The History of Duelling. Vol. 2 (of 2)Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
Philosophy
The History of Duelling. Vol. 2 (of 2)
Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
Dueling
Mr. Justice Bayley summed up, and closed his observations on the
evidence with telling the jury that the question for them to decide was,
by what means did Mr. Clayton come by his death? If they were of opinion
that he came by his death by a bullet from the pistol of Mr. Lambrecht,
and that Mr. Lambrecht met him on the ground with the intention, if the
difference could not be settled, of putting his life against Mr.
Clayton’s, and Mr. Clayton’s against his, he was bound, as a lawyer and
a judge, to tell them, that Mr. Lambrecht was guilty of the crime of
wilful murder, and that they were bound to find him guilty of that crime
under the present indictment.—With respect to the prisoner Cox,
Lambrecht’s second, however desirous he might have been for a
reconciliation, and however he might have expected that an apology would
be accepted, still, if he allowed himself to continue on the ground when
he found that reconciliation was hopeless, and acted on the occasion as
a second, he must be considered as aiding and abetting in that
transaction; which, in the case of Lambrecht, amounted to the crime of
wilful murder.—Then, with respect to the prisoner Bigley, Mr. Clayton’s
second, he acted as a go-between, and no other person was there on the
part of Mr. Clayton. What, then, was the common purpose of the parties
at the time, and was Bigley aiding and abetting? If the common purpose
was, that the life of Lambrecht and Clayton should be respectively put
in hazard, then Bigley was as much aiding and abetting as Cox. The
learned Judge concluded by telling the jury to take the case into their
careful consideration; and if they were satisfied that Mr. Clayton came
to his death by the shot of Lambrecht in the duel, and that Cox and
Bigley were aiding and abetting on that occasion, they must find, or at
least ought to find, a verdict of guilty.
The jury, after deliberating in the box for a few minutes, expressed a
wish to retire. Before they went out, one of them said, they wished to
know whether they might return a verdict of guilty generally, or whether
they must say guilty of murder? Mr. Justice Bayley told them, that if
there had been any circumstances in the case to reduce the crime to
manslaughter, he should have stated them for their consideration; but he
had found none. The juryman who had asked the question said, that the
object of it was, to know whether they might find a verdict of
manslaughter. The jury, after deliberating three hours and a half,
returned a verdict of “Not guilty.”
BETWEEN CAPTAIN SMITH AND STANDISH O’GRADY, ESQ.
March 17, 1830.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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