{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/to-one-acquitted",
 "title": "To One Acquitted",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume V",
 "book_slug": "collected-works-v",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 22,
 "container": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1911,
  "venue": "The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume V (1911)",
  "note": "Taken from Volume V of the Neale collected edition (copyright 1911). That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume's own preface states that most of its verses are republished from newspapers and periodicals of the Pacific Coast, and which of them printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "black-beetles-in-amber.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 21,
  "n_stanzas": 3,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 50,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Sir, you have killed a man and you are free⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That is, your hanging ne’er will come about;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For I’ve observed when jurors disagree",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis not as ’tis when other thieves fall out.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Some honest men are in the case, no doubt,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But none come by their own⁠—not even the chap",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose honest office is to spring the trap.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Some needy tramp, I think, is deputized",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That lowly function to perform⁠—although",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I must confess I am not well advised",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Concerning that: I ne’er did undergo",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A hanging; but if I am right you owe",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The customary perquisite to some",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Poor shivering and disappointed “bum.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "If Californian hangmen are too proud",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To wear the clothing of the wretch they string,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the good ancient custom’s been allowed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To lapse; or if so seldom murderers swing",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In this good land that there is no such thing",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As custom in the case, the truth we reach is:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You’ve forfeited your life, but not your breeches.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}