The following lines were found on his person after death, indicating that the bold outlaw, in his hours of retrospection, had garnered the bitter fruitage of despair and remorse so aptly depicted: “How wise we are when the chance is gone, And a glance we backward cast. We know just the thing we should have done When the time for doing is past.” CHAPTER XXII. RUBE SMITH’S TRIAL FOR THE BUCKATUNNA MAIL ROBBERY--AN UNSUCCESSFUL ALIBI--PERJURED WITNESSES--MASTERLY SPEECHES--CONVICTION AND SENTENCE. The tragic and appalling death of L. C. Brock, _alias_ Joe Jackson, while it spread consternation among his fellow prisoners and disturbed somewhat the serenity of the Court, did not impede the course of justice. The trial of Rube Smith for the Buckatunna mail robbery was proceeded with in the Federal Court, Judge R. A. Hill presiding, as though nothing had occurred. It was of but little importance to the defendant whether he should be tried at that time or later. He had already been convicted in the State Court for the express robbery and sentenced to imprisonment for ten years. His defense was conducted in a skillful and able manner by Colonel John A. Blair, of Tupelo, Miss. The Government was represented by Captain A. M. Lea, United States District Attorney, who made a masterly presentation of the case in behalf of the prosecution. Captain Lea was assisted by Col. J. H. Neville, the brilliant Prosecuting Attorney for the Second Judicial District of Mississippi. Col. Neville had successfully conducted the prosecution for the express robbery, and had, on account of his familiarity with the facts and his recognized ability, been employed by the Department of Justice to assist in the prosecution. The _corpus delicti_ was proved by the introduction of the conductor, engineer, express messenger and the railway mail agent. Neil McAllister, a very sensible colored man, in whose cabin the robbers spent two days immediately preceding the occurrence, identified Rube Smith as one of the men who had occupied his cabin, and disappeared on the morning of the robbery. W. D. Cochran, an intelligent farmer of the vicinity, also identified Smith as being in that locality two days before the train was robbed. McClung’s testimony, reciting all the details of the robbery as given him by Smith, was corroborated by the engineer and other train employes. The letters written by Smith, his proposition to become a witness for the prosecution against Brock, which was declined, all formed links in the chain of testimony against him which the skill and ability of defendant’s counsel could not weaken or break. The father of the prisoner testified that his son had slept at his home in Lamar County on the night of the Buckatunna robbery. James Barker and Jasper Smith, the former an uncle by marriage, and the latter a first cousin of the defendant, both testified unscrupulously and recklessly in support of the _alibi_ sought to be established.