depot at Detroit, last fall, but it did not seem to make much impression." Lake-Corwin said, "we burned the depot at Detroit very slick, and that was the only one '-the, bad paid for burning."' Phelps-"Fitch said a witness might go before the Grand Jury, but he would not live to go before the petit Jury." "Corwin said a witness might go before the Grand Jury, but he would not live to go before a Pepit Jury." Filley said ditto to Mr. Corwin, Price said ditto to Mr. Filley. Phelp-"Smith (in speaking of the old depot) said Gay received $150, and intimated that be received a part of the money in advance." Phelps-"Smith (in speaking of the new depot) said, at the Palo Alto saloon, that $150 had been paid to Gay and that he received part in advance." "Williams told me if he was detected he would kill the witnesses or swear them to hell." I have heard Corwin, Filley, the Prices and Fitch threaten Lake to kill him or swear him to hell." Phelps says," I received sixty dollars in advance for burning the depot at INiles, but don't remember from whom 1 received it." "O. D. Williams told me that a man at Detroit burned the depot and that he was paid sixty dollars in advance." "Corwin, at Bascom's, said if they could burn the depots, both at Detroit and Niles, at the game time, the Railroad Company would pay Up." " Wm. Gunn said, at Marshall, that if the Detroit depot should be burned up again, and Phlelps should burn the Niles depot, and he IGunn) should burn the Marshall depot, ho thought the company would begin to pay up." "Fitch said if we could get a fire into the depots at Niles and Detroit at the same time, they would begin to think Miller's doctrine true." "Dr. Farnham said ifwe could blow up the track a few times, the Company would be willing to buy us offand pay any sum asked." "O. D. Williams said he should write to the Company and tell them if they would give a thousand dollars a yearforfive years they should have no more trouble." Lake-"("Corwin said they meant'to propose to the Company to pay one thousand dollars ayear forfive years." lhelps —3"Myes said ifl was successful in burning the depot at Niles, we would be able to draw a large sssm of moneyfrom the Comnpany." Lake-"Dr. Farnham said if they could make a clean sweep of the depot at Detroit, he guessed they would wake up." " Fitch said they would make a clean sweep at Detroit and fles." "Corwin said they would make a clean sweep at Detroit and Niles." "Williams said they would make a clean sweep at Detroit and ANiles. Mount said-(the same). Filley said-(the same.) Enough ofthis. There is an identity in the admissions as harmonious as in the ritual of a -Free Mason's Lodge. or in the Liturgy of the Episcopal Church, Gentlemen, Dramatists, and Novelists, in the early period of our modern literature, relieved the wearisomeness of their pictures by interludes and subordinate tales, which had a pleasing similarity, in spirit at least, to the principal plot of the work.' The narrative here is relieved in the same way, with humbler plots and conspiracies, as follows: (1.) Phelps says "he proposed a conspiracy with Gay, which was to burn the depot at De-troit, Lnd lay;t to Boyce, because he stole from thieves." (2.) Phelps sans "he suggested two plans to get rid of Sherman, Laycock and Wells: one Was o burn the depot at Detroit, and lay it to them." (3.) Phelps says "Wm. Gunn told him he should get Shermant into the black hole; and if -he could not get Sherman laid out, he should burn one of the depots." (4.) Gay told Phelps "he knew a first rate man and his wife whom he could get to swear that Boyce said before the depot was burned, "he was going to burn it;" and to swear that after it was burned Boyce said he had burned it." (5.) Williams said "you know I was the cause of having the cars thrown off at Leoni, althongh I was in bed. We can swear Laycock did it."' Corwin said "he would testify that Laycoc k came to him and wanted him to help do it." Williams said "he would swear that Corwin afterwards confessed that he did it." Anid Freeland said "he would swear both that C'orwin said before the offense that he was going to do it, and that he confessed it afterwards." Phelps says that "Fitch, at Detroit, suggested" a second plan to get rid of"the boys," which was by placing countesfeit money upon their persons." Phelps says that "Corwin, a bout the same time, at Michigan Centre, suggested" the same ingenious device. Ho w delicately these pictures are worked in upon the tapestry; and how delightfully they harm onize with the grand design, of fabricating matches in the log cabin at Sylvan. and carrying one in a red handkerchief and depositing it in Filley's tavern, and carrying the other in so me other way and depositing it under the side-walk in front of Gay's house, in Detroit Ed then swearing that the defendants delivered to them the one left at Filley's, and that 57 Fitch and Gay admitted that the other was manufactured and delivered for a similar purpose. But I weary you. There are many more such admissions. " The- trail of the serpent is over them all." Letus now see whether the narrative of the witnesses harmonizes in all its parts. Phelps says "tfiat Fitch's object in visiting Detroit,on the 11th of February last, was to get Wells, Laycock and Caswell out of the way; that Fitch proposed two alternatives for that purpose, and Phelps