Dummer whispered to the man next him, “There’s no good. He’s done for us.” Then he rose, and made a clever defence. He knew it was wasting his time. The judge charged against him, and the jury gave the full verdict: “Man-slaughter in the first degree.” Except for the desire for it, the sentence created little stir. Every one was still feeling and thinking of Peter’s speech. And to this day that speech is talked of in “the district.” CHAPTER XVI. THE CONSEQUENCES. Nor was it the district alone which talked of the speech. Perhaps the residents of it made their feelings most manifest, for they organized a torchlight procession that night, and went round and made Peter an address of thanks. Mr. Dennis Moriarty being the spokesman. The judge shook hands with him after the trial, and said that he had handled his case well. The defendant’s lawyer told him he “knew his business.” A number of the reporters sought a few words with him, and blended praise with questions. The reporters did far more than this, however. It was the dull newspaper season, and the case had turned out to be a thoroughly “journalistic” one. So they questioned and interviewed every one concerned, and after cleverly winnowing the chaff, which in this case meant the dull, from the gleanings, most of them gave several columns the next morning to the story. Peter’s speech was printed in full, and proved to read almost as well as it had sounded. The reporters were told, and repeated the tales without much attempt at verification, that Peter had taken the matter up without hope of profit; had paid the costs out of his own pocket; had refused to settle “though offered nine thousand dollars:” had “saved the Dooley children’s lives by sending them into the country;” and “had paid for the burials of the little victims.” So all gave him a puff, and two of the better sort wrote really fine editorials about him. At election time, or any other than a dull season, the case would have had small attention, but August is the month, to reverse an old adage, when “any news is good news.”