most
paralyzing repugnance with which I approach my theme.

"The Grand Jury of the county, at its last sitting, returned to this
court a bill of indictment, charging the prisoner at the bar with the
wilful, deliberate and premeditated murder of Robert Luke Darrington,
by striking him with a brass andiron. To this indictment she has
pleaded 'Not Guilty,' and stands before her God and this community for
trial. Gentlemen of the jury, you represent this commonwealth, jealous
of the inviolability of its laws, and by virtue of your oaths, you are
solemnly pledged to decide upon her guilt or innocence, in strict
accordance with the evidence that may be laid before you. In fulfilling
this sacred duty, you will, I feel assured, be governed exclusively by
a stern regard to the demands of public justice. While it taxes our
reluctant credulity to believe that a crime so hideous could have been
committed by a woman's hand, could have been perpetrated without
provocation, within the borders of our peaceful community,
nevertheless, the evidence we shall adduce must inevitably force you to
the melancholy conclusion that the prisoner at the bar is guilty of the
offence, with which she stands charged. The indictment which you are
about to try, charges Beryl Brentano with the murder.

"In outlining the evidence which will be presented in support of this
indictment, I earnestly desire that you will give me your dispassionate
and undivided attention; and I call God to witness, that disclaiming
personal animosity and undue zeal for vengeance, I am sorrowfully
indicating as an officer of the law, a path of inquiry, that must lead
you to that goal where, before the altar of Truth, Justice swings her
divine scales, and bids Nemesis unsheathe her sword.

"On the afternoon of October the twenty-sixth, about three o'clock, a
stranger arrived in X--and inquired of the station agent what road
would carry her to 'Elm Bluff', the home of General Darrington;
assuring him she would return in time to take the north-bound train at
7.15, as urgent business necessitated her return. Demanding an
interview with Gen'l Darrington, she was admitted, incognito, and
proclaimed herself his granddaughter, sent hither by a sick mother, to
procure a certain sum of money required for specified purposes. That
the interview was stormy, was characterized by fierce invective on her
part, and by bitter denunciation and recrimination on his, is too well
established to adm