Roland Cashel Volume Ii Part 55

--Warren Hastings.

For several days before that appointed for the trial of Roland Cashel, the a.s.size town was crowded with visitors from every part of the island.

Not a house, not a room was unoccupied, so intense was the interest to witness a cause into which so many elements of exciting story entered.

His great wealth, his boundless extravagance, the singular character of his early life, gave rise to a hundred curious anecdotes, which the press circulated with a most unscrupulous freedom.

Nor did public curiosity stop at the walls of the prison; for every detail of his life, since the day of his committal, was carefully recorded by the papers. The unbroken solitude in which he lived; the apparent calm collectedness in which he awaited his trial; his resolute refusal to employ legal a.s.sistance; his seeming indifference to the alleged clews to the discovery of the murder,--were commented on and repeated till they formed the table-talk of the land.

The only person with whom he desired to communicate was Dr. Tiernay; but the doctor had left Ireland in company with old Mr. Corrigan and Miss Leicester, and none knew whither they had directed their steps.

Of all his former friends and acquaintances, Cashel did not appear to remember one; nor, certainly, did they obtrude themselves in any way upon his recollection. The public, it is true, occupied themselves abundantly with his interests. Letters, some with signatures, the greater number without, were addressed to him, containing advices and counsels the strangest and most opposite, and requests, which to one in his situation were the most inappropriate. Exhortations to confess his crime came from some, evidently more anxious for the solution of a mystery than the repentance of a criminal. Some suggested legal quibbles to be used at the trial; others hinted at certain most skilful advocates, whose services had been crowned with success in the case of most atrocious wretches. A few asked for autographs; and one, in a neat crowquill hand, with paper smelling strongly of musk, requested a lock of his hair!

If by any accident Cashel opened one of these epistles, he was certain to feel amused. It was to him, at least, a new view of life, and of that civilization against which he now felt himself a rebel. Generally, however, he knew nothing of them: a careless indifference, a reckless disregard of the future, had taken complete possession of him; and the only impatience he ever manifested was at the slow march of the time which should elapse before the day of trial.

The day at length arrived; and even within the dreary walls of the prison were heard the murmured accents of excitement as the great hour drew nigh.

Mr. Goring at an early hour had visited the prisoner, to entreat him, for the last time, to abandon his mad refusal of legal aid; explaining forcibly that there were constantly cases occurring where innocence could only be a.s.serted by disentangling the ingenious tissue with which legal astuteness can invest a circ.u.mstance. Cashel rejected this counsel calmly but peremptorily; and when pressed home by other arguments, in a moment of pa.s.sing impatience confessed that he was "weary of life, and would make no effort to prolong it."

"Even so, sir," said Goring. "There is here another question at issue.

Are you satisfied to fill the dishonored grave of a criminal? Does not the name by which men will speak of you hereafter possess any terror for you now?"

A slight tremor shook Cashel's voice as he replied, "Were I one who left kindred or attached friends behind him, these considerations would have their weight, nor would I willingly leave them the heritage of such disgrace; but I am alone in the world, without one to blush for my dishonor, or shed a tear over my sorrow. The calumny of my fellowmen will only fall on ears sealed by death; nor will their jeers break the slumber I am so soon to sleep."

Goring labored hard to dissuade him from his resolve, but to no purpose.

The only consolation of which Roland seemed capable arose from the dogged indifference he felt as to the result, and the consciousness of an innocence he was too proud to a.s.sert.

From an early hour of the morning the court was crowded. Many persons distinguished in the world of fas.h.i.+on were to be seen amid the gowned and wigged throng that filled the body of the building; and in the galleries were a vast number of ladies, whose elegance of dress told how much they regarded the scene as one of display, as well as of exciting interest. Some had been frequent guests at his house; others had often received him at their own; and there they sat, in eager expectancy to see how he would behave, to criticise his bearing, to scan his looks through their "lorgnettes," and note the accents in which he would speak. A few, indeed, of his more intimate friends denied themselves the treat such an exhibition promised; and it was plain to see how highly they estimated their own forbearance. Still, Frobisher and some of his set stood beneath the gallery, and watched the proceedings with interest.