offered to execute either. One was to burn the new depot and lay it to "the boys," and the other was to put counterfeit money on their persons and thus cause them to be sent to prison." Phelps, when asked why he left Detroit without having executed either alternative, answered that Fitch told him that Gay had agreed with him to burn the new depot. Thus, then, Gay was to burn the new depot, and lay the crime to "the boys." But Phelps *had before told us that Fitch remained in Detroit to get rid of "the boys," by enticing them away, or getting them secure in some way; from which it must be inferred that the burning of the new depot was not to be laid to "the boys." Indeed, Phelps says that Fitch told him he had a woman staying at Gay's to put money in "the boys" pockets; and that Joe Dows was to place pencil cases filled with counterfeit money upon their persons and decoy them to Canada. Thus, the crimes contemplated in bbth alternatives, were to be executed to get rid of{'the boys;" who, after all, were not to be got rid of by means of these crimes, but were to be enticed away and persuaded to silence. Again, Gentlemen, Phelps says that " when a match was shown to him at Michigan Cen tre, in January, he told Fitch and Filley he had seen such a one at Gay's; "Nevertheless Gay never showed Phelps a match until after the 24th of February. Again, if Fiteh deiv ered to Gay two matches, while in Detroit in February, why did Rot Fitch show them to Phelps before delivery, and why did not Gay show them to Phelps after receiving them I Phelps claims that he then enjoyed the unreserved confidence of both, and he says that Fitch had arranged an interview between himself and Gay. Again, Phelps says, that "not until February 13th, did he ever hear Fitch mention the name of Gay. How did it happen then that Fitch expressed no surprise in January, when Phelps told him he had seen such a match at G.ay's house. Again, Phelps says that Fitch, at Detroit, said he wanted Phelps to go to Niles, and light up there at the same time Gay should light up here, and the time appointed was March 4th when Corwin and Pice were to be tried at Jackson for burning the railroad wood pile. Phelps says that it was after wards arranged that the trial of Corwin and Pice was to be put over to a future term of the court, and that the burning of the depot was to be postponed accordingly. Nevertheless, Phelps says, that on the 4th of March, Corwin, complained of Phelps' delay in burning the depot at Niles, and Phelps innocently explain to us that he had been delaying it for Clark the Railroad Agent to come home from Lansing. In the sequel the "boys, Laycock, Wells, and Caswell, are quite forgotten; Corwin and Rice, altogether forgot ten; Gay altogether forgotten; the new depot at Detroit is altogether forgotten, and on the 13th of April the depot at Niles is fired without an object or purpose. Look now,. gentlemen, at the boldness with which disingenousness and falsehood are confessed, avowed, and justified by Phelps. He says I don't know what I told Filley at the ball alley I would do with the oxen, probably I invented something for the occasion." " What I told Corwin about passing counterfeit money was false, Lake and I concerted it together." "At Detroit I offered to take the proposition, either to burn the depot, or to put money in the pockets of the boys, and betray them in Canada. This was to make Fitch believe I was helping him." " I told Price at the ball alley, I could get witnesses from the neighborhood to impeach Sherman," I told him this on purpose to receive him," "I may have told defendants Lemn was a d-d mean man," I pretended to Fitch that went to Lansing to get relief from unjust imprisonment."' The first time I was in Lansing I got a northern member to introduce a bill, my real object there was to see Darius Clark. I got several copies of the report containing the application, and sent them to Michigan Centre; On my return from Lansing I saw Corwin, and Farnham and told them I was go. ing to collect money in Detroit for a man in Massachusetts." In the interview with m. B. Laycock, in January, I told him I wanted to buy Fitch's oxen, and that 1 could sell them for $140. I said this to deceive Lucock." "Fitch asked me on the night of April 11th, abeut my claim on the State, I told him I could get about $3,200." Hudson says Phelps said on the 11th of April that he had a friend in Minnesota, who had graduated with him and he was going there next week. Phelps says, " I remember telling Fitch that the Gov of Minesota had written to me about coming out there. My object was to get my money when I got back from Niles. Gentlemen, I will present no more of these shameless and boastful confessions of false hood. Permit me, however, to ask, 1. Do you doubt now the correctness of the one hundred and twenty-one witnesses who impeach Phelps' reputation for truth and veracity. 2. Can you fell me by what rule you can distinguish what part of Phelps' statements you are to receive as true, and what part to reject as false? 3. We can well enough dispense with Wm. Dyer's testimony, that Phelps told him "it would be right to put down the Company in Jackson and Washtenaw counties, by false swearing, if it could not be done without." Phelps virtually admitted that he had said so 58 ftor he stated that under some circumstances he might have made that remark, althongh he denied any recollection of the person to whom the remark was made, It is my duty in the next place to show you that the narrative of Phelps is in many es sential'poinis, absolutely contradicted. 