 Here's the better things for better living through chemistry presents the cavalcade of America tonight star Basil Rathbone Good evening, everyone. This is Bill Hamilton bringing you greetings from the men and women of the Defant Company as the cavalcade of America starts at 16th season In our story tonight Basil Rathbone appears as John Adams attorney for the defense in one of the most famous murder trials in our history It is here charged with the aforesaid defendants eight in number and soldiers of the crown Not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil and their own wicked hearts Did on the fifth day of March with force and arms feloniously Willfully and of their malice of forethought do unto death the aforesaid five citizens of Boston town The prisoners have heard the indictment. How do they plead? God sends you good deliverance Let the trial proceed The story of this famous American murder trial is told by the attorney for the defense For it is his story to his name John Adams that same John Adams who was one day to become the second president of the United States They were innocent under the law those eight British soldiers and I knew it Yet to plead their cause in the year 1770 was the most difficult task I ever undertook. I Think the story might well begin on an early summer evening two years before the trial Abigail and I had a guest for dinner at our house in Brattle Street Boston my closest friend Jonathan Sewell Excellent wine John excellent Where did he get it Abbey as some of John Hancock's contraband treasure the wine of liberty now, Mr Sewell, no politics, please Nonsense my dear Abbey. I may be a king's man I am a Tory and I glory in it, but my political convictions do not extend to smuggled Madeira In a vintage so fine. I'll drink to either party. I wish I could view our present trouble so lightly Jonathan John my friend, when will you ever learn to outbend a little? Can't you teach him Abigail? I'd not care to try, Mr. Sewell. I'd not want to try Then perhaps I can make the attempt that we'll see I have news for you John Yes, I thought you might by the gleam in your eye Abbey I was about to see to the children John. Good night, Mrs. Sewell. Good night here, lady You'll kiss little Abbey good night for me and John Quincy too. Oh, yes, indeed. Well John Well Jonathan, I won't beat about the bush my old friend I've been sent by Governor Bernard to offer you the post of Advocate General in the King's Admiralty Court of Massachusetts What now? Now don't bridle and draw back like an offended maiden It means your fortune is made man It means I should sit in judgment on my friends who have avoided the King's tax and grow rich upon their substance It means new friends John Friends who have the ear of the King himself Who are your precious friends now these so-called sons of liberty her penniless adventurer? John Hancock James Otis dr. Warren Ben Eddys of the Gazette my cousin Samuel some of the most substantial men in our colony Oh Sam Adams is a doxide demagogue a tattered near to well a troublemaker Jonathan you too are my friend I have none closer or more dear so you must have known my answer would be no I Cannot change my political principles, but his excellency mentioned that point to me most especially He desired me to say that your political sentiments will be no objection no objection whatever He offers you the post merely because you are the best It was a bribe and I knew it an attempt to break the ranks of the royal governor's opponents But I couldn't accuse my old friend of trying to bribe me or of supposing I could be bribed We talked late and long. He made me promise to consult my wife when he had gone I found Abbey waiting at our bedroom window. I told her and she said yes, John. It is a bribe Of course it is a high bribe a good price easy to take yes the law would follow you could be chief justice sir John Adams The court party fears my husband. Do you want me to take the post my dear? John are you testing me? You know that isn't necessary Just as I know you'll always refuse such offers. Oh My friend my partner they say you're an ambitious man Is it not something of a satisfaction to be so feared by the powerful it is? it is indeed and Beloved by such a wise and lovely lady as well There's a gift no king could offer my Jonathan was wrong You can and then on the proper occasion Listen the watchman Must be very late All is well, but a storm is brewing in Boston town the blow to put the stars out Somehow Abbey somehow I'm afraid I rejoice in the coming storm and I hate it too twirl clear the air There'll be brighter stars ahead. I think All men knew the trouble was near in Massachusetts before long There were 4,000 British soldiers quartered upon us in Boston one to each four inhabitants The King's tax is threatened the livelihood of every man powder cake Yes, a powder cake with a long fuse among the sons of Liberty. There were those who consul'd moderation I was one of them and there were firebrands my cousin Sam was their leader. I remember he said John We're proud of you to stand fast and refuse a certain fortune. How did you know? Jonathan Sewell told no one but me Sons of Liberty have ways of knowing Your loyalty will be rewarded cousin in the future if I thought of rewards. I'd have taken the crown post And if you take my advice Sam, you'll move more slowly if violence must come Let it not be said that we began the open quarrel. I say but this break no law The law is my guide but whose law the King's law. No the ancient common law of England by which we live If we break it well lost The law is our most precious weapon Sam. I've heard of weapons that speak louder You asked me to hold back the inevitable thunder to stem the very tide of great events The Sons of Liberty are prepared to seize the tide at the flood and move on to freedom and glory Now we wait upon events to be sure But perhaps we can shape events a little or more than a little The flood tide cousin is almost here The time to tread softly has passed I never liked the tolling bells of Boston preferring the choir of our stony acres at Braintree But Abbey loved the voice of the bells Christ church bells. She said made a lordly sound