“I do not know the variation in tides between the bridges.”
Cross-examined by Gov. Long the witness adhered to his testimony.
Charles L. Davis testified: “I reside in Bethel, Me., and am a brother of Tena Davis, I have resided in Bethel for three years past. I saw the body of my sister at the undertaker’s and identified her. I had not seen her for five years previous to that, or since she left Bethel.”
The witness was not cross-examined.
George W. Nichols testified: “I reside in Medford, and am an undertaker. The autopsy on the body of Tena Davis was made in my store, and the body was sent down to Maine.”
The witness was not cross-examined.
Patrick H. Gray testified: “Am a teamster, residing in Somerville, and work for the city. I found a hat on Dec. 26 on the bank of the Mystic river. It was wet, and had floated up with the tide. I picked up the hat, and thought it oo(sic) good to throw away. I brought it home, and my wife said it was too good a hat for any one to throw away. She saw an advertisement in the paper, and rode over to Everett, and was told by Chief Everett that
He Knew the Hat.”
The hat was produced, and Mr. Cooney asked the witness if it was the hat he had picked up.
He replied: “That is not the hat. I guess it is though, but it was crumbled up, and this pin was stuck down through the hat.”
The witness was not cross-examined.
Charles J. Mills, civil engineer, recalled, testified that the distance from the top of the railing of the bridge to the water, when the tide is two and ah half hours on the ebb, is 13 feet 3 inches.
Thomas W. Durrell, medical examiner, testified: “I was called to view a body on the Wellington bridge. Next day I made an autopsy of the body in presence of Drs. Swan and Harris. The body was that of a well-developed though small girl. She was well nourished. Over the face were greenish discolorations, the hair was matted and filled with particles of sand. There was a quantity of mud on the tongue and teeth.
“No external marks of violence were on the body. Over the surface of the brain were a series of little hemorrhages, as if she had died from suffocation. A cut was made from the jaw down to the chest cavity, which was filled with reddish water. The lungs were doughy, and through the lungs and the large air passages were particles of sand.
“Around the heart was about two ounces of bloody water. The right side of the heart itself was filled with blood.
“I came to the conclusion that death was caused by drowning. I have no doubt about that.
“Marks of violence might disappear after death, if a body were in the water, but it would depend on the degree of violence.
“Unconsciousness might be produced if she fell from a height of several feet into the water, and she would then be likely to sink quicker. I should question whether she ever rose to the surface of the water at all.”
Cross-examined by Gov. Long—“The evidence I have given is entirely consistent with the possibility of the girl having thrown herself into the water. She was undoubtedly alive when she went into the water.
William D. Swan, a physician since 1885 and medical examiner of Cambridge, testified: “I made an autopsy of the body of Tena Davis. My observations were similar to those described by Dr. Durrell. The girl died from drowning. I have no doubt of that.”
Dr. Edward S. Wood testified: “I have been a professor of chemistry of Harvard College for 21 years. On Jan. 11 I received from Dr. Durrell two jars. One contained a stomach said to be that of Tena Davis. Next day I opened the stomach and made a careful examination of the conte ts.(sic)
“If she had eaten her supper about 5 o’clock and died at 8, it would be entirely consistent with the appearance of the stomach.
If Chloroform or Ether were Used
before she died, the water would remove all traces of it. I could not tell from the condition of the stomach whether they were used or not.
“On Feb. 11, I received from Chief of Police Emerton of Everett, a hair said to have been taken from a buggy, and in another package a lock of hair said to have been taken from the head of Tena Davis.
“This hair corresponds in every particular with the hair in that package.
“It has the same color, and corresponds in diameter. This hair is 7 inches long exactly, and is from the root to the top. They average measurement of the hair from the body varied from 600 to 461 parts of an inch in diameter, and tapered down to a point. This one was a small hair, and the hairs in this package vary from four to 15 inches in length. The diameter and size of this hair is consistent with coming from the head that the lock of hair came from.”
Cross-examined by Gov. Long—“It is also consistent with having the single hair come from any other head, the hair of which is of the same color.”
William D. Hills, physician and professor of chemistry of the Harvard medical school, testified: “I saw the hair and examined it, and agree with Dr. Wood.”