1. Phelps says he saw Fitch iv Jackson the day before Christmas, and'he thinks thatit was monday; that he then ag to gonext day, and did. o next day, toMichigan Cen tre, to see the boys, and it way Christmas. It is shown by A:!.Delamater, Jobn Delamater Amanlda Fitch,and Harry Holcomb,,thatFichwas,notat Jackson' on'.the day thfusdesignated. 2. Phelps says that Fitch's.visit at Detroit, on.February 1'3th:, was cIoncerted by appoint-' ment between him and Phelps. He requires us also to believe.,that he was expected by Fitch at Detroit. The facts are that Fitch went to Detroit under an engagement with Vic tory Collier. and was waiting'there for Israel R. Brown. Phelps' statement'that Fitch conversed with him half an hour on the trunk table in the depot, is contradicted by Delos J. Holden, who having arrived on ihat occasion with Phelps went'to Johnsoi's hotel iMre7,, diately, and found Fitch, and staid with him at that place.. SIr. Shealy, who was called to suppbrt Phelps' account of his interview with Fitch in the street, on the occasion when Fitch directed him where to find Gay, deprives that circumstance of all sinister elffecta,i. You remember that Phelps says that Fitch asked him if he had got his fish, anrd hie an swered "no;"' that Fitch replied he would find some round the cornerspointing towards Sav anack's grocery; and Phelps says that on going there he found Gay. But.'aceording to Shpay,. the dialogue was thus: (Fitch) "Have you not gone home yet?" (Phelps) " No, I have not got my fish yet." (Fitch) "You will find some round the corner." G.sW. Brown tes tifies tat he put the same question to Fitch, received the same answer, and obtained fish at-the place designated. Phelps admits that he did inform Fitch, in Detroit, that he wanted to procure fish and other provisions for supplies on a job of grading the Railroad. The remnant of a barrel of fish was found on Phelps' premises, on his departure from Syl van.'1'hus much for a trivial circumstance, light as air, which suspicion and fraud have. magnified into'- confirmation strong as proof from holy writ." You have already the fact. - that Willard Champlin was absent from Grandison Filley's whea Phelps charges him with an admission implying guilty knowledge of the burning the depot. 1 have have recited Phelp's narrative of a plot contrived by Williams, E. J. Prifr',e, Freeland and Corwin. Phelps fixes the scene and the time at Cuykendall's, on the day when Freesland and Corwin changed horses- and says that the wicked consultation was broken up by. Nathan High, who came up and asked what the privacy was. Nathan High says that he broke up such a conversation neither then nor at any other time. Benjamin Stid proves that Phelps was not at Coyklendall's on that occasion. Phelps relates a conversation on the first Tuesday in March. between himself, Fitch and Lake, concerning a proposed branch load from Jackson to Adrian; and alleges that Fitch said that "the Michigan Central RailRoad would be worth nothing;" that they "wo.eld keep tearing up the track, and so keep the travel off from it." Lake recites the conversation, omitting altogether the essential part about the Michigan Centralt Railroad. Phelps' numerous statements of admirsions, by Fitch, of having or making counterfeitmoney, are manifestly false. It may wall be doubtted whether any man in easy circumstances ever engaged in that despicable manuifacture or traffic. The police have searched every part of Fitch's house and priemises in vain although his arrest was sudden and unforeseen. Phelps says that, in January last on the occasion when he went to Michigan Centre with William B. Lacock, he found Fitch with Filley and Ackerson in the ball alley, and that there Fitch discussed with him the plan to prosecute Lacock and said it was a good plan if stuck to and said the rule among them was, if a man turn-_ ed traitor, to shoot him on the stand, but that Miner was a weak kind of a boy and. the state prison would do for him; that they then spoke of burning the depot at Niles. Fitch said he "should charge $160 for the twin oxen and would pay the balances $40, in money; tha. it cost him a cow and $25 for burning the old depot; that the match to be furnished had never failed and it never would; there was no danger of failure. It was in that conversation also that Phelps represents Fitch as saying that they had prepared the match there and sent it to a man in the city and paid him $150 for burning the depot; that it was constructed so as to burn a given time and he gave instructions about it; that it had been used at Detroit as directed, and that, when it burst out, it spread so rapidly that all the water of the river could nver extinguish it. He represents Fitch as saying on that occasion, still further that they had injured the Company half a million of dollars during the first year and would double that sum in the ensuing year; that they were going to burn the new depot as soon as it was finished; that they had warned the people not to ride over the road,and,as they knew better,he didn't care a damn who was killed if it was the Governor of the State; that in