The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1852-09-23
A DANIEL
OF the whfg party for the
Supreme Beanch.


candidate selected1by that respectable brother
hood for elevation to the digditv Of a seat on
tho Bench of the Supreme Court 1t may also
be within the knowledge of some of our readers,
that this same gentleman, until recently, presi-
ded on the Judgment seat of the judicial dis
trict in which is situate the country of Venaugo.
Now in the volume just issued from the prolif-
ic pen of the Reporter to the State, and con-
tanning the last published decisions of the Su-
preme Court upon appeals brought up from the
various districts of Pennsylvania, will be found
leaf destined to carry down to future ages the
classical views of BURLINGTON, III company with
those of the Solomons, the Catos, and the Jo-
sephs of antiquity. 1t furnishes the report of
q case of ''Shannon d Nugent VS.. The Common
,reaM ;" according to which report, published
by authority, and to be seen at page 226 of the
Pennsylvania State Reports, vol. 16, it appears
that Judge BURLINGTON vieing with the wisdom
and virtue of the men of better days, and beat
ing and distancing the blue laws of Connecticut
and Maine, did in the year of grace, 1850,
yict and sentence two individuals in the Quarter
Sessions of the County of Venango, one being
man and the other woman, for ga conspiracy
70 commit adultery" A conspiracy to commit
adultery These two persons, gentle and learn
cd reader, were acquitted of adultry, but con-
victed of conspiracy to commit it An of
fence not set down in the decalogue, never be-
fore described in the law books, or imagined
hitherto by either sex, and which must parallel
in the Quarter Sessions of Venango what in c-
vii jurisprudence of the Courts of Chancery, is
STYLED suspicion of debt. The Democratic candi-
date for the Supreme Court, Judge WOODWARD
as is known, is upright and even fastidious
man but venture to believe that neither
Judge Woodward, nor the chaste stars them
selves, twinkled into such depths of pro-
priety as this. What an edifying scene must
have been the County Court room when Judge
BURLINGTON sentenced the conspirators found
guilty of inclination to adultery What can
didate have the Wings! Surely DANIEL was
less profound in his judgment, DIANA less accu-
rate in her virtue, JOSEPH himself not half so
particular
But, alas what was the decision of the APP
pellate Court, when Judge BUFFINGToN's tran
scendentalism came up for review After that
modern Rhadamanthus had passed his sentence,
in the book, the parties took writ of error to
the Supreme Court where the validity of the
proceedings appearing by Judge BURLINGTON
record was argued, and where, notwithstanding
the steady and disciplined gravity of the Court
Of last resort, the Judges to have had
much ado to keep in order their rebeious coun-
tenances. The point decided in the Court above
according to this learned Reporter, is thus given
in the Syllabus There is no such offence as
conspiracy between a man and woman to COM
NIT adultry." The report then proceeds thus
Error to the Quarter Sessions of Venango coun-
T.. The plaintiffs in error were indicted below
Tor conspiracy to commit adultery. The in
dictment contained ten counts, on four of which l
a noHc Pr0sequi was entered. 1t was charged in
the first court, that Shannon and Edna Nugent,
wife of James Nugent, together with other evil /
disposed persons whose names to the inquest
are as yet unknown, on the 23d day of Februa-
ry, 1880, wickedly, &c, did conspire, &c., and
agree together to commit adultery, to the great
damage Of the said James Nugeut, &c In the
second count, 1t was charged that they did then
anu there conspire and agree together to commit
aIultry, omitting to llege combination with
other persons In the other counts the charge
q
verdict of guilty was rendered. Objections made
to the Indictment were urged on motion in ar
rest of judgment before his Honor Judge BUF-
FNGTON and were overruled" After setting
forth at length the points made for reversal OF
the judgment by the counsel for the plaintiff ia
error, Mr.. A. Is. McCalmont. but not there made
Tor the Commonwealth, for the reason probably
that in the absence of the Judge himself no rea-
son could be OWNED why such n Judgment should
be sustained, the Reporter gives the opinion of
the Court, which was delivered on the 9th of
October, 1850. We copy portions of it only
iii confederacy constituted conspiracy, without
regard to the quality of the act to be done, a ,
party might incur the guilt of it by having n
greed to be the passive subject of n battery :
which did not involve him in breach of the
peace by such preconcerted encounters it has
eeen said a reputation for piousness is some
umes purchased by gentlemen of the fancy. In
'ae same way might conspiracy to commit sui
elae by drowning or hanging in concert, accord a
ing TO the method of the Partisan roues though 0
10 one could be indicted of the felony if it were
eommltted. 1t may be said, such conspiracies :
are ridiculous and improbable. But nothing is 0
more ridiculous improbable than conspiracy
:. " commit adultery-were we not bound to treat [
Il with becoming gravity, it might provoke S
smile" ''We understand that this plaintiff in G
eror had been acquitted of actual adultery, and
'1lough the fact is not found in the record it
SHOWS how readily an Indictment for the sub
S1'nee OF the same thing in another form might
~ ~ made means of oppression" The opinion n
-: o-as IN these words: ''Decency and justice D
lure that such Investigations be not encouraged =
~ igment reversed Thus melted ON the 9th =
~ 1850, the law and doctrine of of +
,t e mig candidates, and thus on the 18th Oc- -
"A