robbery be a pretence. He might not intend to prosecute any body. But he
probably found, and indeed there is evidence to show, that it was
necessary for him to do something to find out the authors of the alleged
robbery. He manifested no particular zeal on this subject. He was in no
haste. He appears rather to have been pressed by others to do that which,
if he had really been robbed, we should suppose he would have been most
earnest to do, the earliest moment.

But could he so seriously wound himself? Could he or would he shoot a
pistol-bullet through his hand, in order to render the robbery probable,
and to obtain belief in his story? All exhibitions are subject to
accidents. Whether they are serious or farcical, they may, in some
particulars, not proceed exactly as they are designed to do. If we knew
that this shot through the hand, if made by himself, must have been
intentionally made by himself, it would be a circumstance of greater
weight. The bullet went through the sleeve of his coat. He might have
intended it should go through nothing else. It is quite certain he did not
receive the wound in the way he described. He says he was pulling or
thrusting aside the robber's pistol, and while his hand was on it, it was
fired, and the contents passed through his hand. This could not have been
so, because no part of the contents went through the hand, except the
ball. There was powder on the sleeve of his coat, and from the appearance
one would think the pistol to have been three or four feet from the hand
when fired. The fact of the pistol-bullet being fired through the hand, is
doubtless a circumstance of importance. It may not be easy to account for
it; but it is to be weighed with other circumstances.

It is most extraordinary, that, in the whole case, the prosecutor should
prove hardly any fact in any way but by his own oath. He chooses to trust
every thing on his own credit with the jury. Had he the money with him