Perhaps the best illustration of the female habit of swearing
that facts occurred because they usually occurred, was
exhibited in the Twitchell murder trial in Philadelphia,
cited in Wellman's "Art of Cross-Examination." The defendant
had killed his wife with a blackjack, and having dragged her
body into the back yard, carefully unbolted the gate leading
to the adjacent alley and, retiring to the house, went to
bed. His purpose was to create the impression that she had
been murdered by some one from outside the premises. To
carry out the suggestion, he bent a poker and left it lying
near the body smeared with blood. In the morning the servant
girl found her mistress and ran shrieking into the street.
At the trial she swore positively that she was first obliged
to unbolt the door in order to get out. Nothing could shake
her testimony, and she thus unconsciously negatived the entire
value of the defendant's adroit precautions. He was justly
convicted, although upon absolutely erroneous testimony.
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