HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.trials/aagha0001 and id is 1 raw text is: TIMES REPORT.
Entered according to Act of Coilress, in the Year 1545, bygeorgeRoberts, in the Clerk's Office of the
District Court of Masaclasettts.
TRIAL OF
1EV JOY HAMLET FAIRCHILBD
On a Charge of Adultery with
MISS RHODA DAVIDSON.
REPORTED FOR THE BOSTON DAILY TIMES.
BY J. E. P. WEEKS, ESQ.
S I .
Municipal Court.
LJuDGE WASHBURN, PRasEET.]
COMONWEALTH, On a charge ef Adul-
vs. 1 tery with Rhode De-
Jc H. FAIacHrL, ) vidsen.
MONDAY, March 24.
At quarter past 10 o'clock the trial com-
menced.
S. D, PARrR, Esq, appeared for the govern-
ment, and Wm. BInAM, Esq, has been asso-
ciated in preparing the evidence for the gov-
ernment. JUDGE WARREN and J. A. BOLLES,
Enq. for the Defedsnt.
No 690. COMMONWEALTH.
vs
Joy H. FAICHILD.
Bill found July, 1844.
COIMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Sffolk, to wit. At the Municipal Court of
the city of Boston, begun and holden at said
'Boston, within and for the county of Suflblk,
on the first Monday of July, in the year of our
Lord 1844-
The Jurors for the Commonwealth of Mas.
sachusetts, on their oath present, that Joy H.
.4lairchild, late a resident of said Boston, but
ow commorant of Exeter, in the county of
:tockingham, and State of New Hampshire,
j lerk, on the 19th day of December, in the
'year of our Lord 1841, at Boston aforesaid, did
,commit the crime of adultery with one Rhoda
Davidson, then residenftof said Boston, spind-
ter, by then and there having caenal knowl-
'edge of the body of her, the said Rhoda Da-
r1idson, and criftiinal sexual intercourse with
her, he the said Joy H. Fairchild, then and
there having a lawful wife alive, other than.
9aid Rhoda Davidson, against the peace of said
Commonwealth, and contrary to the form of
the Statute in such case made and provided.
A true bill,
Taos. RIcuARnsoN,
Foreman of the Grand Jury.
9AxuzL D. FAitRXsZ,
Attorney of the Commonwealth.
The jury after having satisf otorily answered
the usual staute questions in relation to having
an opinion, were then empannlled, and con-
sisted of the following naned gentlemen, Tis-
dale DrakeBenjamin M. Akerman, Thomas C.
Baldwin, Joseph J. Bigelow, Geo W. Bond,
Henry R. Cnean, David G. Collier, James
W. Convese, Charles S. Ellis, John P. Fair-
banks, Christopher C. Gore, and Samuo
Vauzhan.
Mr Tisdale Drake was appointed by the
Court as Foreman of the Jury.
At 20 minutes to 11 o'clock, Mr PARKER'
commenced his opening to the Jury, ad spoke
substantially as follows. His remarks occupi-
ed about half an hour.
MR PARKER'S REMARKS,
tllell .1 IX,; J-, ,c; .... .. . , I ate
prosecution of rio ordinary importance. It de-
rives its interest from the heinousness of' the
crime charged, and the previous respectability
of the person accused. Indictments of this
character are not indeed of untrequent occur-
rence, as the records of this Court, and the
pnted decisions of the Supreme Court aitest;
and in most of the recent prosecutions for this
offence in this Court, the parties accused have
pleaded guilty, and either forteited the penalty
of their recognizances, or quietly submitted to
the punishment of the law. But we are now
assembled for the solemn trial ol an issue, irn
which the accused denies his guilt; and we are
to proceed through a most painful investigation,
deeply affecting from many cireumstances, all
who are to be engaged in it, and involving un-
der all circumstances, some of the most import-
ant interests of society.
It is my duty in opening the case, to state
the law too, and give you a brief outline of
the evidence to be introduced.
The first section of the 136th chapter of
the Revised Statutes is the basis of the
prosecution ; you perceive that though the
punishment is prescribed, the crime itself is not
defined; and it is a remarkable cireumsta e
that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to finad
in the law books an exact common law defini-
tion of Adultery. As to most offences the
defects of the statute law are remedied bl s
recurence to the common law, which, ott](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.trials/aagha0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)