It was not held to be proper to
administer an oath to an infant. But in a roundabout way it was
proved that the identical bludgeon had been picked up in the garden.
There was an elaborate surveyor's plan produced of the passage, the
garden, and the wall,--with the steps on which it was supposed that
the blow had been struck; and the spot was indicated on which the
child had said that he had found the weapon. Then certain workers
in leather were questioned, who agreed in asserting that no such
instrument as that handed to them had ever been made in England.
After that, two scientific chemists told the jury that they had
minutely examined the knob of the instrument with reference to the
discovery of human blood,--but in vain. They were, however, of
opinion that the man might very readily have been killed by the
instrument without any effusion of blood at the moment of the blows.
This seemed to the jury to be the less necessary, as three or four
surgeons who had examined the murdered man's head had already told
them that in all probability there had been no such effusion.
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