The pleadings of the lawyers for the defense were peculiarly affecting, since all of them were more or less acquainted with the condition of the Saints when they fled from the violence of Missourians to Illinois. O. H. Browning had seen several of these companies of Saints in their flight and could trace them by the blood left in their footprints on the snow; his recital of their sufferings moved Judge Douglass, most of the officers of the court and the spectators to tears. One of the brethren present who wrote an account of the trial for the Nauvoo papers says: He [Mr. Browning] concluded his remarks by saying, To tell the prisoner to go to Missouri for a trial was adding insult to injury, and then said: "Great God! Have I not seen it? Yes, my eyes have beheld the blood-stained traces of innocent women and children, in the dreary winter, who had traveled hundreds of miles barefoot, through frost and snow, to seek a refuge from their savage pursuers. 'Twas a scene of horror, sufficient to have enlisted the sympathy of an adamantine heart. And shall this unfortunate man, whom their fury has seen proper to select for sacrifice, be driven into such a savage land, where none dare to enlist in the cause of justice? If there was no other voice under heaven ever to be heard in this cause, gladly would I stand alone, and proudly spend my latest breath in defense of an American citizen." The lawyers for the prosecution, according to Joseph's own account, acted honorably and confined themselves to the merits of the case, excepting two--Messrs. Knowlton and Jennings. They made an appeal both to the passions and prejudices of the people, and sought to create an excitement over the matter. Judge Douglass, however, was impartial in his rulings, and doubtless one officer of the court--the sheriff of Warren County--thought him severe in his efforts to protect the prisoner. The court room was densely packed and the judge ordered the sheriff to keep the spectators back; but this he neglected and the judge fined him ten dollars. In a few minutes the order to keep the spectators from crowding the prisoner and witnesses was repeated, and the sheriff told the court that he had ordered a constable to do it. "Clerk," said Judge Douglass, "add ten dollars more to that fine." This was effectual, the sheriff after that did his duty.