University of Virginia Library

35. CHAPTER XXXV.
BLACK BROM AND THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

But a short time elapsed before the sheriff's messenger arrived,
and the negro, guarded by that functionary and two assistants,
set out for the court-house, revolving, meanwhile, some strange
thoughts in his mind.

The law which, both in England and America, authorizes the
employment of one criminal as a witness against his colleagues in
guilt, and rewards the traitor with his freedom, is the most unjust
and dangerous feature of the criminal code, and ought not longer
to disgrace the jurisprudence of any civilized country. No more
powerful incentive to perjury can be imagined than that which it
offers, and the rights of an accused party can never be safe under
the operation of so unjust a principle. It is but a weak argument
in its favor to say that this mode of procuring evidence is but
seldom resorted to, and that in the hands of a discreet and just
prosecuting officer, the power conferred by such a law may usually
prove conducive to the ends of justice. A right so liable to abuse,
and so possibly fatal in its results to a single innocent party, can
find no justification in any principle of State policy, especially
in lands where the laws are professedly tempered with the spirit
of that sacred book, which says it is better that ten guilty men
escape, than that one innocent man should suffer.

Brom was informed on his passage to the place of trial, that he
was to be called as a witness against Mr. Vrail, and that if he
consented to testify, he would be set at liberty, and he was made

aware, by his custodians, that such was the universal practice in
relation to those favored criminals who were selected as “Queen's
evidence.” It was true he was not advised, nor required, either
then, or when he came upon the stand, to swear to anything more
or less than the simple truth, nor was his own release even to be
contingent upon the conviction of his master. But testify he
must, if he would hope to be set at liberty, and he knew very
well that he could not say a word in evidence without convicting
Harry Vrail.

We have said that Brom was revolving strange thoughts in his
mind; what they were will presently appear.

He entered the court-room between his guards, and was conducted
to the witness stand, where he at once became an object
of general curiosity and attention, and there were many whispered
words of indignation against the prosecution for bringing a negro
accomplice to swear away the life of the prisoner.

Brom was briefly informed by the attorney-general why he
had been sent for, and the clerk undertook to administer to him
the usual oath, but the negro drew hastily back, and pushed the
Bible from his lips.

“Dey said I was to be free,” he said, nodding his head towards
the men who had conducted him from the jail, and who still stood
near him. “Where's my pardon?”

“You must swear first,” said the prosecution.

“No, no; I must be free first—I 'fraid to trust strangers.”

“I can only say to you, that if you will swear to the whole
truth, nothing more or less, you may expect to be set at liberty.
We do not want you to say a word that is not strictly true.”

“I shan't swear to a word that is not true, after you let me off
—I must be let off first.”

“It cannot be.”

“Den let me go back to de jail,” said the negro, with great
dignity, at the same time stepping down from the stand.

“And to the gallows!” said Gale, looking sternly at him, with
an angry air.

“Yes, to the gallows!” returned Brom, excitedly. “How do I
know that I shouldn't go to the gallows after I had swore?”

“You have my word for it, and the court's.”

“I don't know you, nor the court. You mout change your
mind about it. I want a receipt first.”

A smile passed round the bar at the singular voucher required
by the negro, and even the grim Gale seemed to be moved by
merriment into a milder mood.

“It really matters very little to the government,” he said, rising
and addressing the court, “how soon this man is discharged. Occupying
so humble a station, and having been so evidently the dupe
of others, he would, if convicted have a strong claim upon the
executive clemency. He seems honest, and willing to tell the
whole truth, and as it is only the fault of his ignorance that he
does not understand the security afforded him by my promise, I
shall move the court for the privilege of entering a nolle prosequi
at once upon his indictment.”

Both Harry Vrail and his counsel exhibited some uneasiness
at the singular course which events were taking, and especially
when the attorney-general asserted so decidedly that the witness
was willing to tell the whole truth; for they did not know but
he might possibly have some assurances on that point which they
had not heard.

