The prisoner was placed in the dock, and the jury were sworn much as in
Europe; almost all our own modes of procedure were reproduced, even to
the requiring the prisoner to plead guilty or not guilty. He pleaded
not guilty, and the case proceeded. The evidence for the prosecution
was very strong; but I must do the court the justice to observe that
the trial was absolutely impartial. Counsel for the prisoner was
allowed to urge everything that could be said in his defence: the line
taken was that the prisoner was simulating consumption in order to
defraud an insurance company, from which he was about to buy an
annuity, and that he hoped thus to obtain it on more advantageous
terms. If this could have been shown to be the case he would have
escaped a criminal prosecution, and been sent to a hospital as for a
moral ailment. The view, however, was one which could not be reasonably
sustained, in spite of all the ingenuity and eloquence of one of the
most celebrated advocates of the country. The case was only too clear,
for the prisoner was almost at the point of death, and it was
astonishing that he had not been tried and convicted long previously.
His coughing was incessant during the whole trial, and it was all that
the two jailors in charge of him could do to keep him on his legs until
it was over.
The summing up of the judge was admirable. He dwelt upon every point
that could be construed in favour of the prisoner, but as he proceeded
it became clear that the evidence was too convincing to admit of doubt,
and there was but one opinion in the court as to the impending verdict
when the jury retired from the box. They were absent for about ten
minutes, and on their return the foreman pronounced the prisoner
guilty. There was a faint murmur of applause, but it was instantly
repressed. The judge then proceeded to pronounce sentence in words
which I can never forget, and which I copied out into a note-book next
day from the report that was published in the leading newspaper. I must
condense it somewhat, and nothing which I could say would give more
than a faint idea of the solemn, not to say majestic, severity with
which it was delivered. The sentence was as follows:-
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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