the new north chime was out of tune Kings Chapel rang out Deep and slow As if it had to tell a story Cheer Abbey How like a woman's fancy But soon the lordly bells were to make a new sound a savage sound a lot of bells ringing in the Midas for fire For the flood tide came as cousin Sam said it would in a waterfront rope walk at lunch hour English soldiers and Boston workmen exchanged obscenities and unforgivable blows were struck Next morning a poster appeared tacked up in a dockside tavern. It read This is to inform the rebellious people in Boston The soldiers in the 14th and 29th regiments are Determined to join together and defend themselves against all who shall oppose them Sign the soldiers of the 14th and 29th regiments Well, well, well, we'll see about that. Yes, we'll see about that bloody Who first did that notice Was it truly the soldiers or might it have been that mysterious Gentleman in the red cloak and white wig who was everywhere on that fatal day. No one will ever know Bad as night falls Strolling crowds of Liberty boys begin to fill the streets Barbers apprentice in sulks of Sentinel the Sentinel gives chase wax the boy with the body of his musket Snowballs and ice begin to fill the air The moisture shelf sharp dangerous as razor blades as if on a signal the alarm bells break out In white wiggies everywhere Urging on the rioters Captain Preston commanding the guard brings seven men to listen to signal How this is in one of the soldiers is hit by an oyster shell Flipped on the ice and calls his gun goes off in the air There is no order to fire But this is the high tide here is the father and here is the prince This is the inevitable hour who mortally wounded Quickly the red-clad regiments poured into the streets ban its glistening in the moonlight The alarm bells Seized us suddenly as they had begun by three in the morning Boston was quiet again Next day I found cousin salmon Bennett is editor of the Gazette waiting for me at my office John We need your advice as ever it seems it may be too late now Ben I see the streets are filling up with our men Sam surely you'll not carry this thing any further. No John enough is enough But the farm lads are flocking in get them home. That's my advice get them quickly home a Sam Who was the man in the red cloak and white wig cousin? I'll thank you not to peer down your great nose at me in that fashion This is my only cloak and it's black rusty and Fred bear enough as you see a bin See who that is look through the window Mr. Forster the man they call the Irish infant a friend of Captain Preston let him in Ben Mr. Adams Mr. Adams Thanks be to God and his angels I found to win or man. It is a terrible thing a terrible thing What is your business? Mr. Forster? I come from Captain Preston sir. He's in great danger He and his men will be tried at once for murder itself All the great Tory lawyers have refused his case in fear of their precious necks Captain Preston wants you to defend him sir as God is my witness John Adams those men are innocent they but save their own skins in the night Confronted and threatened by the Yellen mob. Yes Yes They were at their posts on duty They are innocent They acted in self-defense on you can't do this. You ruined your career By refusing the governor's bribe you lost all royal favor by doing this thing You'll be cursed forever by men on our side the side for liberty your old party You risk your very life defending these massacring British soldiers. You can't do it John. I can and I will Those men are innocent and you know it They cannot be denied a defender Mr. Eddies yes, John the Gazette today will kindly announce that John Adams will defend the King's soldiers now lying in jail under capital charges The rule of justice you may say not mob rule must prevail in Boston town Come on Forster. We'll talk to the prisoners You are listening to the DuPont capital Cade of America starring Basil Rathbone and sponsored by the DuPont company Makers of better things for better living through chemistry We continue the DuPont capital Cade of America with Basil Rathbone as John Adams In Canonia Boston a great murder trial is taking place the lives of eight British soldiers are at stake John Adams risking the ruin of his career perhaps his life is their counselor Determined that justice shall be done Our first move was to get a postponement of trial Let the passions of my fellow townsmen cool a bit Young Josiah Quincy was my associate in the case and together we found half a hundred Bostonians calm enough to remember What actually happened that night? When the trial began we had 96 witnesses against us honest men Guided not by reason but by emotion Telling what they thought had happened one by one. They took the stand day in day out There came in seven soldiers from the main guard without any coats on Riving along swearing impressing like wild creatures crying slay the Yankee slayed them all I Say private kill Roy's day. It was liquid dried blood up to three inches from the point three inches of blood I thought of my own eyes three bloody inches then our turn came Our by our the truth piled up on the word of our witnesses Finally dr. Jeffries took the stand He was the the physician who had attended young Patrick Carr one of the slain citizens in his dying hours My colleague for the defense Josiah Quincy was examining now dr. Jeffries You visited young car the innocent bystander after he was injured. I did mr. Quincy. Yes What did you say to him after dressing his wounds? I advised him never again to go into quarrels and riots and what did he say you agreed? I had a good idea there Told me also that he was a native of Ireland He had frequently seen mobs and soldiers called upon to quell them. I see now he said more Go on doctor. He said that never in all his life Had he seen soldiers bears so much abuse before they were forced to fire upon a mob in self-defense Lord I have checked witness is expressing We sustained the crowd Proceed mr. Quincy now. Well, how long did Patrick Carr live after he received his wound? 