Richard Parmelee Robinson Trial: 1836

Constable Brink testified on Robinson's denying ownership of a cloth cloak that later witnesses said he did own. Other witnesses ascribed string found on the hatchet to a tassel on the cloak. A porter from Hoxie's store identified the hatchet as one used to open crates.

The defense produced differing testimony. Had the tassel been added to the hatchet and the cloak after the crime by brothel-mates determined to frame Robinson? Might the jurors consider jealousies among the "girls" as motives for the murder? One, Elizabeth Salters, testified that she had been intimate with Robinson for some weeks before Jewett moved into the house. Servant Sarah Dunscombe said she dusted a miniature portrait of Robinson in Jewett's room on Friday-the same miniature found in Robinson's room when he was arrested on Sunday.

A police witness described the impecunious Robinson's wallet as fat with bills of exchange (equivalent to today's bank checks) made out to his employer Hoxie—a tantalizing implication of embezzlement. Prosector Phoenix failed to pursue the subject.

Seeking evidence that clerk Robinson obtained the hatchet from the store on Saturday evening, Phoenix could not get proprietor Hoxie to say the accused had a store key. Next, Phoenix failed to link Robinson's handwriting to letters that could tie him to murderous threats. A defense objection to Phoenix's reading the letters aloud led to the prosecution's resting its case—leaving the jury to wonder whether the letters might have revealed a motive.

Now the defense introduced a surprise witness, Robert Furlong, owner of a small grocery store. He testified that on Saturday evening Robinson bought a bunch of cigars, smoked one while sitting on a barrel and reading a newspaper, checked his pocket watch when the store clock struck ten, and departed at 10:15 saying, "I believe I'll go home, I am tired." Cross-examined, Furlong provided details of the coat, not cloak, Robinson wore.

James Tew testified that Robinson was in bed at home before 2:00 A.M. Fellow boarder Rodman Moulton, while testifying that he had seen Robinson wearing a cloak with tassels, could not identify the cloak in evidence. The defense rested.