The judge replied, by reminding the prosecutor that he had
power to cancel the indictment without an order of the court—a
fact which Gale very well knew, but he had preferred to make
the judge share with him any censure that might attach to the act.

He immediately drew out from his green bag a bundle of
papers, and selecting from them the indictment against the negro,
he seized his pen and hastily dashed across it the magical endorsement
which was to render it a dead letter.

“You are free now, Brom,” he said; “if you have any counsel
of any kind, let him come forward and examine the record and
convince you.”

“Massa Strong is my lawyer,” replied Brom, with great dignity.

Strong, in the meantime, quietly reached his arm across the
table, receiving the quashed indictment from the hands of the
prosecutor, and having barely glanced at it, he said,

“It's all right, Brom—you are free.”

“Are you certain, Massa Strong?” asked the negro, with a look
of delight.

“Quite certain. You are free this instant,” said the counsellor,
with marked emphasis, and bestowing a meaning look upon the
witness.

“Tank you — much obliged,” said Brom, nodding to the
attorney-general; “I tank you very much.”

“Very well—now then,” said Gale, hastily, “the clerk will
please to administer the oath.”

The clerk rose to do so; but at that instant the attention of
the court and the jury, and the excited auditory, was diverted
from the witness, upon whom every eye had been earnestly fixed,
by a rustling movement in the ladies' quarter of the house, where
many had risen to allow one deeply veiled young lady to pass.
Gertrude had been in agony ever since the moment that she had
heard the proposition to use Brom as a witness against Harry;
for, although she well knew his fidelity in ordinary circumstances,
it was more than she dared hope, that either his courage or his
affection would be proof against the gallows and all its horrible
accompaniments. With death staring him in the face, on the
one hand, and an unconditional release offered upon the other, it
was too much to hope that so humble and ignorant a man would
resist a temptation appealing to what is often called the first law
of human nature, self-preservation.

But if she had been terrified by the bare proposition of sending
for Brom, his appearance in court, and all that had taken place
since he stepped upon the witness' stand, had added confirmation
to her dreadful suspicions that the wretched man was really
about to sacrifice his master. She had listened in speechless torture
until now, when, oblivious of everything but the great peril
of the moment, she arose with desperate energy, and, although
trembling from head to foot, she rapidly crossed the court-room,
stationed herself behind Mr. Strong, placed her hand upon his
chair for support, and throwing aside her veil, fastened an appealing
gaze upon the face of the witness.

Several of the lawyers immediately arose, and offered chairs.
She accepted one, without acknowledgment of the courtesy, and
without removing her eyes from the face of the negro.

Her striking beauty, her extreme pallor, and the sudden and
singular nature of her movement, had arrested every eye, and it
was some moments before the consequent stir and bustle had subsided
into the perfect quiet which had before prevailed.

Brom saw her, and smiled, and when the clerk again presented
to him the Bible, he once more put it aside, and said,

“Massa Gale, I told you that after I was let off I wouldn't
swear to nothin' but the truth. Dat was all I promised—dat was
all.”

The negro spoke in an excited manner, and seemed anxious to
vindicate himself in the step he was about to take.

“Very well,” replied the prosecutor; “that is all we require
—we certainly don't want you to swear to a syllable that is not
true.”

“I said I wouldn't swear to nothin' but the truth—didn't I,
Massa Gale?”

“I believe you did.”

“Well, I'll keep my word—I shan't swear to nothin' at all.
I'll go to jail, like Missa Roof, but you can't hang me.”

Much commotion followed this singular announcement, which
had not been unexpected by some who had carefully watched the
negro's manner, but which the prosecutor, in his blind and eager
pursuit of his victim, had not anticipated. His wrath was without
bounds, but nothing could move Brom from the position he
he had taken, and he was accordingly committed to prison, like
the previous witness, for contempt of court.

Many hours had been consumed by these various proceedings,
and it being now past the middle of the afternoon, the court, on
the motion of the attorney-general, adjourned until the next
morning, thus affording a long and dangerous interval for the
procurement of additional testimony against the unfortunate
prisoner.