Litchfield enquirer., 1830-10-28

Watkins had been convicted in Windham county Of the murder of his wife, and senten- ced to be hung. The following is the address of Judge Williams to the prisoner upon pro- nOuuciug sentence of death on him :-
 "Oiiver Watkins-At a former Term of this Court, you were, by respectable Grand Jury, from the body of the county, indicted for the crime of inc murder of ROxana Wat kins your wife. Upon that charge you were then arraigned at the Bar of this Court, and by an impartial Jury convicted of that Of- fence. But the time of execution was defer red tO a remote period. tO give you an OppOr- tunity to present your case to the cOnsdera. ton of the Legislature. That you have done, and the Legislature referred your petition tO a special Court that Court have heard your case, and without determining your guilt or innocence, granted your petition and allowed you another investigation, that you might avail yNurself of any new evidence. This privilege you now have had. and after full and labOriOus inv nvestigatiOn of your case, fair and impartial Jury of your country, have
 again pronounced you Guilty in the justice
 of which sentence the court feel it their duty
 |" say that they acquiesce.
 At every step of these proceedings, you
 have been assisted by the funds of the State
 tO procure your witnesses, and you have had
 able end learned counsel at the expense of
 the State, who have brought to your aid ali
 their learning, experience, and ingenuity but
 all in vain. You stand again convicted of the
 crime of murder. The murder, not of an
 enemy, not of a stranger, not of one indif-
 ferent to you, not of one who had injured or
 provoked you, hut you are convicted of hay .
 ing in cold blood, and without the shadow
 Of prOvocation, murdered friend who was
 entitled 10 all your love, confidence and es-
 teem,-One whom you could not reprOach
 with want Of affection. and whose last words to you were words of kindness. And the
 friend was none other than one, whom at the altar you had vowed to love, cherish and pro- tect-the companion with whom you have taken sweet cOunsel-the wife of your bo- som, the mother of your children. In the silence of night, when no human eye was up- On you-when deep sleep had fallen upon your innocent victim, when she was surround ed by her little children, and fancied herself secure. under the protection of law, and the artns of her husband. You basely violated every obligation of man, a friend. a father and a husband; and with heart of flint, an arm of steel, became the assassin of her, whose life you should have defended at the peril of your own. Without giving her time to take leave of her children, or utter one prayer to Heaven for herself or you, you ex- ecuted your murderous purpose, and hurried act, you have made your children orphans, and deprived them in their tender years. of the attention, the instructions and the prayers of their mother you have exposed them to the scoifs of an unkind world. and left them to be reprOached as the children of mur- derer. No wonder if the enormity of such excited doubt as to its existence, and no wonder that you regretted the exist ence OF that fatal mark of your guilt, and cndeavOred to oblitel ate it from the remains of your victim. You had indeed prevented her from uttering the dreadful secret, but by the constitution of nature, it was imprinted iu characters of blood, which never could be have not made these remarks for the purpose of w"unding your feelings, OF az gravating your sufferings. but in the hope, how ever fainr. that you may be led to consider that there is fountain which washes away guilt, even when as dpepas yOurs-that there is Being who has said, Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be white as wool.' To this fountain then, re- pair repent and pray to God for mercy Read and study the Holy Scriptures. You may there find the maedictions of Heaven upon the murderer. but you may there also find peace and pardon. proclaimed through the Blood of Christ. to the repenting, return ing sinner. Call to your aid the ministers of Religion-they will not refuse you their coun. sel and their prayers. Seek aud perhaps you yet may find, knock and perhaps the door of mercy is not yet fore. CT closed even to you. Waste not your time in expectation of mercy here. The blood of your murdered wife, the safety of an injured community, and the vindicatiOn of the majesty of the laws, de- mand your punishment. And it is my pain ful duty to announce to you the doom affix- ed to guilt like yours.
 Tha: Sentence is, that you, Oliver Watkins, be taken from this place to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, and that on the first Tues day of August next, between the hours of eight and ten o'clock tn the forenoon. you be by your neck between the heavens md the earth. until you are dead; and may Sod Almighty have mercy on your sOul."
 NASHVILLE, Tenn. Oct. 4.
 ChoetasO Treaty. esacluded.-TO gratify the anxiety, which. we are aware. prevails with a great pOrtiOn of our readers to learn the re- suit of the negotiations late pending with the Choctaw Indians. we this day issue an ExtrG. After thirteen days of most fatiguing duty, the Secretary of War and General Coffee succeeded in the object of their n'issiOn.-I