and was in or near it when the sheriff was again called in, and asked to
put that bill in his pocket-book. How do the jury know that this was the
same note which Leavitt had before seen? Or suppose it was. Leavitt
carried it to Coffin's; in the evening he produced it, and, after having
been handed about for some time among the company, it turns out to be
Goodridge's note, and to have upon it infallible marks of identity. How do
the jury know that a sleight of hand had not changed the note at Coffin's?
It is sufficient to say, the note might have been changed. It is not
certain that this is the note which Leavitt first found in the drawer, and
this not being certain, it is not proof against the defendants.

Is it not extremely improbable, if the defendants are guilty, that they
should deposit the money in the places where it was found? Why should they
put it in small parcels in so many places, for no end but to multiply the
chances of detection? Why, especially, should they put a doubloon in their
father's pocket-book? There is no evidence, nor any ground of suspicion,
that the father knew of the money being in his pocket-book. He swears he
did not know it. His general character is unimpeached, and there is
nothing against his credit. The inquiry at Stratham was calculated to
elicit the truth; and, after all, there is not the slightest reason to
suspect that he knew that the doubloon was in his pocket-book. What could
possibly induce the defendants to place it there? No man can conjecture a
reason. On the other hand, if this is a fraudulent proceeding on the part
of the prosecutor, this circumstance could be explained. He did not know
that the pocket-book, and the garment in which it was found, did not
belong to one of the defendants. He was as likely, therefore, to place it
there as elsewhere. It is very material to consider that nothing was found
in that part of the house which belonged to the defendants. Every thing
was discovered in the father's apartments. They were not found, therefore,
in the possession of the defendants, any more than if they had been