number of other
persons of committing the murder. The evidence of his agitation and
demeanour at the time of his arrest must be accepted with caution. The
evidence of the blood spots was of crucial importance; there was nothing
save this to connect him directly with the crime. The jury must be
satisfied that the blood on the clothes corresponded with the blood
marks which, in all probability, would be found on the person who
committed the murder. In regard to the medical testimony some caution
must be exercised. Where medical gentlemen had made observations, seen
with their own eyes, the direct inference might be highly trustworthy,
but, when they proceeded to draw further inferences, they might be in
danger of looking at facts through the spectacles of theory; "we know
that people do that in other things besides science--politics, religion,
and so forth." Taking the Crown evidence, at its strongest, there was
a missing link; did the evidence of the bloodstains supply it? These
bloodstains were almost invisible. Could a person be reasonably asked to
explain how they came where they did? Could they be accounted for in no
other reasonable way than that the clothes had been worn by the murderer
of the Dewars?

In spite of a summing-up distinctly favourable to the prisoner, the jury
were out three hours. According to one account of their proceedings,
told to the writer, there was at first a majority of the jurymen in
favour of conviction. But it was Saturday night; if they could not come
to a decision they were in danger of being locked up over Sunday. For
this reason the gentleman who held an obstinate and unshaken belief that
the crime was the work of a homicidal maniac found an unexpected ally in
a prominent member of a church choir who was down to sing a solo in his
church on Sunday, and was anxious not to lose such an opportunity for
distinction. Whatever the cause, after three hours' deliberation the
jury returned a verdict of "Not Guilty." Later in the Session Butler
pleaded guilty to the burglary at Mr. Stamper's house, and was sentenced
to eighteen years' imprisonment. The severity of this sentence was not,
the judge said, intended to mark the strong suspicion under which Butler
laboured of being a murderer as well as a burglar.

The ends of justice had been served by Butler's acquittal. But in the
light of after events, it is perhaps unfortunate that the jury did not
stretch a point and so save the life of Mr. M