The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-08-18
TRIAL OF JOHN FRANCIS KNAPP.

= hS iaSts ucCeSSdFy TO De stated 10 tnOSe
who are unacquainted with them, for the pro.
per understanding of what may follow, are
simply these. On the evening of the 9th of
April, 1880, Mr.. Joseph White, rich and re-
spectacle merchant of Salem, Massachusetts,,
retired To bed at his usual hour of about
O'Clock He was an aged man of about 50
years The domestics were all of them absent
but two. In the morning he was found dead
an his bed, with severe How on his head and
stabbed in many places near and about the
heart. No money or property seemed TO be
taken away, and the motives of the murderer
were wrapped in mystery. The citizens of
Salem convened and appointed committee Of
vigilance, to seek for the perpetrator. For
some time there was no clue obtained, though
every exertion was used. At last number of
individuals were arrested among whom were
the persons mentioned in the indictment. One
individual IN prison on this charge, by the
name OF Richard Crowninshicld, Jr., committed
suicide.
Agreeably to special appointment the Su.
preme Court met on Tuesday, the Goth day Of
Juiy-present, Chief Justice Parker and Jas.
tees Putnam, Wilde, aud Morton On the
same day the Grand Jury were impanelled
under an able and impressive charge from the
Chief Justice. The following are extracts
from this document -
1t IS not necessary, upon the present occa.
sion. TO discuss the various classes of homicide
in order to distinguish between that which is
justihable, as in seli-de'ence,-iha which is
the effect OF sudden provocation, which NAV
be mansaughter-and that which is the effect
OF malice atore-thoHght, which is murder If
II shall turn out in evidence, that the house of
the deceased was entered in the night time
that he was slaughtered in his bed whether
the OBJECT OF the perpetrator was plumber re.
venge, or the hopes of reward from others
who may have melted the deed, it is murder of
deepest dye IN regard to those who NAV have
gwen the death wound, and any who NAV have
peen rrresent aiding and abettnr the crime
Suca is the common law, and such is the
previRce of the statute of this Commonwealth
which enacts 'that If any person shah commit
the crime of wilful murder, or shall be pressn,
aiding or abelting in the Commission Of such
crime, not being present, shall have been &C.
cessaTy thereto before the fact, by eounselliur.
hiring, or otherwise procuring the same to be
done, every such offender, who in the Snpreme
Judicial Court shall be duly convicted Of eth
er Of the premises and offences aforesaid. shall
suffer death
6 1t may be subject Of inquiry, what con.
stiutes presence within the meaning of The
second branch of this enactment present.
aiding and abetling in the commission Of such
crime
And the construction Of this phrase. which
IS taken from the common law has been set
tied IN ancient times by wise and learned sages
OF the law, and that construction adopted and
sanctioned by successive judicial decisions
down !" The time Of the adoption of our Con-
stItutlon. so that the legislature which enacted
this statute, without doubt referred TO this con.
struction when they framed it,
by this construction it is not required that
the aosttor shall be actually upon the supt
when the murder is committed, or even in sight
OF the more immediate perpetrator, or of the
victim, to make him a principal
1t he be at a Distance cooperating in the
act sy watching to prevent relief, or to give
an alarm, or to assist his confederate in escsne
harsng kRoaotedge Of the purpose and object Of
.he assassin,-this in the eye of the law is be-
iag present, aiding and abeiting, SO as 10 make
him principal in the murder
he dIstInctisn between person thus sit.
uated and one who is denominated by the stat.
ute an accessory before the fact, is, that The
latter Is not only IN every sense absent from
The scene of crime, but is not an Immediate
participation in it he may not know the time
when, nor the place where it is committed. He
has previously, perhaps days or months before
hired, counselied or procured the deed to be
done, but he has no immediate agency in the
deed
His crime is deemed by the law 10 be a,
great as MS who strikes the blow il is offer
ia d moral point oil view greater, as il NAV
SASAtCt humber OF CeSDRFafe and
dIabocal motives, without the influence n
which the crime would never have been com.
united. 1t denotes the SAVAGE heart ~ Inc
murderer, without his bold and daring hand
1t puts IN peril his own soul, and the souIs 81
others, whe bat for him might have gone free
from the guilt OF blood. Thus the law Furnishes
the accessory before the fact in the same man.
ner as as. . Punishes the actual purpetrator-they
are alike murderers
There is at the common law a d,Fa,enco
and 1t as supposed to exist also under orr STAT
ute, m regard to the form and the time of trial
between those who are called pIincinals and
accessaries before the fact, it being held that
unless there be conviction Of a PRINCIPAL
there can DC no trial of an accessory. Th;.
uine1ehcei u exists, Is relic of the unwise
refinement OF ancient times there heinz ~
good reason why an accessory before The fac,
TO a crime Pr0Ued to have been committed
should not be tried and punished, although ,be
principal may have escaped, by death or other-
wise, the punishment which awaited HI. cr;no
IN this world. S'NNS
TUEsDAY, August 8, 1880.
The Court met for the trial Of ibe nessnn.
accused OF the murder of Mr. Joseph White
Eresent-Judges Putnam, Wilde, and Marion
ne attorney ana Solicitor General. together
with the Hon Daniel Webster. a,tsnde
nall OF the government, as Conductors If ,ha
prosecution. John Francis Knapp. Josenb Jeni
lns Knapp, and George CrowninxbieIJ s"ro
sci 70 the bar and one of the indictments was
read tothem. The following is synoosis ~
this Indictment: OP'" VI
This indictment charged that nm ,bo e,L r
ApFal last, John Francis Knapp committed ~
murder, by giving the deceased mortal Nov
on the head with bludgeon, and Tia, on ,bs
I'd Of April, Joseph J. Knapp and q. 'T,rown t''e
shield, hired and procured the felony 10 be
done:
Also, that J. Francis Knapp gave the 6ecear-
dirk, and that Joseph J. Knapp and q C,n,vn.
inshieid hired and procured il 70 be done
Also, that Richard Crowninshield. r. r.v.
mortal blow with bludgeon, and that ] Fran.
CTS Knapp was present aiding and abetling .
that Richard CIowninsheld, Jr on the 18th Of
juno, committed suicide, so that he cannot now
DO proceeded against. and that j. j Knann .r5