10 days almost to the minute and when had you a last conversation with him About four o'clock in the afternoon of the day he died and what did this dying boy say to you? He said I Forgive the man who shot me whoever he is as God will judge me soon That soldier fired only to save himself from certain death And then with a prayer in my heart that our months of toil might have just reward I heard his lordship declare mr. John Evans will sum up the cause of the defendant May please your lordships and You gentlemen of the jury I am for the prisoners of the bar and she'll apologize for it only in the words of a great Italian Jurist and my Chris at the carrier He said If I can be but the instrument preserving one life His blessing upon my head She'll be a sufficient consolation to me for the contempt of all mankind We talk much of liberty and property But if we cut up the law of self-defense, we cut away the foundation of both Place yourselves in the situation of kill Roy or the century with the people shouting kill them kill them on heaving snowballs oyster shelf clubs heavy birch sticks Consider yourselves in the situation and then decide if a reasonable man would not consider they were going to kill him The law considers a man as capable of bearing anything and everything but blows I May reproach a man as much as I please I may call him a thief a robber lobster back And if he kills me it will be murder but If from giving him such kind of language I proceed to molest his person that is an assault That is a blow the law will not oblige a man to stand still and bear it There is the distinction hands off touch me not As soon as you touch me then if I run you through the heart It is but manslaughter The law reads He who won an assault retreats to the wall beyond which he can go no further Before he kills the other Proceed Hold on that he's talking since 11 o'clock yesterday morning four o'clock almost now nearly 12 hours yesterday and today He can't talk much longer now Use the words of Elgin and Sidney Our law no passion can disturb It is void of desire and fear Rust anger It is written reason Retaining some measure of the divine perfection Our law commands that which is good and punishes evil in all whether rich or poor high or low It is death inexorable inflexible so Sidney wrote Law here on the one hand is inexorable to the cries Lamentations of these prisoners on the other hand it is death death as an adder To the clamors of the populace of Boston gentlemen of the jury To your candor and justice I Submit the prisoners and their cause gentlemen of the jury Have you reached a verdict? We have your honor and what is your verdict? Soldiers William Wends James Hardigan William Macaulay Hugh white William Warren and John Carroll are not guilty Roy and Hugh Montgomery are not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter Your lordship on behalf of the two defendants kill Roy and Montgomery proved guilty of manslaughter I asked the benefit of clergy and our clinic, but perfectly legally mr. Adam It is granted. They will be set free after they've been branded in the thumb It is our usage that this be done at once The bailiff will prepare the fire in the iron and the court will please remain in order Well, I'll be it over over and one over and done. I'm proud of you, John I did what I had to do But what now my day in the courts of this colony is over Would you like to be a poor farmer's wife? Abby? I'd be quite content, but I don't believe that'll be necessary You've won a greater victory than you suppose my dear. I saved the lives of eight innocent men. That's enough I am a twelve good men and true see the right according to law and declare it. That's quite enough But you did more You won the minds of the hearts and the goodwill of the people of Massachusetts Perhaps the people are wiser than you think John They will not make you suffer for having upheld their laws so well and by God's grace and her own wisdom Abby was right few years later I wrote in my diary. There is a new one grand scene opened before me at Congress I had been elected to that Congress by the people of Massachusetts and the bells of Boston rang out in celebration As we set out for Philadelphia the cousin Samuel and me Reunited again in the great cause of Liberty and on the cushions of a fine coach Cousin I said that's the most impressive red cloak you're wearing like it cousin for giving me just last week We're the sons of Liberty is most becoming you're quite sure it is a new one cousin. Oh, yes cousin quite sure You see I always wanted red cloak drive more slowly boy the people wish to see us and have you reflected cousin We may be driving towards a gallows tree. I have thought much of the king's rope cousin, but not too much And you John You're still with us to the end Whatever that may be I have crossed over my river. I have passed my Rubicon. I will never change sink or swim Survive or perish. I am with my country The DuPont company joins in applauding Basil Rathbone and the cavalcade players for the performances tonight Ladies and gentlemen the star of tonight's DuPont cavalcade of America Basil Rathbone Thank you, I just want to say first off that I enjoyed being here tonight this opening night of the new season There are many good stories ahead the cavalcade listeners and good stars too on next Tuesday night For instance, you're going to hear an exciting story about four men who ventured into the very heart of the Venezuelan jungle And come out with one of the greatest discoveries of our day Name Clark is going to head up with that exposition So be sure to hear it. Good night now Tonight's original DuPont drama was written by George H. Faulkner and was taken from an incident in the historical biography John Adams and the American Revolution by Catherine Drinker Bowen published by Little Brown in company tonight star Basil Rathbone Will soon appear in the Broadway production the Geocondus Smile the music for the DuPont cavalcade of America was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Borey's the program is directed by John Zoller Don't forget next week, name Clark The DuPont cavalcade of America comes to you from the Velasco theater in New York And is sponsored by the DuPont company of Wilmington, Delaware Makers of better things for better living through chemistry Three times mean good times on NBC