Speaker 1: This is section fifty five of The Gilded Age. This
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age,
Speaker 1: A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and Ceed Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter fifty five. Henry Brierly took the stand, requested by
Speaker 1: the district attorney to tell the jury all he knew
Speaker 1: about the killing. He narrated the circumstances substantially, as the
Speaker 1: reader already knows them. He accompanied miss Hawkins to New
Speaker 1: York at her request, supposing she was coming in relation
Speaker 1: to a bill then pending in Congress to secure the
Speaker 1: attendants of absent members. Her note to him was here shown.
Speaker 1: She appeared to be very much excited at the Washington station.
Speaker 1: After she had asked the conductor several questions, he heard
Speaker 1: her say he can't escape. Witness asked her who, and
Speaker 1: she replied nobody did not see her. During the night,
Speaker 1: they traveled in a sleeping car. In the morning, she
Speaker 1: appeared not to have slept, said she had a headache.
Speaker 1: In crossing the ferry, she asked him about the shipping
Speaker 1: in sight. He pointed out where the cunarders lay. When
Speaker 1: in port. They took a cup of coffee that morning
Speaker 1: at a restaurant. She said she was anxious to reach
Speaker 1: the Southern Hotel where mister Simons, one of the absent members,
Speaker 1: was staying, before he went out. She was entirely self possessed,
Speaker 1: and beyond unusual excitement, did not act unnaturally. After she
Speaker 1: had fired twice at Colonel Selby, she turned the pistol
Speaker 1: towards her own breast, and witness snatched it from her.
Speaker 1: She had been a great deal with Selby in Washington,
Speaker 1: appeared to be infatuated with him. Cross examined by mister Braham,
Speaker 1: Miss mister Briley, mister Braham had in perfection this lawyer's
Speaker 1: trick of annoying a witness by drawling out the mister
Speaker 1: as if unable to recall the name until the whitis
Speaker 1: is sufficiently aggravated, and then suddenly, with a rising inflection,
Speaker 1: flinging his name at him with startling unexpectedness. Mister er
Speaker 1: Er Briarly, what is your occupation? Civil engineer? Sir ah er,
Speaker 1: civil engineer, With a glance at the jury. Following that
Speaker 1: occupation with Miss Hawkins smiles by the jury, No, Sir,
Speaker 1: said Harry Reddening, how long have you known the prisoner?
Speaker 1: Two years, Sir, I made her acquaintance in Hawkeye, Missouri.
Speaker 1: M M M. Mister er Briarly, were you not a
Speaker 1: lover of Miss Hawkins? Objected to. I submit your honor
Speaker 1: that I have the right to establish the relation of
Speaker 1: this unwilling witness to the prisoner admitted well, Sir, said Harry, hesitatingly.
Speaker 1: We were friends. You act like a friend, sarcastically. The
Speaker 1: jury were beginning to hate this neatly dressed young Sprigg.
Speaker 1: Missster Briarly, didn't Miss Hawkins refuse you, Harry blushed and
Speaker 1: stammered and looked at the judge. You must answer, Sir,
Speaker 1: said his honor. She she didn't accept me. No, I
Speaker 1: should think not Briarly, do you dare tell the jury
Speaker 1: that you had no interest in the removal of your rival?
Speaker 1: Colonel Selby, roared mister Braham in a voice of thunder.
Speaker 1: Nothing like this, Sir, Nothing like this, protested the witness.
Speaker 1: That's all, sir, said mister Braham severely. One word, said
Speaker 1: the district attorney, had you the least suspicion of the
Speaker 1: prisoner's intention up to the moment of the shooting, Not
Speaker 1: the least, answered Harry. Earnestly, of course, not, of course,
Speaker 1: not nodded mister Braham to the jury. The prosecution then
Speaker 1: put upon the stand the other witnesses of the shooting
Speaker 1: at the hotel, and the clerk and the attending physicians.
Speaker 1: The fact of the homicide was clearly established. Nothing new
Speaker 1: was elicited, except from the clerk, in reply to a
Speaker 1: question by mister Braham, the fact that when the prisoner
Speaker 1: inquired for Colonel Selby, she appeared excited and there was
Speaker 1: a wild look in her eyes. The dying deposition of
Speaker 1: Colonel Selby was then produced. It set forth Laura's threats,
Speaker 1: but there was a significant addition to it which the
Speaker 1: newspaper report did not have. It seemed that after the
Speaker 1: deposition was taken, as reported, the colonel was told for
Speaker 1: the first time by his physicians that his wounds were mortal.
