Seven of these defendants were again immediately tried and convicted, and a second time appealed, upon which occasion only two were successful, while five had their convictions promptly affirmed.

Thus, so far as the ultimate triumph of justice is concerned, out of 169 cases in that period the appellants finally succeeded in twenty-two only.
Since 1902 there have been twenty-seven decisions rendered in first-degree murder cases by the Court of Appeals, with only three reversals.* (* Written in 1909.) The more important convictions throughout the State are affirmed with great regularity.
As to the conduct of such cases, the writer's own experience is that a murder trial is the most solemn proceeding known to the law.

He has prosecuted at least fifty men for murder, and convicted more than he cares to remember.

Such trials are invariably dignified and deliberate so far as the conduct of the legal side of the case is concerned.
No judge, however unqualified for the bench; no prosecutor, however light-minded; no lawyer however callous, fails to feel the serious nature of the transaction or to be affected strongly by the fact that he is dealing with life, and death.

A prosecutor who openly laughed or sneered at a prisoner charged with murder would severely injure his cause.