Australia -- Gold discoveries -- Fiction; Ballarat (Vic.) -- Fiction
All the former witnesses were called. Each in his turn gave evidence
which appeared to be so conclusively in favour of the prisoner that
every one in court thought with Mr. England that the jury would never
leave the box. Mr. Stirling, Jack Polwarth, Mrs. Delf, all testified to
the effect that Lance Trevanion had quitted Growlers' on that particular
day, Friday, the 20th September, for Balooka. When asked whether it was
possible for the prisoner, Trevanion, to have been seen at Balooka
shortly before the date named, they, with one accord, declared it to be
impossible. He had been seen every day by one or other for months
before. As to his being a couple of hundred miles off, it was absolutely
false and incredible. In addition to the witnesses heard previously, two
miners named Dickson and Judd were called, who swore positively that
they had seen the prisoner, Trevanion, on Friday, 20th September, near
'Growlers',' evidently commencing a journey to the eastward. He had a
valise strapped before his saddle, and was going along the mountain
road.
'Would it lead to Balooka?'
'Yes; that was the way to Balooka. One of them had been there, and a
rough shop it was. They were quite positive as to his identity.'
'He was a noticeable chap, and the horse he rode wasn't a commoner
either. Any man with eyes in his head would know the pair of 'em
anywhere, let alone chaps as had worked the next claim but one to him
and Jack Polwarth.'
Asked whether they were quite certain that they had met the prisoner on
the day stated by them, or whether they thought it might have been the
day before.
'It was that very Saturday morning, and no other. They were as sure of
it as of their own lives. If men couldn't be sure of that they could not
be sure of anything.'
Of course they knew Lance Trevanion well?
'Yes, very well, by sight. Not that they had often spoken to him. He was
a gentleman, a big man in his own country, they heard tell. He kept
himself a deal to himself, except in regard to the Lawless family, and
he would have done well to have let them alone too.'
Tessie Lawless, when called upon, moved towards the witness-box with a
much less assumed step than her cousin. She also turned her head towards
the dock. Those who watched her saw her face soften and change like that
of a woman who suddenly beholds a suffering child. As she scanned the
pallid and drawn features of Lance Trevanion, upon which anger and
despair, consuming anxiety and darkling doubt had written their
characters indelibly, it seemed as though she must force her way to him
and weep out her heart in bitter grief that he should be in such ignoble
toils.
Then she braced herself for the effort and stood before the judge. The
statement which she made was almost identical with that on a former
occasion. A very good impression on the jury was evidently made by her
candour and earnestness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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