Francis J. Harris, medical examiner for the northern district of Suffolk county, testified that Tena Davis died of drowning.
Samuel M. Emerton, chief of police, Everett, testified: “I have been chief six years’ and 16 years on the police force.
“Trefethen came to me Dec. 24 between 3 and 3.30 o’clock in the afternoon. He came into the office where I was alone. He said to me: ’I am in trouble. Tena Davis has disappeared and left her home and I am blamed for it.’ He was considerably excited and was wringing his hands.
“I said, ‘quiet yourself. Whom do you mean by Tena Davis?’ He said, ‘She keeps a variety store over on Ferry st.’
“I said, ‘I recollect her. What do you mean by being blamed for it?’
“he said, ‘I will tell you the whole story.’ He was wringing his hands, and walking about the office. He said: ‘About 10 o’clock this forenoon, the pickle lime man came to me and said Mrs. Davis wanted to see me. I told him all right, for I supposed it was about a bundle ordered the day before the she wanted to see me. I took the bundle there, and found Mrs. Davis terribly excited, and as soon as she saw me, she cried out, ‘Where is Tena? What have you done with her?’
“I said I have not seen Tena. I don’t know what you mean.”
“’She said, ‘I know better. She went out to meet you on the corner last night, and you met her, and have done away with her.
“I said no, it is a mistake. I don’t know anything about her.
“She then said: ‘It is no use for you to argue, Tena has told me everything.’
“She then accused me of seducing her daughter in Charlestown, and having taken Tena walking later for the same purpose, under promise of marriage.
“I then asked him if he had been in the habit of talking with this girl, and joking with her, and making free with her in his calls to the store. He said no, that it was always business matters only that took him there or he discussed with her.
“I then asked him again if he was sure that he had never been familiar with her, and he said: ‘No, I positively deny hat(sic) I was familiar or free with her in any way.’
“I think I then asked him if he was out with his team this night she left home. He said he harnessed his team about 7 o’clock in the evening and went down as far as the spring, where he met his brother Gilbert, and as he had not seen him for a year or more, he turned back, and did not go to Charlestown, where he had started to go to deliver goods.
“He then asked me if there was any way to find the girl, and I told him I did not know, but we would make and investigation, that as things looked then they looked bad for him, but if he could tell me anything to lead me to know I would do anything I could for him. He said he was sure I would do what was for the best.
“I think that was all that passed on the 24th. On the 25th, Christmas day, he came in again soon after dinner. He asked me if I had done anything, and I told him no, but that I had made a sort of investigation, and did not think he had told me the truth.
“In the meantime I had investigated, and had sent Hewitt to Mrs. Davis. We talked about the finding of the girl, or where she might be, and he asked me if I new whether Mrs. Davis had not heard from Tena, or received any communication from her. He then said, ‘I think she must be in some of the hospitals.’
“He said, ‘I have a friend who is a detective, and is acquainted with most of the lying-in hospitals, and he may find her.’
“I then told him that since I had seen him it had come to my mind that about a year ago a man had come to my office and asked me if I knew about the character of James A. Trefethen, and that I had told him he was all right as far as I knew.”
Gov. Long objected to the conversation being given.
The court ruled against him, but took a note of his objection.
Witness continuing—“I told the man that as far as I knew he was all right. He said he was a friend of Mrs. Davis who had a daughter on whom he was waiting, and that she would like to know what kind of a man he was before things when further.
“Trefethen said, ‘There must be some mistake.’”
Gov. Long asked to have the question stricken out, but it was not done.
Witness—“He said he had been but twice driving with her that he could recollect, once to Mr. Veazey’s house in Malden and another time last September he left to go to Mr. Clark’s, the contractor, and on his way he stopped into the Davis store and saw Tena. She asked him where he was going and when he told her she said: “Can I go. I have something to tell you. He said that after they had gone some distance she told him of her condition, but refused to tell the name of the party responsible, as she had promised him not to do so.
“He said it shocked him so badly that he could not speak for a while, that he asked the name of the man, and she said. ‘I can’t tell. I promised him not to tell anybody.’
“Trefethen said: ‘I said to her, your mother is your best friend, and you had better tell her.’ She said, ‘It would be as much as my life would be worth if I did. I could not do it.’
