search the prisoner's house for the clothes described by the witness, as having been put off since the morning; that the witness attended, and assisted at the search, and, that after a nice enquiry for two hours and upwards, the very clothes which the witness had described, were discovered concealed in a straw bed. He then produced the bloody clothes in Court, which the prisoner owned to be his clothes, and to have been thrust into the straw bed, with an intention to conceal them, on account of their being bloody.

The prisoner also waved asking this second witness any questions.

A third witness deposed to his having heard the prisoner deliver certain menaces against the deceased, from whence the prosecutor intended to infer a proof of malice prepense. In answer to which, the prisoner proposed certain questions to the Court, leading to a discovery of the occasion of the menacing expressions deposed to, and from the witness's answer to those questions, it appeared, that the deceased had first menaced the prisoner.

The prisoner being called upon to make his defence, addressed the following narration to the Court, as containing all he knew concerning the manner and cir

cumstances of the death of the deceased. viz. "That he rented a close in the same parish with the deceased, and that the deceased rented another close adjoining to it; that the only way to his own close was through that of the deceased, and, that on the day the murder in the indictment was laid to be committed, he rose early in the morning, in order to go to work in his close, with his fork in his hand, and passing through the deceased's ground, he observed a man at some distance from the path, lying down, as if dead, or drunk: that he thought himself bound to see what condition the person was in, and, upon getting up to him, he found him at the last extremity, with two wounds in his breast, from which a great deal of blood had issued; that, in order to relieve him, he raised him up, and, with great difficulty, set him in his lap; that he told the deceased he was greatly concerned at his unhappy fate, and the more so, as there seemed to be too much reason to apprehend he had been murdered; that he entreated the deceased to discover, if pos sible, the occasion of his misfortune, assuring him that he would use his utmost endeavours to do justice to his sufferings; that the deceased seemed to be sensible of what he said, and, in the midst of his agonies, attempted, as he thought, to speak to him, but being seized with a rutling in

his throat, after a hard struggle, he gave a dreadful groan, and vomiting a great deal of blood, some of which fell on his (the prisoner's) clothes, he expired in his arms; that the shock he felt, on account of this accident, was not to be expressed, and the rather, as it was well known, that there had been a difference between the deceased and himself, on which account, he might possibly be suspected of the murder; that he, therefore, thought it adviseable to leave the deceased in the condition he was, and to take no farther notice of the matter; that, in the confusion he was in when he left the place, he took away the deceased's fork, and left his own in the room of it, by the side of the corpse; that, being obliged to go to his work, he thought it best to shift his clothes, and, that they might not be seen, he confessed he had hid them in the place where they were found; that it was true he had denied before the Justice that he had changed his clothes, being conscious that this was an ugly circumstance that might he urged against him, and, being unwilling to be brought into trouble if he could help it; and, concluded his story with a solemn declaration, that he had related nothing but the truth, without adding, or diminishing one tittle, as he should auswer it to God Almighty."

Being then called upon to produce his witnesses, the prisoner answered, with a steady, composed countenance and resolution of voice, "He had no witness but God, and his own conscience.

The judge then proceeded to deliver his charge, in which he pathetically enlarged on the heinousness of the crime, and laid great stress on the force of the evidence, which, although, circumstantial only, he declared he thought to be irresistible, and little inferior to the most positive proof; that the prisoner had, indeed, cooked up a very plausible story, but if such, or the like allegations, were to be admitted, in a case of this kind, no murderer would ever be brought to justice, such bloody deeds being generally perpetrated in the dark, and with the greatest secresy; that the present case was exempted, in his opinion, from all possible doubt, and that they ought not to hesitate one moment about finding the prisoner guilty.

The foreman begged of his Lordship, as this was a case of life and death, that the jury might be at liberty to withdraw, and, upon this motion, an officer was sworn to keep the jury.

This trial came on the first in the morning, and the Judge having sat till

nine at night, expecting the return of the jury, at last sent an officer to enquire if they were agreed in their verdict, and to signify to them, that his Lordship would wait no longer for them. Some of them returned for answer, that eleven of their body had been of the same mind from the first, but that it was their misfortune to have a foreman that proved to be a singular instance of the most inveterate obstinacy, who, having taken up a different opinion from them, was unalterably fixed in it. The messenger was no sooner returned, but the complaining members, alarmed at the thoughts of being kept under confinement all the night, and despairing of bringing their dissenting brother over to their own way of thinking, agreed to accede to his opinion, and having acquainted him with their resolution, they sent an officer to detain his Lordship a few minutes, and then went into Court, and, by their foreman, brought in the prisoner, Not Guilty. His Lordship could not help expressing the greatest surprise and indignation, at this unexpected verdict, and, after giving the jury a severe admonition, he refused to record their verdict, and sent them back again, with directions that they should be locked up all night, without fire or candle. The whole blame was publickly laid on the foreman, by the rest of the members, and they spent the night in loading him