case he should get into difficulty in burning the Niles 59 depot he would bail Phelps out, and change the venue to Jackson where he could get witnesses to swear him out; that he could get a host of witnesses to put down a traitor pr to screen a friend and named them: that he could impeach the best man in Jackson County and get the best man in Jackson County to assist him in guilt. Now nark,that the says he first saw Fitch in the ball-alley and that all this conversation was held there. Wm. B. Lacock who according to Phelps' own account attended him, says he was never at Michigan Centre but that one time, and that on this occasion he was with Phelps from the time they departed from his house until they returned to Lacocks house; that he was ail the time within sight ot Phelps and by his side or at least within hearing, that he went into the ball alley, with Phelps after Fitch went into the bar-room,4hat instead of Ackerson and Filley rolling balls, he Lacock rolled two balls with Phelps: that Fitch then came into the ball-alley and that Phelps and Lallcock rolled only four more and then they returned to the barroom; that in the ba -alley Phelps offered Fitch $150 for his twin cattle and Fitch said he wouldn't let them go for that sum, that it was not as much as he paid for them, that this is all that passed between Phelps and Fitch in the ball-alley; that Phelps and Lacock returned to the bar-room, and Fitch followed them there and sat down by the fire; that Phelps standing near the bar-room window offered $120 for the catlle and Fitch replied he should not let them go for that, nor let them go st all. Lacock says he is sure he heard every word spoken in the ball-alley, and every word spoken in the bar-room and that he has repeated every word said; in either place or any place on that occasion, that nothing was said about Miner T. Lacock, nothing about burning the new depot at Detroit, nothing about burning the old one, nothing about a match, nothing about killing passengers, nothing about killing even the Governor of the State, nothing about influence nor about hosts of witnesses, nor about putting down traitors, no.about screening friends; in short that not even one word related was said there, Mile it appears that Phelps repeats not one word of what actually was spoken. The witness Lacock shuts out all possibility of mistake by showing that the parties did not enter the ball-alley a second time, but that after remaining fifteen minutes in the bar-roomn he and Phelps left the Centre and returned to the place from whence they had departed in the morn ing. Phelps states that on December 19th, he went to Fitch's and rode with the young Messrs. Lacock; that he called at Fitch's house at noon, was invited to dinner, declined, didn't see the cattle in the forenoon but did in the afternoon; in a long conversation of two hours with Fitch, he proposed to Phelps to take an interest in some counterfeit money speculatio.ns; that he there made his proposition to Phelps to burn one of the depots-at Ann Arbor, AIarshall, Kalamazoo or Niles, and offered him $200 for that service. Be pleased now to remember that Fitch's barn was nearly half a mile distant from his house, and that, Phelps says, the scene at the barn took place, not in the forenoon onl the occasion when he called at Fitch's house, but on the atternoon of the same day, and that it occupied two hours. Then collate the testimony of Martin S. Lacock, HeVry T. Lacock, Christy Blackmar and Elizabeth Palmer, and you will find that Phelps went to Filley's that morning, attended by three of those persons; that while at M,ichigan Centre, he called at Fitch's house at 11 o'clock in the morning; that the whole duration of his stay at the Centre that morning was half an hour; that he returned with the same party and spent the entire afternoon, evening and night in the families of those witnesses, without having returned at all to Michigan Centre that day. Bear in mind also, that, while Mrs. Phelps, could have contradicted those witnesses, if their testimony had been false, yet she has since been upon the stand and has failed to do so. Mrs. Fitch has appeared here offering to prove the interview between her husband and Phelps in the morning and the falsehood of the alleged interview at the barn in the afternoon. I have already shown you that the account given by Phelps of a conversation at the house of John Palmer in January, concerning Minor T. Lacock and implicating Palmer, Penfield and Lacock, although corroborated by Mrs. Phelps, is disproved by Christy Blackmar. 