Speaker 1: He appeared to be in great mental agony and fear,
Speaker 1: and said he had not finished his deposition. He added,
Speaker 1: with great difficulty, in long pauses, these words, I have
Speaker 1: not told all I must tell. Put it down. I
Speaker 1: wronged her years ago. I can't see. Oh God, I
Speaker 1: deserved that was all. He fainted and did not revive again.
Speaker 1: The Washington Railway conductor testified that the prisoner had asked
Speaker 1: him if a gentleman and his family went out on
Speaker 1: the evening train, describing the persons he had since learned
Speaker 1: were Colonel Selby and family. Susan Cullum, colored servant at
Speaker 1: Senator Dilworthies, was sworn. Knew Colonel Selby had seen him
Speaker 1: come to the house often and be alone in the
Speaker 1: parlor with Miss Hawkins. He came the day but one
Speaker 1: before he was shot. She let him in. He appeared flustered,
Speaker 1: like she heard talking in the parlor, peered like it
Speaker 1: was Quarrelin was a feared sumfin was wrong. Just put
Speaker 1: her ear to the keyhole of the back parlor door.
Speaker 1: Heard a man's voice. I can't I can't good God
Speaker 1: quite beggin like heard young missus voice, take your choice.
Speaker 1: Then if you abandon me, you knows what to expect.
Speaker 1: Then he rushes out in the house. I goes in,
Speaker 1: and I says, Missus, did you ring? She was a
Speaker 1: standing like a tiger, her eyes flashin I come right out.
Speaker 1: This was the substance of Susan's testimony, which was not
Speaker 1: shaken in the least by severe cross examination. In reply
Speaker 1: to mister Brahm's question if the prisoner did not look insane,
Speaker 1: Susan said, Lord, no, sir, just mad as a hornet.
Speaker 1: Washington Hawkins was sworn. The pistol identified by the officer
Speaker 1: as the one used in the homicide was produced. Washington
Speaker 1: admitted that it was his. She had asked him for
Speaker 1: it one morning, saying she thought she had heard burglars
Speaker 1: the night before. Admitted that he never had heard burglars
Speaker 1: in the house. Had anything unusual happened just before that?
Speaker 1: Nothing that he remembered. Did he accompany her to a
Speaker 1: reception at missus Schoonmaker's a day or two before? Yes,
Speaker 1: what occurred? Little by little It was dragged out of
Speaker 1: the witness that Laura had behaved strangely there, appeared to
Speaker 1: be sick, and he had taken her home. Upon being pushed,
Speaker 1: he admitted that she had afterwards confessed that she saw
Speaker 1: Selby there, and Washington volunteered the statement that Selby was
Speaker 1: a black hearted villain. The district attorney said, with some
Speaker 1: annoyance there there that will do. The defense declined to
Speaker 1: examine mister Hawkins at present. The case for the prosecution
Speaker 1: was closed of the murder. There could not be the
Speaker 1: least doubt or that the prisoner followed the deceased to
Speaker 1: New York with her murderous intent. On the evidence, the
Speaker 1: jury must convict, and might do so without leaving their seats.
Speaker 1: This was the condition of the case. Two days after
Speaker 1: the jury had been selected, a week had passed since
Speaker 1: the trial opened, and a Sunday had intervened. The public
Speaker 1: who read the reports of the evidence saw no chance
Speaker 1: for the prisoner's escape. The crowd of spectators who had
Speaker 1: watched the trial were moved with the most profound sympathy
Speaker 1: for Laura. Mister Braham opened the case for the defense.
