Book Description

Excerpt from Trial of George Joseph Smith The trial of George Joseph Smith is without a parallel in the history of crime in any age or country. The singularly revolting means by which the murderer accomplished the destruction of his victims, the spectacle of Justice, in all its pomp and circumstance, solemnly deciding whether one transparently worthless man should live or die at a time when the war claimed a daily holocaust from among the youngest and bravest of the manhood of Britain, the novelty of the questions of forensic medicine, the complexity of the evidence given by some 120 witnesses, twice as many as were needed to establish the guilt of Palmer - all combine to make this a notable trial indeed. A shrewd American lawyer, after a few weeks spent in observing our Courts, said, "British justice! Its dear, but its prime!" And certainly we may, I think, regard with complacency this patient and costly investigation, pursued day after day at such a period. I have to thank numerous people for their assistance in preparing this volume; firstly, the Right Honourable Lord Justice Scrutton, for the loan of his photograph and for the favour of his views on the medico-legal issues; Sir Archibald Bodkin, for the loan of his photograph; Sir Edward Marshall Hall, for the loan of his copy of the shorthand notes and for some autograph memoranda by the murderer; Mr. Montague Shearman, for like benefits, and the loan of much correspondence not actually put in as exhibits. Dr. Bernard Spilsbury has most kindly revised all the medical evidence, and has assisted me as to certain gynecological and pathological matters, respecting the illnesses and deaths of the "brides." Mr. Neil has placed all the Scotland Yard material at my disposal, and Detective Inspector Page has very kindly lent me his photographs bearing on the case. Detective Inspector Grose has also rendered me assistance in presenting the manner in which the police worked up the case. The clerk attached to room 93, C. I. D., has also laid me under obligations by visiting me with dockets and documents from the "Yard." If one has any regrets at publishing so infamous a story of crime, the main one is that the ease with which murder may be thus accomplished may lead others to emulate Smith's examples. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.