The Coat — forty-seventh illustration engraved by the Dalziels for the 1852 Chapman and Hall edition of The Daltons, or, Three Roads in Life by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). Chapter LXXVIII, "The Court-house of Kilkenny," facing 683. 10 cm high by 13.5 cm wide (4 by 5 ¼ inches) vignetted. This is the eighteenth vertically oriented plate in the two-volume novel. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: A Climactic Courtroom Scene with the Coat as Pivotal Evidence
A large bundle, carefully sealed, was now carried into the court, and deposited before Mr. Hipsley, who, after a few seconds' consultation with Grounsell, rose, and addressed the court, ——
“My learned friend complains of being surprised; he will, perhaps, have a better right to be so in a few moments hence. I now demand that this man be consigned to the dock. These affidavits are all regular, my Lord, and the evidence I purpose to lay before you will very soon confirm them.”
The judge briefly scanned the papers before him; and, by a gesture, the command was issued, and Meekins, who never uttered a word, was conducted within the dock.
“I will merely ask the witness two or three questions more,” added Hipsley, turning towards the jailer, who alone, of all the assembly, looked on without any wonderment.
“Now, witness, when did you see the prisoner wear the blue-gray coat? After the death of Mr. Godfrey, I mean.”
“I never seen him wear it again,” was the answer.
“How could ye?” cried Meekins, in a hoarse voice. “How could ye? I sailed for America the day after I was set at liberty.”
“Be silent, sir,” said the prisoner's counsel, who, suffering greatly from the injury of these interruptions, now assumed a look of angry impatience; while, with the craft of his calling, he began already to suspect that a mine was about to be sprung beneath him.
“You have told us,” said Hipsley, — and, as he spoke, his words came with an impressive slowness that made them fall deep into every heart around, — “You have told us that the coat worn habitually by the prisoner, up to the day of Mr. Godfrey's murder, you never saw on him after that day. Is that true?”
“It is, sir.”
“You have also said that this coat —— part of a piece from which your son had a coat —— was of a peculiar colour?”
“It was, sir; and more than that, they had both the same cut, only Sam's had horn buttons, and my son's was metal.”
“Do you think, then, from the circumstances you have just mentioned, that you could know that coat if you were to see it again?”
A pause followed, and the witness, instead of answering, sat with his eyes fixed upon the dock, where the prisoner, with both hands grasping the iron spikes, stood, his glaring eyeballs riveted upon the old man's face, with an expression of earnestness and terror actually horrible to witness.
“Look at me, Morris,” said Hipsley, “and answer my question. Would you know this coat again?”
“That is, would you swear to it?” interposed the opposite counsel.
“I believe I would, sir,” was the answer. [Chapter LXXVIII, "The Court-house of Kilkenny," pp. 682-683]
Commentary: The Sensational Trial at Kilkenny
The coat which the Crown attorney, Mr. Hipsley, holds up for the witness's inspection clinches the case against "Black Sam" for the murder of Mr. Godfrey all those years before. Melodramatically, as in the text, the accused grasps the iron spikes in the prisoner's box as the coat proves conclusively that he and not Mr. Godfrey's brother-in-law, Peter Dalton, was the murderer, betrayed by his coat, of an unusual blue-grey. And, quite by Victorian coincidence, young Frank was visiting the estate on the night of the murder, and saw Black Sam bury the blood-stained coat. Thus, from his sickbed Frank has directed the authorities where to find the distinctive garment on the Corrig-O'Neal estate. As the jurymen examine the coat, one of them discovers Godfrey's missing in a pocket.
In a prison cell interview with Frank Dalton, Meekins has already confirmed our impression that he knows much more than he has been prepared to tell. But Frank had not taken him up on his offer of a disclosure that will lead to Frank's becoming heir to an estate worth three thousand pounds a year, in exchange for a mere parole, passage to America, and three hundred pounds at the conclusion of Chapter LXXV, "The Gaol." In the next chapter, Grounsell pumps Meekins in what the chapter title suggests is a verbal "fencing-match." He has tantalized the Doctor and us with mention of "The Will," and we already have sense that it will somehow enrich Frank, but Gounsell gets nothing more out of the defiant prisoner. And the family's attorney, Hipsley, has been no more successful in questioning D'Esmonde and Cahill.
In the climactic chapter, "The Court-House at Kilkenny," witnesses establish that the prisoner, Meekins, and Black Sam are one and the same. Public interest is at a fever pitch, and the courtroom, as Phiz suggests, is packed by curious locals from miles around, and outsiders have even thronged the square before the courthouse. D'Esmonde and Cahill are in the gallery, recognizable by their clerical clothes, judges are on the bench, and the jury has been sworn. The indictment, read by the Clerk of the Crown, has surprisingly denominated Peter Dalton as the accused: "reckless, passionate, and unprincipled" (II: 313). Meekins was therefore the chief witness for the Prosecution, for he will draw the connection between Peter Dalton and the malefactor, Noonan. However, reversals occur during many hours of testimony and cross-examination, and "Samuel Eustance" (otherwise, "Black Sam" and the supposed American, "Meekins"), identified by the Crown's corroborating witness, old Jimmy Morris, is pronounced guilty of Mr. Godfrey's murder: Sensation!
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
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Created 3 June 2022