Speaker 1: His manner was subdued, and he spoke in so low
Speaker 1: a voice that it was only by reason of perfect
Speaker 1: silence in the courtroom that he could be heard. He
Speaker 1: spoke very distinctly, however, and if his nationality could be
Speaker 1: discovered in his speech, it was only in a certain
Speaker 1: richness and breadth of tone. He began by saying that
Speaker 1: he trembled at the responsibility he had undertaken, and he
Speaker 1: should altogether despair if he did not see before him
Speaker 1: a jury of twelve men of rare intelligence, whose acute
Speaker 1: minds would unravel all the sophistries of the prosecution. Men
Speaker 1: with a sense of honor which would revolt at the
Speaker 1: remorseless persecution of this hunted woman by the state, Men
Speaker 1: with hearts to feel for the wrongs of which she
Speaker 1: was the victim. Far be it from him to cast
Speaker 1: any suspicion upon the motives of the able, eloquent, and
Speaker 1: ingenious lawyers of the state. They act officially. Their business
Speaker 1: is to convict. It is our business, gentlemen, to see
Speaker 1: that justice is done. It is my duty, gentlemen, to
Speaker 1: unfold to you one of the most affecting dramas in
Speaker 1: all the history of misfortune. I shall have to show
Speaker 1: you a life the sport of fame and circumstances, hurried
Speaker 1: along through shifting storm and sun, bright with trusting innocence,
Speaker 1: and a non black with heartless villainy, a career which
Speaker 1: moves on in love and desertion and anguish, always hovered
Speaker 1: over by the dark specter of insanity, an insanity hereditary
Speaker 1: and induced by mental torture until it ends, If end,
Speaker 1: it must, in your verdict, by one of those fearful
Speaker 1: accidents which are inscrutable to men, and of which God
Speaker 1: alone knows the secret. Gentlemen, I shall ask you to
Speaker 1: go with me, away from this court room and its
Speaker 1: minions of the law, away from the scene of this tragedy,
Speaker 1: to a distant I wish I could say a happier day.
Speaker 1: The story I have to tell is of a lovely
Speaker 1: little girl with sunny hair and laughing eyes, traveling with
Speaker 1: her parents, evidently people of wealth and refinement, upon a
Speaker 1: Mississippi steamboat. There is an explosion, one of those terrible
Speaker 1: catastrophes which leave the imprint of an unsettled mind upon
Speaker 1: the survivors. Hundreds of mangled remains are sent into eternity.
Speaker 1: When the wreck is cleared away, this sweet little girl
Speaker 1: is found among the panic stricken survivors in the midst
Speaker 1: of a scene of horror enough to turn the steadiest brain.
Speaker 1: Her parents have disappeared, search even for their bodies is
Speaker 1: in vain. The bewildered, stricken child, who can say what
Speaker 1: changes the fearful event wrought in her tender brain, clings
Speaker 1: to the first person who shows her sympathy. It is
Speaker 1: missus Hawkins. This good lady, who is still her loving friend, Laura,
Speaker 1: is adopted into the Hawkins family perhaps she forgets in
Speaker 1: time that she is not their child, she is an orphan. No, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: I will not deceive you, she is not an orphan.
Speaker 1: Worse than that, there comes another day of agony. She
Speaker 1: knows that her father lives. Who is he? Where is he?
Speaker 1: Alas I cannot tell you through the scenes of this
Speaker 1: painful history. He flits here and there a lunatic. If
Speaker 1: he seeks his daughter. It is the purposeless search of
Speaker 1: a lunatic, as one who wanders bereft of reason, crying
Speaker 1: where is my child? Laura seeks her father in vain.
Speaker 1: Just as she is about to find him again and again,
Speaker 1: he disappears. He is gone, he vanishes. But this is
Speaker 1: only the prolog to the tragedy. Bear with me while
Speaker 1: I relate it. Mister Braham takes out a handkerchief, unfolds it, slowly,
Speaker 1: crashes it in his nervous hand, and throws it on
Speaker 1: the table. Laura grew up in her humble southern home,
Speaker 1: a beautiful creature, the joy of the house, the pride
Speaker 1: of the neighborhood, the loveliest flower in all the sunny South.
Speaker 1: She might yet have been happy. She was happy, But
Speaker 1: the destroyer came into this paradise, He plucked the sweetest
Speaker 1: bud that grew there, and, having enjoyed its odor, trampled
Speaker 1: it in the mire beneath his feet. George Selby, the deceased,
Speaker 1: a handsome, accomplished Confederate colonel, was this human fiend. He
Speaker 1: deceived her with a mock marriage. After some months, he
Speaker 1: brutally abandoned her and spurned her, as if she were
Speaker 1: a contemptible thing. All the time he had a wife
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. Laura was crushed for weeks, as I
Speaker 1: shall show you by the testimony of her adopted mother
Speaker 1: and brother. She hovered over death in delirium. Gentlemen, did
Speaker 1: she ever emerge from this delirium? I shall show you
Speaker 1: that when she recovered her health, her mind was changed.
Speaker 1: She was not what she had been. You can judge
Speaker 1: yourselves whether the tottering reason ever recovered its throne. Years
Speaker 1: pass she is in Washington, apparently the happy favorite of
Speaker 1: a brilliant society. Her family have become enormously rich by
Speaker 1: one of those sudden turns in fortune that the inhabitants
Speaker 1: of America are familiar with, the discovery of immense mineral
Speaker 1: wealth in some wild lands owned by them. She is
Speaker 1: engaged in a vast philanthropic scheme for the benefit of
Speaker 1: the poor by the use of this wealth. But alas,
Speaker 1: even here and now, the same relentless fate pursued her.
