questioning, counsel for the prosecution said:
Take the witness.
The prisoner raised his eyes for a moment, but dropped them again when
his own counsel said:
I have no questions to ask him.
The next witness proved the finding of the knife near the corpse.
Counsel for the prosecution said:
Take the witness.
I have no questions to ask him, Potter s lawyer replied.
A third witness swore he had often seen the knife in Potter s
possession.
Take the witness.
Counsel for Potter declined to question him. The faces of the audience
began to betray annoyance. Did this attorney mean to throw away his
client s life without an effort?
Several witnesses deposed concerning Potter s guilty behavior when
brought to the scene of the murder. They were allowed to leave the stand
without being cross-questioned.
Every detail of the damaging circumstances that occurred in the
graveyard upon that morning which all present remembered so well was
brought out by credible witnesses, but none of them were cross-examined
by Potter s lawyer. The perplexity and dissatisfaction of the house
expressed itself in murmurs and provoked a reproof from the bench.
Counsel for the prosecution now said:
By the oaths of citizens whose simple word is above suspicion, we have
fastened this awful crime, beyond all possibility of question, upon the
unhappy prisoner at the bar. We rest our case here.
150