Virginia free press & farmers' repository. [volume] (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1827-1832, 1830-12-01
suuru1goE OF DEATH.

030 X33 VI VI OGAVAs
Oa MONDAY the ISL, uls. Joseph Jenkins Knapp
was brought up 20 receive sesaenee q death,
~i,icl, Was pronounced by Mr.. Justice Putnam.
The following extracts arc pabiishcd in the Sa-
lem Gazette.
II is not To aggrava'e your suilcrincs
that wc address you-fnr your present
wrctehedness cxcitcs feelings Of CON
passion and not OF indignation. But
We hope that by presenting to your
view some Of the horrible circumstan-
ccs which have attended the crime for
which you arc TO suffer, we may lead
you 10 sincere contrition aud rcpcn-
lance.
The aged sufferer was a near rela-
tive 10 your wife. She was nurturctl
at his house, and loved and cherished
by him rs child.
You were admitted to partake Of his
hospitality-yOu availed yourself oil
the opportunities to visit at the hou sc
of the deceased, to prepare the way for
the entrance Of your hired assassin to
the bed chamber OF the victim.
You were for months deliberately
occupied In devising the ways and
means Of his death. Horrible TO think
while you were eating his bread, at
hrs own table, you were plotting a
:,ainst his life.
The execution Of this awful conspi.
racy spread dis,nay, anxiety and dis
trust, through the country.
Week after week passed away-and
Lett the dreadful deed yelled in nyste.
~. At length discovery was made
by means almost as extraordinary a.
was the crime.
IL such events had been set forth in
work Of fiction, they would have bee n
considered rs too absurd and unnatu.
raj Tor public endurance. The story
would have been treated as libel I'd.
on Man.
Who would have suspected that
young. well educated men-havinp
respectable connexions and means OF
iiving-could have been found in our
cultivated society, ready to join in
such a fearful conspiracy?
Who would have imagined that the
clue to the discovery should have been
gwen ~ one wholly unknown to tn.
author Of the procurer Of the murder,
and he himself should have put it into
the hands Of the friends Of the deceas.
ed:
Who that considers these things will
fail to discover an everything Provi.
dence which battles all human device.
and contrivances to conceal great and
deadly crimes.
This murder was done with the great
est secrecy-in the hour Of night, by
the hands Of the assassin alone, who
escaped from the house without disco.
very.
The knowledge OF the crime wa,
confined to the breats Of the conspira
tors. But they could not keep il there
1t would come out.
And what was done 10 secret and in
darkness, is now by the cOnspirator.
themselves made manifest to the world
one of these miserable men has per.
lshed by his own hand. The arm %
Justice has Overtaken another, who ha.
suffered an ignominious death, and IN,
same penalty is about TO be require,
of you, who were the abandoned au
thor, contriyer, and proourer, of th,
deed Of death.
The wicked and proHisatc will not,
well these awful events. They will
they must see the misery. disgrace, is.
nomiDy aud death, following in ouieL
retribution for the most secret crimes.
While We present these dreadful G,
vents To your consideration. we would
earnestly hope that you may be aLlc I,
oiier at the throne of grace, broker
and contrite heart. We besecch YOU
TO call to your aid those pious men
whose duty IL is to teach the consola
tons Of our holy religion. Under then
direction and the assistance Of the hol,
spirit, may you by prayer and peni.
tence, obtain the forgiveness Of the
God Of mercy for your offences; and
especially for the aw ful crime for which
you arc TO suffer.
The same paper contains "literal
and exact copies Of the papers" left by
Richard C'owninshieId, jr. in his cell.
nj the time he hanged himself on the
18th Of last June. They are both short.
One is addressed 10 his father, from
an "undutiful son that had disregard
cd his ehaste aud moral precep,s. -
lie requested that hts father would see
him deccntly buried, aud protect him
from tho dissccting knife. We copy
the whole Of the letter 10 his brother
George, as we find it printed ia the
Gazette
"saLrs, JusE IS, 1850"
I" DraA BHorHTn,
May God, and your innocence guide YOU
safe through this Trial Had Itsken y1or
advice. would still enjoy Life, I.iberiy. ami
. clear conscience. Hni ha,. - - -.