Speaker 1: The villain Selby appears again upon the scene, as if
Speaker 1: on purpose to complete the ruin of her life. He
Speaker 1: appeared to taunt her with her dishonor. He threatened exposure
Speaker 1: if she did not become again the mistress of his passion. Gentlemen,
Speaker 1: do you wonder if this will woman thus pursued lost
Speaker 1: her reason was beside herself with fear, and that her
Speaker 1: wrongs preyed upon her mind until she was no longer
Speaker 1: responsible for her acts. I turn away my head as
Speaker 1: one who would not willingly look even upon them, just
Speaker 1: vengeance of heaven. Mister Brain paused, as if overcome by
Speaker 1: his emotions. Missus Hawkins and Washington were in tears, as
Speaker 1: were many of the spectators. Also. The jury looked scared. Gentlemen,
Speaker 1: in this condition of affairs, it needed but a spark.
Speaker 1: I do not say a suggestion. I do not say
Speaker 1: a hint from this butterfly. Briarly, this rejected rival to
Speaker 1: cause the explosion. I make no charges. But if this
Speaker 1: woman was in her right mind when she fled from
Speaker 1: Washington and reached this city in company with Briarly, then
Speaker 1: I do not know what insanity is. Mister Braham sat down.
Speaker 1: He felt that he had the jury with him. A
Speaker 1: burst of applause followed, which the officer promptly suppressed. Laura,
Speaker 1: with tears in her eyes, turned a grateful look upon
Speaker 1: her counsel. All the women among the spectators saw the
Speaker 1: tears and wept also, they thought, as they also looked
Speaker 1: at mister Braham, how handsome he is. Missus Hawkins took
Speaker 1: the stand. She was somewhat confused to be the target
Speaker 1: of so many eyes, but her honest and good face
Speaker 1: at once told in Laura's favor. Missus Hawkins said, mister Braham,
Speaker 1: will you be kind enough to state the circumstances of
Speaker 1: your finding Laura. I object, said mister mc glynn, rising
Speaker 1: to his feet. This has nothing whatever to do with
Speaker 1: the case, your honor. I am surprised at it, even
Speaker 1: after the extraordinary speech of my learned friend. How do
Speaker 1: you propose to connect it? Mister Braham asked the judge,
Speaker 1: if it please the court, said mister Brahme, rising impressively,
Speaker 1: Your honor has permitted the prosecution and I have submitted
Speaker 1: without a word, to go into the most extraordinary testimony
Speaker 1: to establish a motive. Are we to be shut out
Speaker 1: from showing that the motive attributed to us could not,
Speaker 1: by reason of certain mental conditions exist? I propose, may
Speaker 1: it please your honor to show the cause and the
Speaker 1: origin of an aberration of mind, to follow it up
Speaker 1: with other like evidence, connecting it with the very moment
Speaker 1: of the homicide, showing a condition of the intellect of
Speaker 1: the prisoner that precludes responsibility. The state must insist upon
Speaker 1: its objections, said the district attorney. The purpose evidently is
Speaker 1: to open the door to a mass of irrelevant testimony,
Speaker 1: the object of which is to produce an effect upon
Speaker 1: the jury. Your Honor well understands, perhaps, suggested the judge,
Speaker 1: the court ought to hear the testimony and exclude it afterwards.
Speaker 1: If it is irrelevant, with your honor, hear argument on
Speaker 1: that certainly, and argument his honor did hear, or pretend to,
Speaker 1: for two whole days from all the council in turn,
Speaker 1: in the course of which the lawyers read contradictory decisions
Speaker 1: enough to perfectly establish both sides from volume after volume,
Speaker 1: whole libraries, in fact, until no mortal man could say
Speaker 1: what the rules were. The question of insanity, in all
Speaker 1: its legal aspects, was of course drawn into the discussion,
Speaker 1: and its application affirmed and denied. The case was felt
Speaker 1: to turn upon the admission or rejection of this evidence.
Speaker 1: It was a sort of test trial of strength between
Speaker 1: the lawyers. At the end, the judge decided to admit
Speaker 1: the testimony, as the judge usually does in such cases,
Speaker 1: after a sufficient waste of time in what are called arguments.
Speaker 1: Missus Hawkins was allowed to go on end of chapter
Speaker 1: fifty five