60 Following now Phelps' narrative until the date of April 11th, I ask you to take notice that he alleges that, on his return from Grass Lake to Leoni, on the afternoon of that day Corwin and Myers went with him to Michigan Centre uninvited, Corwin having paid for the spirits with which the vessel taken from Coykendall's was filled, and that Williams excused himself from going, on the ground that he would have no conveyance in which to return. A.S. Luce, Esq., John Coykendall, John W. Kellogg and B. F. Smith testify, that Phelps invited Corwin and Myers to go to Michigan Centre to roll ninepins, and paid lavishly for the spirits which were drank as well as well as for those taken away, and that Williams was not present on that occasion. We have already exposed the ralsehoods of Phelps and Lake, in relation to their mysterious journey from Grass Lake to Michigan Centre, on that memorable day. Let us look now into their account of the transactions of the night. Phelps and Lake represent Fitch as having been present at Filley's house, while two distinct private conversations were held in the bar-room, and' two conversations of considerable length out of doors. All the witnesses agree that the time occupied, during the conversations and transactions of that night, was about two hours Fitch's presence during a period so long is completely disproved. James O. Cross, a reputable farmer who was staying at Fitch's house, states that Fitch was absent from home only ten or twelve minutes. Amanda Fitch limits his absence to five or ten minutes and they agree that he was out of his house only once that evening. Wm. H. Hudson, who was at Filley's bar-room throughout all these transactions, testifies that Fitch came in, held a public conversation of ten or fifteen minutes with Phelps, withdrew and did not return again that ni.ght. The important points in the transactions of that evening as related by Phelps, are that Fitch took Phelps aseid and said, "Filleykad told him that he Phelps was going to Niles that evening, that a lot of fellows had been hanging around them and that he Fitch had sent Filley off with them a fishing: that while Fitch refused to pay any money in advance, he said that Phelps and Lake if successful, might come back and take the oxen n they would pay over the balance of $60; that although this talk was private, Corwith Myers and Faulkner heard a part of it; that Fitch, Corwin and Lake, went out of doors together and Fitch said to Phelps and Lake that rather than make any exposures as they shonld fall they had better dig their graves before they should go; that he would give them a match all ready; that if they should once get inside of the depot there would be no difficulty; that they (Phelps and Lake) would hle to get camphene at Niles, to put into the box, because they conld not conveniently carry it; that Fitch advised them to return to Grass Lake, and separating there, take the cars at different points the next morning and proceed to Niles; and Fitch then told Corwin to fix them out; that Fitch left the house, and that then Corwin opened the door of the store room, took out the box placed it in the wagon of Phelps and Lake, and they departed while Corwin and Myem went away in another wagon. William H. Hudson was at Fillev's house, before Fitch and staid there until all had de parted, relates that Fitch came in, and was invited to drink, that be declined; that then Phelps came from behind the counter, Fitch said t(t Phelps "you did not remain long at Lansing." Phelps replied no he had done his business up quick and had got State bonds for $3200 and he thought that small amount better than nothing. Phelps said that his horse had run away that day for the first time; before that the horse had been very steady. He said also he had a friend in Minesota who had graduated with him and who thought he could do well up there and he was going to move there the next week. Hudson says that after Fitch went out there was a good deal of moving about and some drinking by the persons there." Hudson remained there a period of from one to two hours. The statement, by Phelps, that Fitch told him that he had learned from Filley that Phelps was going to Niles that night is manifestly false: first because Phelps did not see Filley vwhen there that day. Filley could have learned that purpose only from Lake in the afternoon and dui ming all that afternoon Fitch was absent from home until Filley had gone down the last time to the Lake. The statement that "Fitch said there had been a lot of fellows hanging around there and he had sent Filley off with them fishing," is equally false, because no such lot of "fellows" had been hanging around there, and Filley had gone off fishing on his own motion without any communication with Fitch. 61 The other statements are equally false, because Hudson neither saw any such private consultations, nor any such withdrawing from the room, and because the time Fitch remained there was insufficientfor their occurrence. Phelps admits the statements, as given by Hudson, concerning th e recovery of his claim at Lansing, and his acquaintance with the graduate at Minesota. The statement that Fitch told Phelps that the u atch would not fail, for it had been tried several times, is manifestly false and fabricated, because the match produced and identified,has been tried,first at Niles,and then here,and has failed; and it has been demonstrated,philosophically and conclusively,thtat it must fail to the end ofthe chapter. Again,the statement that'Fitch told Corwin to fire them off,'must be false, because it has been proved that Lake was in possession of the key of the store room; and, according to his own statement, he must have obtained the key from Filley. And yet Lake does not say that he had either given the key to Corwin, or had told Fitch that it was in Corwin's possession. These falsehoods being exposed, the principle, " falsus in unio, talsus in omitibus," applies again. The coullsel for the people claim,that Plielps' 5tatct iS coliroborated by Faulkner. That corroboration consists in this, that,in a suppressed conv ersation, will have overheard Corwin