“He said he felt so bad that he did not go to Clark’s at all, but drove around by Salem st., and back again home.
“I told him he had not been telling me the truth, for I had learned that friends and relatives had considered him the
Acknowledged Beau of Tena
.
So much so that when he came to the house they were left alone together.
“He said it was nothing of the kind, and positively denied that he ever, by word, look or deed gave her to understand that he cared for her, nor did she do so to him.
“He came in again on the 26th and asked if there was any news. I said no. He said: ‘Have you seen Mrs. Davis?’ I said, ‘Yes,’ He said, ‘Are you sure that Mrs. Davis has not heard from Tena. I said I knew she had not. I asked him some questions about his relations with the girl, if he had borrowed money from her and from her mother, and how much. He told me he had borrowed $300 of the girl originally, and paid it up in goods and that the mother held two notes of his for $400, $200 each. I told him that the mother had told me he had borrowed $20 from the girl the day before she left, and he did not deny it.
“The next time I saw him he said ‘I have seen counsel, and I have been advised to have no more talk till the proper time. I asked him when the proper time would come, and he replied that that would depend upon circumstances.
“I did not see him again till the 20th, when I said to him, ‘If this girl has gone to one of those lying-in hospitals we shall hear from her soon.’ He said he hoped so. I said ‘If she has not gone to a hospital then I don’t know what to say.’ I then said to him. ‘Do you recollect being at Mrs. Davis’ house on the 13th of August?’
“He said, ‘I was there so often I cannot remember,’ I said, Do you remember when you and Tena were in the backyard and Mr. Gilman and his wife came, Mrs. Davis called Tena and she did not answer?”
“He said yes, but I don’t know if it was the 13th of August. We were looking at the foundation of the house, and Mrs. Davis called, and I asked Tena why she did not answer, and she replied, ‘I don’t care, Gilman is always nagging at me.’ After they went away we went in, I following Tena, and we went upstairs, and I remained there during the evening.
“I saw him again on the 25th and said to him. ‘If you would tell me half what you know about this I could unravel it.
“He said, ‘Do you think I had anything to do with the disappearance of the girl?’ I said ‘I do.’ He said, ‘I am sorry, because
I Am Innocent.
’
“He never told me he had received a letter from Tena. I did not tell him Mrs. Davis had received a letter purporting to come from Tena. I received a letter from Officer Hewitt on the afternoon of the 24th, which I kept in my possession.
“Trefethen’s words to me, as I can remember, were, ‘Do you know whether Mrs. Davis has heard anything from Tena, or received any communication from her?’
“It was at the interview on the 24th I asked him if he was out with his team the previous night. He never changed the statement he made to me.
“When he was arrested the interview with him was by Whitney, Hewitt and Sullivan, and I was present part of the time.
“He was brought into the office, and Whitney said to him: ‘We have found Tena Davis,’” He was sitting on the chair, and he jumped up and said: “My God,” and sat down again.
“Sullivan said: ‘What are you so excited about?’
“He said, ‘I’m not excited.’ Sullivan said: ‘Then why do you jump up and wring your hands?’
“He said, ‘I did not do it.’ Sullivan then drew from the drawer a picture and said, ‘Who is that?’ He said:
“’That is Tena Davis.’
“Sullivan said, ‘Was she dead before you threw her over the bridge?’
“He said, ‘I did not think she would commit suicide.’
“he also said the reason he was in the attic of his house with Smith when he was arrested was because they were arranging about the putting in of a keeper to the store and the disposition of the goods, the store and the team, and having made over to Smith all the personal property in the way of goods in the store.
“He said the release was made on the 15th of December. In talking with him Sullivan said: “You don’t mean to say that paper was made out on the 15th?”
“He said, ‘No,” and Sullivan asked him when it was made out, and I think he said on the 30th.”
Witness then described the dragging of the river for the body. He said one day a boat was on the river near the bridge, and he ordered his men to intercept it. They did so, and in it were Smith, Richardson and another man. This was on Jan. 7.
“I asked Richardson when the boat came along what they were doing. He said it was none of my business. I said they were hanging around there all day and were there in the morning with a buggy, and that I proposed to know what they were there for.
“He said he had as good a right to boat in the river as I had.
