Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-05-11
WASHINGTON GOODE.

tIOHOl llc Senl0nCC Oh dSUlnRlOn bOOue
took place at the Ante Chamber in the
State House, Wednesday forenoon
When we entered DIR. Abel Phelps was
addressing the council in behalf of the
sick. He stated numerous cases from
The books and from his own knowledge,
In which the occasion Of an execution
had injuriously affected patients suffering
under nervous diseases. And he had no
doubt hat in the present state of public
feeling in regard 10 capital punishments.
aud with the sympathy which we arc
now taught 10 ieel for all the suffering,
the execution Of Goode might cause 9TH
or deaths. One ofthe Council remarked
that the execution would be in private
DR.. Phelps replied that though the sick
might not witness it, they would hear Of
it, mark the hour, and their %sympathies
would be excited at the time.
Mr.. Aspinwall, Of counsel for Goode
on the trial, said that he did not now ap.
pear for him, but would in behalf Of the
petitioners say that IL witness was now
present, who was not present at the trial,
Nh VIII )se testimony might have had an
effect on the decision Of the jury. With
the consent Of the Council he called for
ward Mr.. Wesley Wilson,, a colored
man and cook on board the bark Ida,
who without taking an oath, testified thai
he was in company with Goode on the
evening Of the murder between Q and 8
o'clock, and drank with him at Crom.
bie's tavern in Cambridge st. He then
parted with him and saw him no more.
In The morning he learnt that Goode was
accused for Il murder in Ann street,
Some time after, the same morning, he
went into Richmond street and met Hen
ry G.. Forman and a Watchman. The
Watchman asked Forman if he knew
who struck the blow which killed Hard
ing. He said he did not know the man.
Ii was a man who came up the street and
after striking the blowwe back again.
If he had testified that on the trial, it
would very much have invalidated the
testimony Of Forman, who was the only
respectable witness in The case, and who
was relied on to identify Goode as the
man whom he saw run down The street
after the blow was struck.
Both Mr.. Aspin'vall and Mr.. Hodges,
the counse for Goode, testified that on
repeated conversations with Forman, be-
fore the trial, he stated that he could not
say who the mar was that ran down the
street,
After the points Of the argument in
behalf of the petitioners had been stated
fly Mr.. Aspinwall,
WENDELL Phillips, Esq. made a ve-
ny able and eloquent plea in behalf Of the
petitioners and the change Of the punish
ment from death to Imprisonment for
life. He said that in the short space of
II days, with no effort save sending cir
culars through the mail, petitions with
an aggregate of %, 500 names had pour
ed in from all parts Of the commonwealth.
Three fourths of these petitioners were
men, and a large portion Of Them voters.
They were by no means all of them in
favor of The abolition of capital punish
mentS, but they prayed that while MUIR
derers of more intelligence and higher
privileges were spared, an example might
not be made of such a man as Goode.-
He would admit that there was a counter
hands, and he should certainly present
it. lie accordingly read it, as follows
1--WE copy literally.)
To His Excellency the Governor and
Honorable COUNSEL.
We the undersigned inhabitants OF the
tour Of Woburn. ask that the sentence
pronounced against Washington Goode
may be carried into execution.
Joseph VIM, L. S. Richards,
Thos. G.. Hovey, E. w. Halliday,
Geo. Thompson, J. r. Kendall,
Warren c. Tidd, Wm.A Simmons,
Marshall Tidd,
Thus the friends and enemies Of the
death penalty have hal an equal chance
and the vote on the hanging of Goode
stands ayes 8, noes 90, $500.
Mr.. Phillips argued that this remarka.
Bile demonstration, got up at as short q
notice and with so little effort, as we'll as
the almost unanimity with which the
lower house of the legislature has JUS
passed a bill restricting the death penal.
~ TO murder in the first degree, showed
that a great change was going on in pub.
lie opinion, which ought to have its eff
feet in this case.
He then went into very close and con,
clnsive argument 10 show that it was i'm,
possible 10 infer from the conviction O
Goode under the old law, tina. he woul,
have been convicted of wilful and pre-
meditated murder. or murder in the frs
degree, if he had been rried under tn
new law. The jury only found hin
guilty of muIder-aA uhJuslifable xii
ling. They did not say whether it wa
premeditated. They might not have be
lieved a word Of the testimony going /
show that il was so. And il was not no,
for The council to believe it.
He raad from tho cncnn nnhnr III