Cuff

The defendant has been convicted of a felony, alleged to have consisted in an attempt to kill one Miller by *591 administering poison. The evidence is entirely circumstantial, but tends to show that defendant surreptitiously placed the poison, strychnia, in the sugar bowl out of which Miller was in the habit of using sugar, and out of which, in fact, upon this eventful day he used sugar, and nearly died as a result. The evidence is sufficient to support a finding of fact that Miller suffered from strychnia poisoning, and that defendant was the instrument by which it was administered. The case is one of circumstantial evidence alone, and the prosecution at the trial relied upon innumerable and somewhat minute circumstances to establish the two aforesaid salient facts. The defendant pleaded not guilty, and, in addition to denying the commission of the act, claimed that he was insane at the time.

The following instruction of the court should not have bjeen given to the jury: “The court instructs you that the evidence is to be estimated, not only by its own intrinsic weight, but also according to the evidence which it is in the power of one side to produce and of the other to…