It was not long before I was informed that the jury were not likely to agree immediately upon a verdict, and I therefore returned home. They had some difficulty in coming to a unanimous verdict, and it was not until the morning of the third day that they rendered one of Guilty, but fixing the fine at one dollar, instead of one hundred. This verdict was to have been expected. There was no denial that the law, as it stood, had been disobeyed by me, and a verdict of guilty on the charge, as preferred, was therefore inevitable. The jury had it in their power to reduce the fine to a mere nominal sum, which they did, also fully believing that the judge would exercise the same discretion, and entirely remit the imprisonment attached to the offence. This was also the universal belief as well as general desire on the part of the community. I was not sent for on the rendition of the verdict; and, the court, having to adjourn, my sentence in form was deferred until the 10th day of January, 1854. In order that the fidelity of my narrative may be attested by the evidence of the Virginians themselves, I will here insert an article that appeared in the Petersburg _Daily Express_, dated November 30th, 1853, and which was made up chiefly from the Norfolk _Daily News_. It was headed “Her Own Lawyer,” and I give it _verbatim_:-- “Quite a novel and highly interesting case has recently been tried before Judge Baker at Norfolk City. A Mrs. Margaret Douglass, formerly of Charleston, S. C., was arraigned one day last week, on a charge of teaching negro children to read and write, contrary to the statute in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth. “By some means or other, as we learn from the ‘Daily News,’ a report had been previously circulated that the lady had determined not to employ the services of counsel, but to rely solely upon her own legal abilities in conducting her defence. This, as a matter of course, filled the court-room with persons anxious to witness the novel spectacle, and when she entered the court-room and took her seat among the lawyers, a most profound sensation was created. “The jury had no sooner been empanneled, than the lady, without waiting for the examination of witnesses, or the opening remarks of the Attorney for the Commonwealth, proceeded in a clear and melodious voice, to the consideration of the charges set forth in the indictment.