saying, " yes, after we get through," and, " I think we can come it;" that, at another time, Phelps said loudly, "Boys, when I get back fiown Niles,we will have a time," and Corwin said, "Yes we will tear down Cuykenadall's bar and this too." Corwin said, "I am willing to pay something in advance," and handed Phelps something. Phelps said, "This will help pay expenses over the road; all paid in advance, helps like hell." Fitch came in, afterwards, and three times asked, "Boys, how do you do." and " What is the news?" that they all went out doors for five minutes and came in again, and Fitch said to Phelps, "I shall be leady for you, I shall be flush then;" that Corwin said before Fitch came that "all would be right and money would be flush when Phelps should get back from Niles. No reliance can be placed on Falkner's statement of these details although it may have been conscientiously made. He was a stranger there and all the persons assembled were unknown to him. Desirous as he may have been to understand and report truly he was liable to misapprehend the dialogue and confound the persons engaged in it. It is certain that he mistook some other person for Fitch when they left the room that night. He says he saw Fitch standing beyond the wagon when the box was put in. Fitch is proved to have left the party before that time and to have returned home, and neither Hudson nor even Phelps nor Lake says now pretends that Fitch was at the place assigned himby Falkner on that occasion. We are asked to explain the remarks imputed to Fitch and Corwin in the recital given of the drunken revel, viz: a psomise "to be flush" on Phelps' return from Niles and "that Corwin said he was willing to make payment in advance. We reply that, as to Fitch, it is manifest no such remarks were made by him, because if heard by Falkner they would equally have been heard by Hudson, and yet Hudson did not hear them. Phelps'part of the dialouge was purposely spoken in a low voice, except a cle or catchword uttered loddly for the ear of Falkner. The meaning of Corwin and ]Myers' replies depends altogether upon the nature of the remarks which called them forth. I see nothing extraordinary in Corwin's contribution to Phelps' expenses, and his expectations of a revel when Phelps should return, enriched by the receipt cf the 8$3200 to be obtained fronm the State of Michigan, or by payment from his pretended debtor in Mas sachusetts, or by a fortune to be secured through the partial favor and assistance of his distinguished friend, the Governor of Minesota. Gentlemen, it is scarcely necessary to remark that if Phelps' narrative is false, the rela tion given by Lake cannot be true. His concurrence lends no confirmation. There are, however, cross-readings by these witnesses, which require a moment's notice. Phelps tes tifies that Williams said he should write to the Railroad Company, through an attorney, and offer to take a thousand dollars a year, for five years, for letting them off. Lake, on the contrary, attributes this generous proposition to Corwin. When, however, the counsel for the prosecution indicate the variance, Lake reconciles the conflict by saying he has heard Williams say the same thing. It is extraordinary that Phelps should have forgotten that Corwin made the remark, and equa!ly so that Lake had not, in the first instance, placed the remark to the account of Williams, where it belonged. Lake informs us that Fitch said on the piazza, atBascom's tavern, in Jackson, that it cost him a cow and twenty-five dollars to burn the old Depot —— that he had paid fifty dollars to the same man for burning the new one, and that he was to pay fifty dollars more after it should be burned; "that if we would burn the Niles Depot, we could have two hundred dollars in money, or the twin oxen at a hundred and forty dollars and the balance in money. Phelps, who was present, gives us no snch details of that conversation; but presents the same nefarious statements as av ing been made by Fitch, at the ball alley, on the occasion of his visit there with Wm. B. Lacock, which occurred before Lake's engagement began. It is manifest, therefore, that Lake has blunderingly taken from the common diary what was heard Phelps by alone, and duced it as a confession of Fitch, heard by himself. lthough Phelps had stated that he was to be paid his expenses in case of a failure to ' the Niles Depot, yet he was leaving the stand without bshowing that he had received oureven demandedhis expenses. A juror pointed out the incongruity. He immediately ored, "&They paid me before and after I went about sixty dollars, on account of expenses. 