Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1848-02-26
From the Pbila. True Sum- Of the 18th inst
The HORRIBLE Csse OF Depravs'y at nIon-
treul.


summary Of the evidence cdduccd on the trial
of Jas Goodwin. at Montreal. on the 3d inst.
who was charged with the murder Of his wife.
10 whom he had been twenty years married.
who was the mother vi his seven children, and
against whose conduc, or character nothing
whatever appeared. except Tint her brutal part
ner had hrsteu and i'll trested her until she is
supposed to have become partially insane. The
evidence fills two columns Of the Montreal Her.
aid, from which we copy the following addi.
,ional particulars !, is the blarkest record cf
deliberate cruelty than we ever remember to
have read. The necessity Of a good moral and
religious education is shown. and the drprnvi
" Of human nature. under bad example. made
manifest in the facts that thip poor sufferer was
allowed by her sister and her children to re
main three months in a Virpen, never once
clpansed, in the IN dsi OF q Canadian winter
the neiRhbors and clergymen alec knowing and
allowing il. But we will let the humane editor
Of the Herald tells the story -
''In a Conadian winter. when our houses can
hardly be enough warmed, with oil the appl.
anccs Of stoves and pipcs-when the troz n air
can scarcely be sufficiently excluded by the de-
vice of double sashes and second doors--when
even the invigorating glow provoked by exer.
else. must be heightened by the use of the warm.
est fIrs 4; in such a climate a fe:low.being.
whose only crime was insanity. WAS allowed :"
iinger, with no shelter but rag. from the first
week of November 10 the first week in Fsbru.
ary. A hog.sty, moro offensive than when i,
was inhabited hy those impure Creatures, was
the den al a wife, lonely. destitute. benumbed
within few yards Of the freride where her
csllors husband enjoyed the warmth and com
forts Of his home. Who can e., innate the her.
ro,s Of that eol.tary, geld prison Some gra phic
sentences in the evidence Of the witness convey
m ides of the truth. which must imprers the
co,des, imagination. Did your mother walk or
asked the Queens Counsel She do not walk:
when she was warm she did not like 20 be get
tirg up replied the daughter. The P'nr wretch
with all her members drawn together 10 keep
! alive the poor remaining sparks Of vital heat.
wrapped up in the two oil quilts which were
| her only clothing, did no. dare to rice lest she
should expose larger surface Of her a'teuun'ed
frsms To the piercing cir. Day aher day did her
! ex,rerni,rs become more dresdully injured, till
mort ,6ca,ion. at length rft only the raw s,umps.
/ Then, even. den,h delayed 10 end her misery
and yet such wa. the indifference Of her hus
] band and her children. and her husbs nds ~is
teri that we do not eveu know the period when
the loss Of an entire fuot ,ook place. nor hos
long she existed after that horrd anputation.
/ .'ln the meantime, everything in the adjon
ing cottage went on as cheertuliy as |! there
were no human suffering in the wide world
The sister of this cold bloded murder, be'wee'
her blankets, or by the side Of the stove, cunl'
reflect with pleasure on the mildness of the sea
son. lie himself seems to have taken .om'
pr de in the charitable feelings which prompte'
him. "a he told the clergyman, 10 allow hi
children to relieve his suffering wife, 'a' iht!
pould do amy other person.' His sen"vo'eoc'
was thus manifested in feeding fellow crea
ture who was free zing 10 death within few
| ward. of his fire and his heart could sugges
Tim, he deserved well because he did no, deprv'
his wife these useless aims. But what shal
we sny to the children Carrying in much tn
same manner as they would hive done to ih
fitting inhsti,ants OF her dwelling, the dali,
!. nour ,.hmeut which maintained the existence q
their mother, they had learned disgust at tn
sonalrr of their parent, Tho place where sh