He thought that with the aid of that logic which trade teaches and which in its directness comes near being an intellectual grace, he could explain himself to the merchant and thereby whiten his crime, and he sent for him; but the messenger returned with a note that bore words which Brooks had often heard Witherspoon speak and which he himself so often had repeated: "Explain to the law." The trial came.

In the expectancy with which Chicago looks for a new sensation, Brooks had been almost forgotten by the public.

His confession had robbed his trial of that uncertainty which means excitement, and there now remained but a formal ceremony, the appointment of his time to die.

The newspapers no longer paid especial attention to him, and such neglect depresses a murderer, for notoriety is his last intoxicant.

It seemed that an unwarranted length of time was taken up in the selection of a jury, a deliberation that usually exposes justice to many dangers; and after this the trial proceeded.
The deposition of Mrs.Colton was introduced.