Some routine business of an uninteresting nature over, the case of the King _versus_ Roland Cashel was called, and the governor of the jail was ordered to produce the prisoner. A murmur of intense interest quickly ran through the crowded a.s.sembly, and as suddenly was subdued to a dead silence as the crowd, separating, permitted the pa.s.sage of two armed policemen, after whom Cashel walked, followed by two others. Scarcely had he merged from the dense throng and taken his place in the dock, when a buzz of astonishment went round; for the prisoner, instead of being dressed decorously in black, as is customary, or at least in some costume bespeaking care and respect, was attired in the very suit he wore on the eventful night of the murder, the torn sleeves and blood-stained patches attracting every eye around him. He was paler and thinner than his wont; and if his countenance was more deeply thoughtful, there was nothing in it that evinced anxiety, or even expectancy. As he entered the dock, they who stood nearest to him remarked that a slight flush stole over his face, and something that seemed painful to his feelings appeared to work within him. A brief effort overcame this, and he raised his eyes and carried his looks around the court with the most perfect unconcern.

The prisoner was now arraigned, and the clerk proceeded to read over the indictment; after which came the solemn question, "How say you, prisoner, Guilty or Not Guilty?" Either not understanding the "quaere"

as directly addressed to himself, or conceiving it to be some formality not requiring an answer, Cashel stood in a calm and respectful silence for some minutes, when the judge, in a mild voice, explained the meaning of the interrogation.

"Not Guilty, my Lord," said Cashel, promptly; and though the words were few, and those almost of course on such an occasion, the feeling in the court was manifestly in concurrence with the speaker. The routine detail of calling over the jury panel involving the privilege of "challenge,"

it became necessary to explain this to Cashel, whose ignorance of all legal forms being now so manifest, the judge asked who was counsel for the prisoner.

"He has not named any, my Lord."

With patient kindness the judge turned to the dock, and counselled him, even now, late as it was, to select some one among the learned members of the Bar, whose guidance would materially serve his interests, and save him from the many embarra.s.sments his own una.s.sisted efforts would produce.

"I thank you, my Lord, for your consideration," replied he, calmly, "but if I be innocent of this crime, I stand in need of no skill to defend me. If guilty, I do not deserve it."

"Were guilt and innocence always easy of detection," said the judge, "your remark might have some show of reason; but such is rarely the case, and once more I would entreat you to intrust your cause to some one conversant with our forms and acquainted with our duties."

"I am not guilty, my Lord," replied Roland, boldly, "nor do I fear that any artifice can make me appear such. I will not have counsel."

The Attorney-General here in a low voice addressed the Bench, and suggested that although the prisoner might not himself select a defender, yet the interests of justice generally requiring that the witnesses should be cross-examined, it would be well if the Court would appoint some one to that duty.

The judge repeated the suggestion aloud, adding his perfect concurrence in its nature, and inviting the learned Bar to lend a volunteer in the cause; when a voice called out, "I will willingly accept the office, my Lord, with your permission."

"Very well, Mr. Clare Jones," replied the judge; and that gentleman, of whom we have so long lost sight, advanced to the front of the bar, beside the dock.

Cashel, during this scene, appeared like one totally uninterested in all that was going forward; nor did he even turn his head towards where his self-appointed advocate was standing. As the names of the jury were called over, Jones closely scrutinized each individual, keenly inquiring from what part of the county he came--whether he had resided as a tenant on the Cashel estate--and if he had, on any occasion, expressed himself strongly on the guilt or innocence of the accused. To all these details Roland listened with an interest the novelty suggested, but, it was plain to see, without any particle of that feeling which his own position might have called for. The jury were at length impanelled, and the trial began.

Few, even among the most accomplished weavers of narrative, can equal the skill with which a clever lawyer details the story of a criminal trial. The orderly sequence in which the facts occur; the neat equipoise in which matters are weighed; the rigid insistence upon some points, the insinuated probabilities and the likelihood of others,--are all arranged and combined with a masterly power that more discursive fancies would fail in.

Events and incidents that to common intelligence appear to have no bearing on the case, arise, like unexpected witnesses, at intervals, to corroborate this, or to insinuate that. Time, place, distance, locality, the laws of light and sound, the phenomena of science, are all invoked, not with the abstruse pedantry of a bookworm, but with the ready-witted acuteness of one who has studied mankind in the party-colored page of real life.

To any one unaccustomed to these efforts, the effect produced is almost miraculous: conviction steals in from so many sources, that the mind, like a city a.s.saulted on every side, is captured almost at once. All the force of cause and effect is often imparted to matters which are merely consecutive; and it requires patient consideration to disembarra.s.s a case of much that is merely insinuated, and more that is actually speculative.

In the present instance everything was circ.u.mstantial; but so much the more did it impress all who listened, even to him who, leaning on the rails of the dock, now heard with wonderment how terribly consistent were all the events which seemed to point him out as guilty.

