Jurors often endeavoured to mitigate the terrors of the law by finding
that the stolen property, however valuable it might be, was of less
value than five shillings. May the recording angel "drop a tear over
this record of perjury and blot it out for ever."
It was in those days that Mr. Justice Graham was called upon to
administer the law, and on one occasion particularly he vindicated his
character for courtesy to all who appeared before him. He was a man
unconscious of humour and yet humorous, and was not aware of the
extreme civility which he exhibited to everybody and upon all
occasions, especially to the prisoner.
People went away with a sense of gratitude for his kindness, and when
he sentenced a batch of prisoners to death he did it in a manner that
might make any one suppose, if he did not know the facts, that they
had been awarded prizes for good conduct.
He was firm, nevertheless--a great thing in judges, if not accompanied
with weakness of mind. I may add that there was a singular precision
in his mode of expression as well as in his ideas.
At a country assize, where he was presiding in the Crown Court, a
man was indicted for murder. He pleaded "Not guilty." The evidence
contained in the depositions was terribly clear, and, of course, the
judge, who had perused them, was aware of it.
The case having been called on for trial, counsel for the prosecution
applied for a postponement on the ground of the absence of a most
material witness for the Crown.
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