“I said: ‘Yes, but you had
Better Keep a Civil Tongue
in your head.”
“As far as I could see, or as I know from any information I have received, they did not search at all in the part of the river near where the body was found.
“Smith and Trefethen were arrested on Jan. 10, and when the letter was shown to Smith and he was asked if he knew the writing, he said that he did not, but that Trefethen had received a letter like it on Dec. 24. He held it up and said, ‘I should think it was the other half of that sheet.’
“I asked him if he recollected the postmark, and he said he did, and if he had a piece of paper he would draw it out. He did draw it out.”
Gov. Long objected as Trefethen was not present.
The question was, however, allowed as evidence against Smith, but not to affect Trefethen.
The witness continued: “He said he received the letter on the morning of the 24th of December. I asked him where it was now and he said he did not know. He also spoke about buying the store and the goods and the team, that he had bought them, but declined to state how much money was paid for them. Smith commenced to get pale, leaned back in his chair and we had to send for water for him, but after a while he came to. He said he was cold and Whitney gave him a cigar and said it might dress him up.
“At his request I went to see him, after he had been locked up. He said he had something to say to me. I took him out. At the house previously I had said to Smith ‘Keep still and keep your mouth shut, or you will be hanging that man.’ He said, ‘That is my business.’ Then when he sent for me, he said, ‘I hope you have not any feelings about what I have said at the house. I hope you will not be hard on me for that.’ I said ‘No, I will not: I have forgotten all about it.’ and he said he must protect his little family.
He Was Considerably Excited
.
“When I asked him about the picture of Tena Davis, Smith said he went home one night and his wife brought a picture, which she said she had found thrown round somewhere in Trefethen’s cellar, and which was a picture of Tena Davis. Smith said that a part of the cellar was dug up, and that he took a shovel and came over and dug up part of the cellar, expecting to find what he did not want to find, but he did not. I said to him, ‘You did not expect to find the body?’ He said, ‘I don’t know; but I expected to find what I did not want to there.’”
Cross-examined by Gov. Long:--“Trefethen’s brother was arrested for breaking and entering and stealing fowl. He was at the time a good-sized boy. Another brother was given the alternative of going away or being arrested. Trefethen himself I knew nothing against, and his father and mother always attended to their own business. I never knew Smith till the time that the keeper was being put into the store.
Q. Did Trefethen tell you on the 10th that he had harnessed up his delivery wagon on the night of the 23d of December, and gone over to Chelsea to deliver some goods, and talked to a couple of salesladies there? A. Yes.
Q. Did you tell him twice that the mother had not got any letter from Tena? A. Yes, I did.
Q. Then you falsified? A. I suppose it may be considered so. I was doing my duty.
Q. And in doing your duty you were laying a trap for him? A. Yes.
Mr. Cooney objected to accusing the witness of falsifying, but the judges held that the witness did not need to state so himself.
Witness—“I did not testify to the conversations on the 25th and 26th in the lower court. Trefethen denied positively that he had ridden with the girl more than twice. He never avoided us in any way, until he was arrested on January 10.
“I don’t think Sullivan said, on the day the body was found, to Smith and Trefethen,
‘We Have Found the Body.’
I have heard that Sullivan testified to it in the lower court, but I was not present. I heard witness say, ‘We have found Tena Davis.’
Thomas J. Hewitt, sergeant of police of Everett, testified: “I have been on the police force five years and was a house painter before that. The day after the disappearance of Tena Davis I went and introduced myself to her mother, Mrs. Davis, and while there the girl employed in the shop came into the room with a letter. Mrs. Davis handed me the letter, asking me to open it. I did so, read it and showed it to her. I then marked the envelope.”
The much-talked-of letter was here produced. It bore the Boston postmark, and the stamp was very peculiarly placed cornerwise near the upper right-hand corner, on the opposite side to that on which stamps are usually placed.
Witness continued: “I put the letter in my pocket and after some time brought it to the station and gave it to the chief of police. The same evening I went to Trefethen’s house on Nichol st. to notify him that the chief wanted to see him on important business. I got there at 9 o’clock.
