One word as to the interview between Mr. Colman and Phippen Knapp on the turnpike.  It is said that Mr. Colman’s conduct in this matter is inconsistent with his testimony.  There does not appear to me to be any inconsistency.  He tells you that his object was to save Joseph, and to hurt no one, and least of all the prisoner at the bar.  He had probably told Mr. White the substance of what he heard at the prison.  He had probably told him that Frank confirmed what Joseph had confessed.  He was unwilling to be the instrument of harm to Frank.  He therefore, at the request of Phippen Knapp, wrote a note to Mr. White, requesting him to consider Joseph as authority for the information he had received.  He tells you that this is the only thing he has to regret, as it may seem to be an evasion, as he doubts whether it was entirely correct.  If it was an evasion, if it was a deviation, if it was an error, it was an error of mercy, an error of kindness,—­an error that proves he had no hostility to the prisoner at the bar.  It does not in the least vary his testimony, or affect its correctness.  Gentlemen, I look on the evidence of Mr. Colman as highly important; not as bringing into the cause new facts, but as confirming, in a very satisfactory manner, other evidence.  It is incredible that he can be false, and that he is seeking the prisoner’s life through false swearing.  If he is true, it is incredible that the prisoner can be innocent.

Gentlemen, I have gone through with the evidence in this case, and have endeavored to state it plainly and fairly before you.  I think there are conclusions to be drawn from it, the accuracy of which you cannot doubt.  I think you cannot doubt that there was a conspiracy formed for the purpose of committing this murder, and who the conspirators were: 

That you cannot doubt that the Crowninshields and the Knapps were the parties in this conspiracy: 

That you cannot doubt that the prisoner at the bar knew that the murder was to be done on the night of the 6th of April: 

That you cannot doubt that the murderers of Captain White were the suspicious persons seen in and about Brown Street on that night: 

That you cannot doubt that Richard Crowninshield was the perpetrator of that crime: 

That you cannot doubt that the prisoner at the bar was in Brown Street on that night.

If there, then it must be by agreement, to countenance, to aid the perpetrator.  And if so, then he is guilty as PRINCIPAL.

Gentlemen, your whole concern should be to do your duty, and leave consequences to take care of themselves.  You will receive the law from the court.  Your verdict, it is true, may endanger the prisoner’s life, but then it is to save other lives.  If the prisoner’s guilt has been shown and proved beyond all reasonable doubt, you will convict him.  If such reasonable doubts of guilt still remain, you will acquit him.  You are the judges of the whole