robbing one Goodridge upon the highway between the town of Exeter, in the State of New Hampshire, and Newburyport, Massachusetts. Goodridge was wounded in the hand by a pistol-shot, and he claimed that a considerable sum of money had been taken from him. By Mr. Webster's skill he was at once put upon the defensive. Persons charged with crimes of the nature of robbery, arson, or murder, are usually driven to account for their existence and doings at the time when the crime was committed. Goodridge was called to stand a similar test. He was four or four and a half hours on the way from Exeter to Newburyport, when he could have driven over the road in two or two and a half hours. This delay Goodridge was unable to explain. It was shown that money and papers were found in the house occupied by the accused, but only in places to which Goodridge had had access.

The verdict by which the accused were acquitted was received by the public as a verdict of guilty against Goodridge.

At the trial of the Knapps, in 1830, Mr. Webster, who appeared in behalf of the government, had occasion to refer to the Goodridge case. In that case, Judge William Prescott, father of the historian, was retained by the government to aid in the prosecution. When Mr. Webster appeared for

the government at the trial of the Knapps, the counsel for the accused complained of his presence, and said that he had been brought there to hurry the court and jury "against the law and beyond the evidence." In his long career at the bar, in Congress, and in general politics, he never allowed a personal imputation to rest for a day without reply and rebuke. He asserted himself in his reply to Hayne, in his defense against the attacks of Ingersoll, in his scornful denunciation of the resolutions of the Whig party of Massachusetts in 1842, and in his many letters and speeches in justification of his speech of the 7th of March, 1850.

In reply to the aspersions cast upon him by the counsel for the Knapps, he indulged in deferential compliments to the court, assuring the members that if he made the attempt it would be impossible to carry them against the law; and to the jury he said that they could "not be hurried beyond the evidence." Turning to the counsel for the prisoners, and referring to the Goodridge robbery, he said:

"I remember that the learned head of the Suffolk bar, Mr. Prescott, came down in aid of the officers of the government. This was regarded as neither strange nor improper. The counsel for the prisoners, in that case, contented themselves with answering his arguments, as far as they were able, instead of carping at his presence."

The murder of Captain White was committed by Richard Crowninshield, for a sum of money to be paid by Joseph J. Knapp, Jr. John Francis Knapp, his brother, was a party to the conspiracy. After the arrest of the parties, Joseph made a full confession to the Rev. Mr. Colman. When Crowninshield heard of the confession, he committed suicide. He had declared previously that he would never submit himself to the degradation of a public execution. It may be true, also, that he thought that by his death his associates might escape conviction upon the charge of murder. As the law then stood, the accessories could not be convicted until after the conviction of the principal. Crowninshield was the principal and the Knapps were accessories. It was proved that Frank Knapp stood at the corner of Brown Street at the time of the murder, and at a point where he had a full view of the house. It was also proved that he met Crowninshield as he came from the house, that they walked together for a time, and that they were together when Crowninshield hid the club, with which he had struck the fatal blow, under the steps of a church.

It was the theory of the government that Frank Knapp was at Brown Street for the purpose of aiding Crowninshield in case of necessity, and upon that theory he was convicted as a principal. The

final and more deliberate opinion is that he was not there for any such purpose. In an interview that he had with Crowninshield the preceding afternoon, Crowninshield had said that he did not feel like doing the work that night; and the probability is, that there was no arrangement for aid on the part of Knapp, and that it was only a restless, intense interest in the matter that carried him to a place of observation. Joseph Knapp repudiated his confession, which he had been led to believe would secure a commutation of punishment if not pardon for his crime, and he and his brother were convicted and executed.

The murder of Captain White was a tragedy as horrid as any recorded in play or history; the suicide of Richard Crowninshield was a tragedy with a quality of heroism in it; and there is something which appeals to the better elements of our human nature in the final decision of Joseph Knapp, in refusing to save himself at the sacrifice of his brother's life.

It is not an easy task to select one from Mr. Webster's many speeches, and with confidence assign pre-eminence to that one. With hesitation I give the first place to his argument in the trial of Frank Knapp. It presents six great features. First of all, his description of the murder scene. Next, his essay on the secret, which he closes in

these words: "It must be confessed, it will be confessed; there is no refuge from confession but suicide, and suicide is confession." Then came his analysis of the evidence, which could not have been surpassed by Mr. Choate, who was the unrivaled master of that branch of the profession. Then we have his summary of the evidence which he marshaled as the equivalent of the confession of Joseph, as it had been related by Mr. Colman, but which was of doubtful competency:

"Compare what you learn from this confession with what you before knew.

"As to its being proposed by Joseph, was not that before known?

"As to Richard being in the house alone, was not that known?

"As to the daggers, was not that known?

"As to the time of the murder, was not that known?

"As to his being out that night, was not that known?

"As to his returning afterward, was not that known?

"As to the club, was not that known?"

Then came his summary in propositions as deduced from the mass of evidence:

"Gentlemen, I think you can not doubt there was a conspiracy formed for the purpose of com