curs from violence…

chunk 772 · paragraph 767

as his own admission, but the physicians testified that it frequently happened that a man after receiv- ing such wounds as Barney had, would give accounts of the transaction even in detail, and the account would be entirely false, although made in perfect good faith. ( 40 ) curs from violence. Such an examination very often materially assists the exposure of guilt, and becomes a shield for the innocent. We can- not insist too strongly upon this matter. Our coroner should have medical experience. The justice of the peace gets $13 for holding an inquest, and as a general thing he might as well not hold any, for all the good it does. It seems to us in this matter, our policy is a penny-wise and a pound-foolish one. Many a guilty man has been brought to justice who would have never been detected, but for an inquest con- ducted by a coroner having professional ex- perience. A great deal of credit is due to Dr. Slough. His testimony or rather lecture on the subject of wounds on the head, was very enter- taining and instructive, and was listened to with marked attention. Without the medical testi- mony, the defendant stood in great jeopardy. Indeed it was currently reported, that when the jury was empanneled and before the evidence was introduced, ten out of the twelve, on the facts as they understood them at the time, were in favor of murder in the first or second degree, but after hearing all the testimony became con- vinced that the defendant was not guilty, and their verdict was reached immediately after