Those shoes belong to, and were
taken from the foot of, the prisoner, Alfred Draper, and the prisoner,
Alfred Draper, is the only person living in this neighbourhood who was
acquainted with the deceased.
"It has been stated in evidence at the inquest that the relations of
these two men, the prisoner and the deceased, were entirely friendly;
but I shall prove to you that they were not so friendly as has been
supposed. I shall prove to you, by the evidence of the prisoner's
housekeeper, that the deceased was often an unwelcome visitor at the
house, that the prisoner often denied himself when he was really at home
and disengaged, and, in short, that he appeared constantly to shun and
avoid the deceased.
"One more question and I have finished. Where was the prisoner on the
night of the murder? The answer is that he was in a house little more
than half a mile from the scene of the crime. And who was with him in
that house? Who was there to observe and testify to his going forth and
his coming home? No one. He was alone in the house. On that night, of
all nights, he was alone. Not a soul was there to rouse at the creak of
a door or the tread of a shoe--to tell as whether he slept or whether he
stole forth in the dead of the night.
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