“I asked his mother if he was in, and she said he was not. I delivered the message and came back and told the chief. At 10 minutes to 1 the next morning I was in the office when Trefethen came in. He told me that he understood the chief wanted to see him, and I told him the chief had waited for some time, but had gone home. He said he was sorry, that he had some business to attend to, I think, with the man who was digging the cellar for him named, Fitzgerald. He said that after he got through with that he had seen his counsel, Mr. Coggin, I think, and had then gone into Boston to see a girl he had been in the habit of going with for some time. He said he had been over at Mrs. Davis’ in the morning and spoke of her accusing him about Tena. He did not remain long, not more than 20 minutes, but said he would call in the morning, or some time during the day.”
“I did not see him again till the following afternoon, 25th, when he came into the office. The chief was there, and he said to the chief: ‘Have you heard anything?”
“The chief said: ‘I have investigated since you were here, and I find you have not been telling me the truth.’ He said: ‘I feel sorry to have you think that way, but I do not know anything about the disappearance of Miss Davis. I am perfectly innocent. She may be in some hospital. He said he thought of hiring a detective to see if he could not hunt her up. The chief said he knew a woman who was a detective, and would do a good job for him. He said he had a friend who was a detective and pretty well acquainted with the lying-in hospitals of Boston, who was not doing much of anything at the time, and he thought he would let him look for her. He said he thought it very strange that Mrs. Davis had not received any letter or communication from Tena.
“The Chief Then Spoke”
of a man having come and inquired concerning his character about a year before, because a friend of his named Davis was understood to be keeping company with him, and they wanted to know about him before things went too far. He said, “That’s funny; there must be some mistake;” and the chief said there was not, and asked Trefethen was it that it was understood that he was the acknowledged beau of Tena. He said no, he thought it was not so.
“The chief said it was so given out; that he was seen to have made frequent visits to the store, where they were left alone from one to two hours.
“Trefethen said it was nothing of the kind. The chief then asked him if he remembered any time on Aug. 10 being at Mrs. Davis’ place on Ferry st. in the rear of the house, and he said he did not remember being there on Aug. 13. The chief asked him if he remembered being there at any time when the Gilmans called, and Mrs. Davis called her daughter Tena several times.
“He said he did remember that, and that at the time when Mrs. Davis was calling Tena he told her of it and asked her why she did not answer her mother, and she said she did not care to do so, because every time Mr. Gilman had seen her he always began nagging at her. He said he remained round until Gilman had ridden away, and then he and Tena had gone into the house together and upstairs; but that he had remained some little time, and then went home.”
The witness corroborated the testimony of the chief regarding the boating incident, when Smith and Richardson were examining the bank and looking for the body.
Coming to the examination of the buggy on Jan. 9 witness said:
“Sullivan and I examined the buggy, which bore evidence of having been recently washed and brushed out. There were the ends of a broom in the buggy. Sullivan got into the buggy and handed me the cushion. In looking over the cushion, on one of the buttons I saw a hair wound around it. I called Sullivan’s attention to it, and he unwound the hair off the button, and said to be careful not to break or lose it. I took a piece of paper and put it round it, and put it in my pocket, and from there we went to Wellington bridge. I afterwards gave it to the chief.”
Mrs. Lydia Pratt of Everett testified: “On the evening of Dec. 23 I was going to attend a meeting in the Glendale church, Everett. At 7 o’clock, on the corner of 3d st. and Broadway,
I Met Tena Davis
standing on the corner opposite an electric light. I cannot describe the way she was dressed. I saw no carriage. There were two people standing near her, a man and a woman. I thought Tena was waiting for a car.”
Edward F. Smith, a Boston photographer, told about making photographs of handwriting given him by Officer Shaw.
George H. Langdon, a car driver on the Malden route, testified that on the night of Dec. 22 he saw a man and a small-sized woman standing together on the Malden bridge. He was unable to identify Trefethen as the man, and could not describe the woman.
Deputy Chief Sullivan of Malden in his testimony said;
“Smith told me that Trefethen came to his place of business and told him that Mrs. Davis had charged him with spiriting her girl away, and that she was anxious to have some assistance in finding out about her.
“he further said that he had told Mrs. Davis that she must not say anything to the local police about this matter. ‘All our talk must be confidential and I will see what I can do.’
