I was so astonished, so thunderstruck with this assertion, that I held
own my head, and made no reply. The judge then summed up the evidence
to the jury, pointing out to them, that of Ogle's guilt there could be
no doubt, and of mine, he was sorry to say, but little. Still they must
bear in mind that the witness Armstrong could not swear to my person.
The jury, without leaving the box, consulted together a short time, and
brought in a verdict of guilty against Benjamin Ogle and Philip Maddox.
I heard no more--the judge sentenced us both to execution: he lamented
that so young and prepossessing a person as myself should be about to
suffer for such an offence: he pointed out the necessity of condign
punishment, and gave us no hopes of pardon or clemency. But I heard him
not--I did not fall, but I was in a state of stupor. At last, he wound up
his sentence by praying us to prepare ourselves for the awful change, by
an appeal to that heavenly Father--"Father!" exclaimed I, in a voice
which electrified the court, "did you say my father? O God! where is
he?" and I fell down in a fit. The handkerchiefs of the ladies were
applied to their faces, the whole court were moved, for I had, by my
appearance, excited considerable interest, and the judge, with a
faltering, subdued voice, desired that the prisoners might be removed.
"Stop one minute, my good fellow," said Ogle, to the gaoler, while
others were taking me out of court. "My lord, I've something rather
important to say. Why I did not say it before, you shall hear. You are
a judge, to condemn the guilty, and release the innocent. We are told
that there is no trial like an English jury, but this I say, that many
a man is hung for what he never has been guilty of. You have condemned
that poor young man to death. I could have prevented it if I had chosen
to speak before, but I would not, that I might prove how little there is
of justice. He had nothing to do with the robbery--Phil Maddox was the
man, and he is not Philip Maddox. He said that he never saw me before,
nor do I believe that he ever did. As sure as I shall hang, he is
innocent."
"It was but now, that when appealed to by him, you stated that you had
seen him before."
"So I did, and I told the truth--I had seen him before. I saw him go to
hold the gentleman's horse, but he did not see me. I stole his bundle
and his stick, which he left on the bench, and that's how they were found
in our possession. Now you have the truth, and you may either acknowledge
that there is little justice, by eating your own words, and letting him
free, or you may hang him, rather than acknowledge that you are wrong.
At all events, his blood will now be on your hands, and not mine. If
Phil Maddox had not turned tail, like a coward, I should not have been
here; so I tell the truth to save him who was doing me a kind act, and
to let him swing who left me in the lurch."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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