If the proposition, that vengeance was the impelling motive which led to the a*******n of the baby; it is easy to conceive that the same guilty person who had planned and carried out the a*******n, having failed to exact blackmail, as he tried to do, proceeded to the second act of the crime from sheer and malicious spite. This again confronts us with another proposition. The criminal must have had considerable knowledge of Mr. Pennefather’s habits, and been perfectly well aware that the box of valuable documents was kept under the bed. The elements of mere chance could not be taken into account in this matter. For an ordinary burglar would scarcely have concerned himself about a box of deeds when he could have swept into his bag property, which could be infinitely more readily negotiated.