“I went to the Mystic river several times. I took a picture from Mr. Smith’s pocket. I asked him where he got it and he said, ‘that picture I got from my wife and she said she had got it from her mother. I felt a little anxious about that picture.
“He said he had dug up the cellar and expected to find something he did not care to see. I asked him what he meant by that, and he said he did not know but Bert might have killed the girl and buried her in the cellar.
“I showed the letter which the mother had received, purporting to come from Tena, and he said Trefethen had received a similar letter on the morning of the 24th. He said his counsel had made a copy of it, and that the original had been lost; that nobody else had seen it but his counsel and Mr. Smith. Somebody suggested to him that it was an important letter for him, and that it would be well if he could find it.”
Cross-examined by Gov. Long—I remembered after leaving the stand in Malden that I had made a mistake in regard to having Whitney say “We have found Tena’s body.” Whitney said, “We have found Tena Davis.”
J.W. Whitney testified: “I am connected with the State police, and have been doing police duty 17 years.”
Witness having testified to the finding of the body, told how he had returned to Trefethen’s house with officers, and did not find him there.
‘We went there afterwards and found Trefethen and Smith upstairs,” he continued. “Both were notified of our official position. I told Trefethen he need not answer if he did not wish to. Smith was in another room at this time.
“Trefethen said he had harnessed his horse on the night of the 23d, and drove over to the corner of Ferry and Nichols sts., and there met his brother. The brother recognized him first and got on the team, he said, and after driving forward as far as the spring the brother complained of toothache and got off the team, while he continued on to 232 Bunker Hill st. where he delivered goods at Wemyss’ store, where he had talked to Misses McNellis and Payne. He said that then he drove home by the same route, except that when he arrived at Malden st. he went by another route and got home by 9.40 o’clock.
“Mr. Sullivan questioned him about Miss Davis, and he said he had
Taken Miss Davis to Ride
on two occasions. Once in September he took her to ride and they intended to call on Clark, who had done this contracting for the store, when on the way she had informed him of her condition, and he was so surprised that he drove around the streets and did not go to Clark’s. On that occasion he had told her, he said, that she ought to confide in her mother, as she was the best friend she had. He said that she had replied, ‘It will never be known, I have promised on my life not to tell.’
“He also said that three or four days before the girl left home, one day when he called Tena came out from the back store crying. He asked what was the matter and if she was sick. She said: ‘No, my mother knows about my condition, and she gave me the very devil. I will take my life or get stuff to do it.’
“He also said that Smith and himself talked together about the keeper. The words Whitney used were, ‘We have found Tena Davis.’ And Trefethen jumped up and said, ‘My God, you haven’t, have you?’
“Sullivan said, ‘What makes this excitement in getting up off the chair?’ He said he had not done so. Sullivan then drew a picture out of his pocket and said, ‘Whose picture is that?’ Trefethen said, ‘It is Tena Davis’ picture; only the hair looks darker than it is. Sullivan then asked him about walking on the bridge, and if she was dead when he threw her overboard, and he denied it.
“Another time, I don’t know if it was then, he said, ‘I never thought she would commit suicide.’ As I remember it, he said he never met her alone.
“At the second interview I asked Trefethen if he was innocent of this, what his theory was in regard to the disappearance of Tena Davis. He said he thought it was blackmail. I asked him if he thought that she was in a blackmail scheme. He said he thought she was, and that he had Smith to watch the house, and that if the girl left the house Smith would follow to know where she went. He was asked by Emerton how often he had driven down over Middlesex av. or the Wellington bridge, and he said he had never driven there in his life.
“Trefethen said afterwards, that after Mr. Coggan had taken a copy of the letter he had himself taken it home and thrown it carelessly on his desk, and he supposed his mother had swept it away. I held up the letter in my hand and said it would be worth $10 to have the other half of that, to compare the edges, and he said, ‘I guess it would be worth $100.’”
George A. Brennan testified as follows: “I reside at 72 Gore st., East Cambridge, and am a dealer in pickled goods. On Dec. 24 I was in Everett and went to Mrs. Davis’ store, getting there between 9 and 10 o’clock. In consequence of what I was told there I went to Trefethen’s house. He was there, and I sent for him, and he came out. I told him Mrs. Davis wanted to see him. I said to him, ‘What the devil did you do with Tenny last night.’ (Laughter.) I told him that Mrs. Davis wanted him to come up and see her. He said he would go right away. I brought him out to the wagon and sold him a package of goods and then went back to Mrs. Davis’ and told her he would be up.
