Mr.  Spencer  addressed  the  court :

"Your  honor,  I  think  I  am  justified  in  asking,  even
at  this  stage  of  the  trial,  for  a  stay  of  proceedings.
This  lad's  story  is,  I  admit,  remarkable,  but  he  has
told  it  in  a  frank  and  open  manner,  and  its  truth  or
falsity  can  easily  be  demonstrated  in  a  few  days'
time.  We  can  summon  Dr.  Rerdell  of  Macon,  whom
we  all  know  by  reputation,  and  affidavits  from  New
York  are  easily  procured."

The  Attorney-General  replied  :

"  May  it  please  the  court — I  am  not  surprised  to  see
my  brother  grasp  even  at  such  a  flimsy  straw  as  this
one.  Were  I  in  as  desperate  a  position  as  he,  I  might
be  tempted  to  do  it  myself.  Look  at  the  case  a  min-
ute. We  have  in  this  dock  a  self -acknowledged  mur-
derer. Twice  he  has  written  his  guilt  with  his  own
hand.  We  have  also  other  testimony  tending  to  sub-
stantiate his  confession  beyond  a  doubt.  At  the  last
moment  this  boy  comes  in  with  his  Arabian  Nights'
tale  of  rescuing  a  drowning  man,  compelling  another,
by  the  use  of  a 'revolver,  to  aid  him,  constituting  him-
self the  guardian  and  protector  of  the  rescued  indi-
vidual, and  at.  last  discovering  him  to  be  the  long  lost
Greyburn  !  To  me  the  story  is  unutterably  silly.  I


244  THOU   SHALT  NOT.
