Was it likely that a
woman, knowing her lover's life was at stake, would come here and speak
the truth, if she knew the truth would hang him? He was sure that the
jury, as men who knew the world thoroughly, would not hesitate between
the evidence of Hill and that of Fanning.
The case for the defence depended to a great extent on the plan of
Riversbrook which Hill candidly admitted he had drawn. His learned
friend had called evidence to show that the paper on which the plan was
drawn was of a quality which was not procurable by the general public.
That might be so, but what his learned friend had not succeeded in
doing, and could not possibly have hoped to succeed in doing, was to
show that Birchill could not have obtained possession in any other way
of paper of that kind. Yet it was necessary for the defence to prove
that, in order to prove that the plan was not drawn at Fanning's flat by
Hill under threats from Birchill, but that Hill had drawn it at
Riversbrook, and that he gave it to Birchill in order to induce him to
consent to the proposal to break into the house. There were dozens of
ways in which paper of this particular quality might have got to the
flat.
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