“When talking to him, I said, ‘The old lady thought you had gone off to get married,’ and he said he couldn’t get married, as he had been engaged to another lady on Dorchester av. for four or five years. I told him that Tena had gone, and that the old lady thought she was gone with him.”
Cross-examined by Gov. Long—We chatted just as cheerily as I am at this moment, and after talking to him I drove off.
A copy of the letter which Trefethen claimed he had received from Tena on the 24th inst., and which was made by his counsel, Mr. Coggan, was then handed in. It was as follows:
I must write you a last word to you. Mother thinks you are to blame for my trouble, and I cannot tell you who the one is, as I told you when you asked me to tell you who he was. That I cannot tell, for I promised him not to tell anyone. Mother has drove me almost crazy, and I don’t know what I will do, but I want to thank you for your kindness to me, and say goodby, as I may never see you again.
Oh! I don’t know what I will do with myself.
Goodby. D.J. Davis.
The court then adjourned to 9 o’clock this morning.
THEIR LIVES THE STAKE.
How the Trial Appears to a Disinterested Spectator.
More absorbing than any mere game of chance or skill, for no matter how high a stake, is an investigation by the officers of justice and the law.
The audience at the Trefethen-Smith trial is much like all other audiences where the stake is smaller.
Here are men and women, some—it is too much to say all—attracted by the promptings of a morbid curiosity. Here are some fully aware of the dignity and solemnity of the proceedings at which they are to assist; others, more anxious to impress bystanders and their temporary neighbors with their importance or stylish appearance than to watch the moves in the terrible game, in which the stake is human life and perpetual dishonor.
The prisoners, carefully groomed as they are, show plainly the tremendous strain to which they are being put.
Smith, a handsome, dark, almost swarthy man, with slumbrous, expressive black eyes, and Trefethen, his stronger, firmer companion, are pale and anxious.
The fitful flashes of humor, which not even the midnight wings of hovering death can over shadow completely, are lost on them.
Smith’s fathomless black orbs only take on a more piteous expression when any smile or simper passes like a sunbeam through the closely packed court room, and seems to say timidly and plaintively that where time and eternity are at stake there is no place for levity.
Trefethen’s strong white hands grip each other convulsively, as the answers fall from the lips of witnesses, dropping like pebbles on a half open grave, and relaxing as his counsel transmutes them into vapor, by a series of shrewd yet carefully planned questions.
Indeed, one of the redeeming features of this to be celebrated trial is the conduct of the case by the translator of Virgil, who proves himself equally at home in Latin idioms or the mazes of a capital law case.
Courteous ever, clear voiced, with distinct enunciation and a mastery of the finest English, he puts his queries, and as they come and are answered, or stumbled at, the swift approaching shadow recedes step by step and drops her manacles and her noose and seems to leave hope in her place, only to be recalled on the direct examination of another witness.
And so it goes, the mightiest game at which poor humans ever played, except that of wholesale murder under the name of war, advance and retreat, checkmate and break, with no one able to see the end, the judges seeming to be the idlest spectators of all.
Blodgett, a man to equal whom in appearance the vast majority of men might well exchange youth for age; Mason, whose face is like a volume of Coke or Blackstone, and Hammond, the complete illustration of an American jurist, his smooth-shaven face filled with wrinkles caught from parchment and sheepskin bindings, and his eyes lighted by a knowledge gained in a long life’s dealings with humanity in all its phases.
Courtesy and skill do all the players show, and courtesy of the extremest(sic) kind, such that it serves to hide the iron grasp of the velvet hand to all except the prisoners in the dock.
At times the eyes of the spectators turn upon them, but they stand it all unmoved, as those to whom the loss of a minor point is nothing when all their lives are the prize for which these players, officers, judges, lawyers, witnesses were playing.
One will start from his seat and grasp the railings in front of him as if to crush the iron itself, and the other, whith half opened lips, lets the pulsations of his swiftly beating heart be noted only in his agonized glance, and so it goes through the long day, and when another sun rises will the grim ordeal be resumed.