After a brief exordium, in which he professed his deep sorrow at the duty which had devolved on him, and his ardent desire to suffer nothing to escape him with reference to the prisoner save what the interests of truth and justice imperatively might call for, the Attorney-General entered upon a narrative of the last day of Mr. Kennyf.e.c.k's life; detailing with minute precision his departure from Tubbermore at an early hour in Mr. Cashel's company, and stating how something bordering upon altercation between them was overheard by the bystanders as they drove away. "The words themselves, few and unimportant as they might seem," added he, "under common circ.u.mstances, come before us with a terrible significance when remembered in connection with the horrible event that followed." He then traced their course to Drumcoologan, where differences of opinion, trivial, some might call them, but of importance to call for weighty consideration here, repeatedly occurred respecting the tenantry and the management of the estate. These would all be proved by competent witnesses, he alleged; and he desired the jury to bear in mind that such testimony should be taken as that of men much more disposed to think and speak well of Mr. Cashel, whose very spendthrift tastes had the character of virtues in the peasants eyes, in contrast with the careful and more scrupulous discretion practised by "the agent."

"You will be told, gentlemen of the jury," continued he, "how, after a day spent in continued differences of opinion, they separated at evening,--one to return to Tubbermore by the road; the other, by the less travelled path that led over the mountains. And here it is worthy of remark that Mr. Cashel, although ignorant of the way, a stranger, for the first time in his life in the district, positively refuses all offers of accompaniment, and will not even take a guide to show him the road. Mr. Kennyf.e.c.k continues for some time to transact business with the tenantry, and leaves Drumcoologan, at last, just as night was closing in. Now, about halfway between the manor-house of Tubbermore and the village of Drumcoologan, the road has been so much injured by the pa.s.sage of a mountain-torrent, that when the travellers pa.s.sed in the morning they found themselves obliged to descend from the carriage and proceed for some distance on foot,--a precaution that Mr. Kennyf.e.c.k was compelled also to take on his return, ordering the servant to wait for him on the crest of the hill. That spot he was never destined to reach!

The groom waited long and anxiously for his coming; he could not leave his horses to go back and find out the reasons of his delay,--he was alone. The distance to Tubbermore was too great to permit of his proceeding thither to give the alarm; he waited, therefore, with that anxiety which the sad condition of our country is but too often calculated to inspire even among the most courageous, when, at last, footsteps were heard approaching, he called out aloud his master's name, but, instead of hearing the well-known voice in answer, he was accosted in Irish by an old man, who told him, in the forcible accents of his native tongue, 'that a murdered man was lying on the roadside.' The groom at once hurried back, and at the foot of the ascent discovered the lifeless but still warm body of his master; a bullet-wound was found in the back of the skull, and the marks of some severe blows across the face. On investigating further, at a little distance off, a pistol was picked up from a small drain, where it seemed to have been thrown in haste; the bore corresponded exactly with the bullet taken from the body; but more important still, this pistol appears to be the fellow of another belonging to Mr. Cashel, and will be identified by a competent witness as having been his property.

"An interval now occurs, in which a cloud of mystery intervenes; and we are unable to follow the steps of the prisoner, of whom nothing is known, till, on the alarm of the murder reaching Tubbermore, a rumor runs that footsteps have been heard in Mr. Cashel's apartment, the key of which the owner had taken with him. The report gains currency rapidly that it is Mr. Cashel himself; and although the servants aver that he never could have traversed the hall and the staircase unseen by some of them, a new discovery appears to explain the fact. It is this. The ivy which grew on the wall of the house, and which reached to the window of Mr. Cashel's dressing-room, is found torn down, and indicating the pa.s.sage of some one by its branches. On the discovery of this most important circ.u.mstance, the Chief Justice, accompanied by several other gentlemen, proceeded in a body to the chamber, and demanded admittance.

From them you will hear in detail what took place,--the disorder in which they found the apartment; heaps of papers littered the floor; letters lay in charred ma.s.ses upon the hearth; the gla.s.s of the window was broken, and the marks of feet upon the window-sill and the floor showed that some one had entered by that means. Lastly--and to this fact you will give your utmost attention--the prisoner himself is found with his clothes torn in several places; marks of blood are seen upon them, and his wrist shows a recent wound, from which the blood flows profusely. Although cautioned by the wise foresight of the learned judge against any rash attempt at explanation, or any inadvertent admission which might act to his prejudice hire-after, he bursts forth into a violent invective upon the murderer, and suggests that they should mount their horses at once, and scour the country in search of him. This counsel being, for obvious reasons, rejected, and his plan of escape frustrated, he falls into a moody despondency and will not speak.

