Entered according to Act of Parliament in the year 1889, by John Lovell& Son, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture and Statistics atOttawa.
"Do you find the prisoner guilty or not guilty?"
"We find the prisoner guilty, my lord."
A curious little thrill of emotion—half sigh, half sob—ran through thecrowded court. Even the most callous, the most world-hardened, of humanbeings cannot hear unmoved the verdict which condemns a fellow-creatureto a shameful death. The spectators of Andrew Westwood's trial for themurder of Sydney Vane had expected, had predicted, the result; yet itcame with the force of a shock to their excited nerves. The trial hadlasted for two whole days already, and the level rays of sunshine thatstreamed through the west windows of the court-house showed that theafternoon of a third day was drawing to a close. The attention of thepatient sitters with whom the seats were closely packed had beenstrained to the uttermost; the faces of many were white and weary, orflushed with excitement and fatigue. The short absence of the jurymenhad only strung their nerves to a higher pitch; and the slight murmurthat passed through the heavy air when the verdict was made known showedthe tension which had been reached.
The prisoner was well known in the locality, and so also had been hisvictim. This fact accounted for the crowding of the court by friends andacquaintances of the man murdered and his murderer, and for thebreathless interest with which every step of the legal process had beenfollowed. Apart from this, the case had excited much attention all overEngland; the papers had been filled with its details, and a good deal ofdiscussion on the laws of circumstantial evidence had arisen during itscourse. Not that there could be any reasonable doubt as to[Pg 4] theprisoner's guilt. True, nobody had seen him commit the crime. But he wasa poacher of evil character and violent disposition; he had been sent togaol for snaring rabbits by Mr. Vane, and had repeatedly vowed vengeanceupon him; there was a presumption against him from the very first. Thenone evening he had been seen lurking about a covert near which Mr. Vanepassed shortly afterwards; shots were heard by passers-by and Mr. Vanewas discovered lying amongst the springing bracken in the depths of ashadowy copse, shot through the heart. A scrap of rough tweed found inthe dead man's hand was said to correspond with a torn corner ofWestwood's coat, and the murder was supposed to have been committed bythe poacher with a gun which was afterwards found in Westwood's cottage.Several persons testified that they had seen Andrew issuing from thecopse or walking along the neighboring road, before or after the hourwhen Mr. Vane met his fate, that he had his gun in his hand, that hisdemeanor was strange, and that his clothes seemed to have been torn in ascuffle. Little by little the evidence accumulated against him until itproved irresistible. Facts which seemed small in themselves became largeand black, and charged with damnatory significance in the lawyer'shands. The best legal talent of the country was used with crushingeffect against poor Andrew Westwood. Sydney Van