Historic%20Yorkshire

EUGENE ARAM. 159
able to swear positively to the fact that Aram had a
weapon in his hand, and his reason for not raising the
alarm, or acknowledging his witnessing of the murder
before this,-was becauseEugene Aram had threatened to
take his life.
Other, though less important, witnesses were next
heard on behalf of the prosecution, and Aram, though
totallyunprovided with evidence, was called upon to set
forth his defence. This extraordinaryeffort of mental
ingenuity was presented so ably, and with so much of
clever plausibility,that the judge, who from the first had
beenprejudiced against Aram, describedit as one of the
most ingenious pieces of reasoning that had ever fallen
under his notice. But, as observed by one writer, the
speechhadin it no ring of innocence, and seemed more
like a laborious and painstaking defence of another, than
the desperate pleading for a man's own self with the
gallows inhis sight. He commencedby alluding to his
studious habits and the unblemishedcharacter of his life.
" My days," he said, " were honestly laborious, my
nights intensely studious." He asked if it was possible
that any one would " plunge into the very depths of profligacy
precipitately and at once." It was " absolutely
inconsistent with the course of things." He is as
elaborate throughout. He spoke of having " suffered
under a very long and severedisorder, which left him so
macerated, so enfeebled, as to be reduced to crutches."
Furthermore he urged that the disappearanceof Clarke
was not absolute proof of his death, and suggested as an
illustrationthe case of William Thompson, who,in June,
two years previously, had made his escape from York
Castle, and was not again heard of. He alluded to the
fact that bones were being constantly found in retired
parts,more especially in such places as hermitages,of
whichSt. Robert'sCave was one. He asked — Was the
skeleton found really that of a man ? " It is possible,
indeed, it may be; but is there any known criterion
which incontestably distinguishes the sex in human