Shrouding himself in an affected misanthropy, he pretends to believe that he is the victim of some deep-planned treachery,--that all these circ.u.mstances, whose detail I have given you, have been the deliberate schemes of his enemies. It is difficult to accept of this explanation, gentlemen of the jury; and, although I would be far from diminis.h.i.+ng in the slightest the grounds of any valid defence a man so situated may take up, I would caution you against any rash credulity of vague and unsupported a.s.sertions; or, at least, to weigh them well against the statements of truth-telling witnesses. The prisoner is bound to lay before you a narrative of that day, from the hour of his leaving home to that of his return, to explain why he separated from his companion, and came back alone by a path he had never travelled before, and at night; with what object he entered his own house by the window,--a feat of considerable difficulty and of some danger. His disordered and blood-stained dress; his wounded hand; the missing pistol; the agitation of his manner when discovered amid the charred and torn remains of letters,--all these have to be accounted for. And remember at what moment they occurred! When his house was the scene of festivity and rejoicing; when above a thousand guests were abandoning themselves to the unbridled enjoyment of pleasure,--this is the time the host takes to arrange papers, to destroy letters, to make, in fact, those hurried arrangements that men are driven to on the eve of either flight or some desperate undertaking. Bear all this in mind, gentlemen: and remember that, to explain these circ.u.mstances, the narrative of the prisoner must be full, coherent, and consistent in all its parts. The courts of justice admit of neither reservations nor mysteries. We are here to investigate the truth, whose cause admits of no compromise."

The witnesses for the prosecution were now called over and sworn.

The first examined were some of the servants who had overheard the conversation between Cashel and Kennyf.e.c.k on the morning of leaving Tubbermore. They differed slightly as to the exact expressions used, but agreed perfectly as to their general import,--a fact which even the cross-examination of Mr. Jones only served to strengthen. Some peasants of Drumcoologan were next examined, to show that during the day slight differences were constantly occurring between the parties, and that Cashel had more than once made use of the expression, "Have your own way _now_, but ere long I'll take mine;" or words very similar.

The old man who discovered the body, and the postilion, were then questioned as to all the details of the place, the hour, and the fact; and then Tom Keane was called for. It was by him the pistol was picked up from the drain. The air of reluctance with which the witness ascended the table, and the look of affectionate interest he bestowed upon the dock were remarked by the whole a.s.semblage. If the countenance of the man evinced little of frankness or candor, the stealthy glance he threw around him as he took his seat showed that he was not deficient in cunning.

As his examination proceeded, the dogged reluctance of his answers, the rugged bluntness by which he avoided any clear explanation of his meaning, were severely commented on by the Attorney-General, and even called forth the dignified censure of the Bench; so that the impression produced by his evidence was, that he was endeavoring throughout to screen his landlord from the imputation of a well-merited guilt.

The cross-examination now opened, but without in any way serving to shake the material character of the testimony, at the same time that it placed in a still stronger light the attachment of the witness to the prisoner. Cashel, hitherto inattentive and indifferent to all that was going forward, became deeply interested as this examination proceeded; his features, apathetic and heavy before, grew animated and eager, and he leaned forward to hear the witness with every sign of anxiety.

The spectators who thronged the court attributed the prisoner's eagerness to the important nature of the testimony, and the close reference it bore to the manner of the crime; they little knew the simple truth, that it was the semblance of affection for him,--the pretended interest in his fate,--which touched his lonely heart, and kindled there a love of life.

"That poor peasant, then," said Roland to himself, "he, at least, deems me guiltless. I did not think that there lived one who cared as much for me!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: 338]

With the apparent intention of showing to the Court and jury that Keane was not bia.s.sed towards his former master, Mr. Jones addressed several questions to him; but instead of eliciting the fact, they called forth from the witness a burst of grat.i.tude and love for him that actually shook the building by the applause it excited, and called for the interference of the Bench to repress.

"You may go down, sir," said Jones, with the fretful impatience of a man worsted in a controversy; and the witness descended from the table amid the scarcely suppressed plaudits of the crowd. As he pa.s.sed the dock, Cashel leaned forward and extended his hand towards him. The fellow drew back, and they who were next him perceived that a sallow sickly color spread itself over his face, and that his lips became bloodless.

"Give me your hand, man!" said Cashel.

"Oh, Mr. Cashel! oh, sir!" said he, with that whining affectation of modesty the peasant can so easily a.s.sume.

"Give me your hand, I say," said Cashel, firmly. "Its honest grasp will make me think better of the world than I have done for many a day."

The fellow made the effort, but with such signs of inward terror and trepidation that he seemed like one ready to faint; and when his cold, nerveless hand quitted Cashel's, it fell powerless to his side. He moved now quickly forward, and was soon lost to sight in the dense throng.