They brought to me his mangled corpse <br />And I feared lest I should swing. <br />"O tell me, tell me,--and make it brief-- <br />Why hast thou done this thing? <br /> <br />"Had this man robbed the starving poor <br />Or lived a gunman's life, <br />Had he set fire to cottages, <br />Or run off with thy wife?" <br /> <br />"He hath not robbed the starving poor <br />Or lived a gunman's life; <br />He hath set fire to no cottage, <br />Nor run off with my wife. <br /> <br />"Ye ask me such a question that <br />It now my lips unlocks: <br />I learned he was the man who planned <br />The second balcony box." <br /> <br />The jury pondered never an hour, <br />They thought not even a little, <br />But handed in unanimously <br />A verdict of acquittal.<br /><br />Franklin P. Adams<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-ballad-of-justifiable-homicide/