62 Of this sum, Fitchl pail me eight half dollars, two gold dollars and one quarter etgle, ma~ng eight dollars andl filty cents, besides seven dollars paid Lake by Williams, on the same account. Lake, on the colltrary, says that neither Williams nor any other person ever paip anything to him on accounlt of expelnses, nor to hisknowledge was anything ever paid to Phelps on that account. lIe says further that he was present,when the cight dollars and a half was delivered anit received as spurious, and that it was infact counterfeit coin. It will not surprise you, Gentlemen, to find that Phelps and Lake harmonize ini their account of Farnham's infernal machine, which they saw at his gate, wheoe there was no other witness present, in tile night time, when none but they and such as they could see anything. Nevertheless, it is strange that the engineer, who fabricated the matches produced here with such profound philosophical knowledge and exquisite skill, calnnot describe the iiiode of operation of Farnham's infernal machine for blowing np the railroad, although it colnsisted oftwo common till horns, bound together at the narrowest part of the tulbes withI a clasp. Dr. Farnham was taken firom his house in the night time, without notice, and his dwelling was then exposed to thle most scrutinizing search of the police; but neither tlhe machine, nor any cf its superfiuous materials, nor the instruments employed in the construction of it, have been produced. I pass on to Lake's aecounit ofthe transactions of April 11th. He sasls that Plhelps and himself arrived at Filly's together about noon, and inquired ofhimn if"tiie boys"' were there. You know, Gentlemen, that " the boys' lived at Leolli, four miles east of Iicliagn Centre, and, according' to Lake, le and Plhelps had just past Leoni, where they cotl0 have beeni found'aand hat came down to Michifaii Centre to inquire for them,whoreot1y re se na,)t tobe found. Lake says they told Filly, " We have come to go to Niles.' lilly replild. "I am gladl; we are ready for you." Lake says, "I was unwell and laid (-lowll aIfti, lying aln hour, I rose again, came downstairs, and found Filly; we then had ai ttlk abou preparation for Niles. Filly went to the barnl and brought the match. I exalmilnd it. llhey put it into the box, lnailed it up, put into the store room, and saying' it is ready for Niles,' putthe key in his pocket." This ingenious narrative was, unhappily, iin co(14lic0t with the testimony of KCane and Allen, who took Filly to the pond about half past twelve, before Lake arrived at his house, and detained him until between three and four o'clock. Lake removes the difficulty thus raised, while he gives a conclusive answer to Seord, tlle Beemans and Taylor, who have testified to his travels on foot wvith a m1atch, in a box, tied up in a red hiandkerchief. He was sick before. and now, like Doll JuaLn in the Slipwreclk. he " falls sicker,"' and enlarges the period of his repose, in the upper chaimber, frili o nle to) three hours. How could a man, who was obliged to sleep thrll ee hours in a day, wall_ four miles oppressed with the weihlt tied up in that red bucndle? Gentlemen, I have now showIn you that the testimony of Plielps and LiLkc is unwortlhy of credit, by reason of their depravity-of internal evidelnce of folsehood-of conflict lietween tliemselves-of flalornt avowals of deceit-ancld of collision with facts, incoiitcstibly established. I atdvort blieflv to some pretended corroborations. These are flihrnishiedi principally, by Mlessrs. Van Armlan and Clark. Revert, if you please, to their acounit (i? the disclosures made at Ga,y's house. Van Ari1an sa ys CIlark was standing, too lLi oilf to hear. Phelps was talkini with Gay. Phelps atvc lus the sic,nal, to alpproach. Tlies weroe talking about burning the Depots at Niles al1d Detroit. Phelps slid hlie vwold(l go oult ti see the friecnds at the Centre, ald let Gay know vwhit ti11e thev would be roaly it Niles. (tLty said they w ould bo el eay to in a0ke a strike here ot the sllai titue. 1Who do)es not secc trl this conovcrsctio a colrivedl between Phelps iand Gav tor tnil plur pose of eorrobhoration? Again, Ir. Van Ar maIn, describin' the transactionls at the slle pltc, oil tlhe foll(win' night, says, (Clark beiiin present thlouth not within hearin2 ) " Giy talked wvith Phelps about burnin the new Depot, and with equal care, ivoide(l confessinc anytl-iing about buinina the old one." At the sime time, Phl1ps, having l111 a plivate conversationl witl Gay, told Van Armran that Gay had given leave,, and ther eupon Phelps went lup stairs, and exhibited the mnatch to Clarl and ll Van Aritnan. What wats there in all tlis, but b jlutle between Phelps and Gay to ihnpose upon Clark and Va,ri Arluau. You have a tliirl corrob oration ill the filet thatPhelp, lent'G(ay two dollars in Febrtary, to otlichase clulplene; but it is deprived ofall its value by the fact that Clarl had been apprised that tlhe umoney was lent, and was sent into Parker's to request him to make a memorandum of t-he sl10 Fourth corrobation: After setting firc to the Depot at Niles, with thle ftisc enCd of tihe match, Phelps, Lake, Clark and Van Arman returned together in the cats towards Detroit When they arrived at Jackson, Filly was seen there, and he looked as if lie ivas aCiousy Cei/ng 0somebody. Phelps concerted with Clark and VaIn Arman, that hlie should draw Filly into conversation, while they should listen. When a person is in a Depot, on the ar rjval of a train of cars, he is very apt to look as if he was expecting somebody. A conlver iation, of oeurse, occurred, of which three versions are given., -./t,PIhelpa' version: Fllly-How did von get along Phelps-I set the Depot on :!_~ mtad a failure. aThey put it, out.'have not mnade more than nine times. I'have : tmnsehe r e and back. Filly —Go up to'the Centre, and see the boys; they will make it all right. Van Arman'sversion:Phelpsad-Idd not make more than nine tines. Filley —-You bd 0go immediately t) theCentre; the boys are waitmg for you. ~it~iiU, LuauL r ILCte, iteu-r nuxing sils alteition uponi tie warrant, said,' I believe that ola Gay lhas turnecd State's evidence. Thle warrant suggested thaLt o)iniioii. Tle conne;,l for the proseclution criticise the use of the word" old," which, tlhev say, is inoii,istenlt lviti. Fitch's denlial; but it is manifest that Fitch spoke of his knowledge of aftirs before tle arrest. After the arrest, "old Gay's" name must -soon becomne " ftntiliiar as hlouselolds words." Gentlemen, I trust that I have proved that the conspiracy alleged in this case, presents an immaterial issue, and is false in fact;' that the case rests on evidence of adlnissionils only, proved by three witnesses-Gay, Phelps and Lake; that the evidences of tliose al- i,siois were false, because the facts supposed to beconfessed atre impossible, whllile tle adinissions are unworthy of credit, because they are unsulpported by circumstantiil evidleec, iiid tlhe witnesses who presents them are unworthy of belief, and their testiiiioily is Qoitiilistory and is in conflict with facts incontestibly establislied. If thlese positions ale truc, it follows that this prosecution is the result of a conspiracy against tue defendttts. Yon llLve cvidence of that colnspiracy in the malicious threats of Wescott and Phelps iin al tlllsion by Phelps, showing an understanding withl WVescott; in a necgociation betweeri Phelps ani Gay to predicate a plot on the casual burninii of the Depot in Detroit, onl the l9tli of No. last, a plot for thle ruin ofiniocent meii; in the fraudulent mantfacttuie of thlose ]alr,nle, but fearful toklens, contrived to obtain credit for the narrative of help,; in thc frtuidulent traisferofthosectokens, by thlose wiho fibric,tted tihem, to the possessioi of' tt of Filly; and in thle cunningly devised narrative ot Plielps and Lake. But I will not fliloiN that subject fliurtl-her. It belongs to another prosecutioii-a different tribunal-perI1-)s,i to a distant jurisdiction. It is ceoughli for our present purpose that the defendants ale liot guilty. Gentlemen, in thn' middle of the fourth ino:itli, we draw near toc tle end of wliat s seed to be an euidless labor. Wl-iile we have been hliere events have transpired, - lIich ha e roused national amnbition —kindled national resentmtent —drawn fortlh niutioInal symptlies -and threatened to dlisttii b the tranquility of ieipires. He who, althougll lie wol-eltli liiiseen, yet worketh irresistablv and unceasingly, liath susiended necither Itis giar,ia,n cire nor His paternal discipline over ourselves. Some of you have sickened aln coti veIsced. Others have parted with cherished ones who, remnoved before they had tiiiie to contreaet the stain of earth, were already preparecd for the Kingdom of Ilea ven. Ther-e lihve beenr changes, too, amnong the unfortunate men wlhom I hltve defended. The soun(l of tlle hammer as died away in the workshops of some; the harvests have ripened and wasted in the fields of others. Want, and fear, and sorrow, have entered into all their dwellings. Their own rugged forns have drooped; their sunburnt brows have blanched; and their hands have become as soft to the pressure of friendship as yours or mine. One of them —a vagrant boy-whom I found imprisoned here for a few extravagant words that, perhaps, he never uttered, has pined away and died. Another, he who was feared, hated and loved most of all, has fallen in the vigor of life, '~~~~~~~~~~~1 - hacked down, Histhick summer leaves all laded." When sua an one falls, %mid the din and smoke of the battle-field our emotions are overpowered-uppressed-lost in the excitement of public passion. But when he perishesa 64 victim of domestic or social strife-when we see the iron enter his soul, and see it, day by day, sinking deeper and deeper, until nature gives way and he lies lifeless at our feetthen there is nothing to check the flow of forgiveness, compassion and sympathy. If, in the moment he is when closing is eyes on earth, he declares: "I have committed no crime against my country; I die a martyr for the liberty of speech, and perish of a broken heart" -then, indeed, do we feel that the tongues of dying men enforce attention, like deep harmony. Who would willingly consent to decide on the guilt or innocence of one who has thus been withdrawn from our erring judgment, to the tribunal of eternal justice? Yet it cannot be avoided. If Abel F. Fitch was guilty of the crime charged in this indictment, every man here may nevertheless be innocent; but if he wasinnocent, then there is not one of these his associates inlife, who can be guilty. Try him, then, since you must-condemn him, if you must —and with him condemn them. But remember that you are mortal and he is now immortal; and that before that tribunal where he stands, you mnst stand ant confront him, and vindicate your judgment. Remember, too, that he is now free. He has not only left behind him the dungeon, the cell and the chain; but he exults in a freedom, compared with which, the liberty we enjoy is slavery and bondage. You stand, then, between the dead and the living. There is no need to bespeak the exercise of your cautionof your candor-and of your impartiality. You will, I am sure,be just to the living, and true to your country; because, under circumstances so solemn-so full of awe-you cannot be unjust to the dead, nor lalse to your country, nor to your God. r. -. :. 1, ", _. 11 1,,7 - t