Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-05-26
Federal Court.

Monday last, John Santmyer, of Shenandoah,
s, w HI. Haines, of Berkeley convicted of rcbbng
the mail, We're again brought before The Court, to
receive their sentence. BY request. Judge Brock
ENBRoUGH has furnished his address on the coca
sion for publication, as follows
PrisoncrS!-To denouncc the penalties Of vic
lated law against a convicted telon after jury
shall have determined the extent OF those penal
ties were, of itself, a sufficiently painful duty
But my office, on the present occasion, does not
end here. The law which you have offended has
added greatly to my official responsibility III con-
shutting me its organ to ascertain and graduate
your punishment according to my view Of the enor-
nifty of your offence.
Your case, John Santmyor, calls for no special
remarks More than FIVE years ago you were in
dicted bya Grandjury of this court, for stealing
mail bag containing newspapers, from the carriers
Of the u. S. mail Before you were arrested to
answer this indictment, you were called before a
State court to meet charge Of felony preferred
against you there On this indictment you were
arraigned tried and condemned and you have paid
the penalty Of the violation OF that law by an in
generation of five years i'll the Pcnitentary OF the
State. Having served out the full term OF your
imprisonment there,by command OF The Executive
OF the State, your person was delivered TO the Gus
tody of an officer of this court to undergo your trial
for the offence against the laws Of the L. s., pros
ecuted here. Again You have been tried and
found guilty. You may have lattered yourself
that time, the great destroyer, had oblterated all
evidence of your guilt; bot if you INDUCED such
hopes, they were doomed to bitter disappointment.
The evidence of your guilt, though purely circum-
stantial, was perfect and convincing The stolen
property was traced to your possession, and fully
identified. Disappointed in your hopes Of more
profitable booty, you hawked the pamphlets and
magazines stolen from the mail bag through the
neighborhood and sold them to unsuspecting pur-
chasers for the merest trfe. Your ingenuity sug
gestcd various modes ofaccounting for their acqui
sition. and they were all shown to be untrue. You
were found guilty by your :riors, and am now to
determine the extent Of your punishment. As the
efficacy of all criminal laws to restrain men from
the commission of crime depends far more upon
the certainty than the severity Of the punishment
which attends their violation, and as you have al
ready suffered severely for another offence, deem
that the law you have violated will be sufficiently
yipdicated by denouncng the minimum punish
affixed by the law TO the offence Of which you have
been convicted.
approach the consideration ofyom case, VIM.
II Hainse, with unaffected sensbility. Your conn
crninally appropriated to your own use the goods
o. another under circumstances which imply the
utmost deberation. The confidence reposed in
your integrity caused you to be selected as suit
able agent to discharge the duties of responsible
public Office Your station was an humble one to
be sure but it conferred upon you extensive capac
ity for mischief. The deputy postmaster who con-
trolls the most obscure post office i'll the u s., If
he is fahess TO his trust, may inilic most serious
evils on society. Those evils are by no means to
be measured by the mere amount Of money he may
abstract from the mails passing through his oi1ica.
When it is known that depredaons have been
committed on the mails, every postmaster on the
route shares to some extent, the odium of The act.
Public confidence in the honest administration Of
the post office establishment through all it's extern
sive ramifcations, receives shock from which 1t
can only be relieved by the energetic prosecution
of the train ofmeasures essential to the detection OF
the offender. The means at the command of the
department for the detection Of crime most ample
for that purpose-are Immediately put into requi-
sition, and if the guilty party, lull3d into sense
of false security by previous IMMUNITY perscvearsn
his pilfering course he speedily finds himself ove
taken by the swift vengeance of the law. The
pryng eye of a confidential agent ofthe Depart
ment is upon him, and the culprit is arrested betre
time has been allowed to destroy the evidences of
his guilt. When once the offending postmaster
feels the weight of the laws hard upon him, his
fate is already sealed The proofs Of his guilt are
then full, complete, and overwhelming, and moth
inc is wanting to conSumma;e bis rn In your
case, indeed, the usual facilities for detecting your
offences were not afforded to The officers OF the de-
partment. All your depredatiOns were committed
within the space Of two days. You seem then to
have desisted content with the large treasure you
had thus possessed yourself Of Docoy letters pass
ed untouched through your hands. The officers
were for long time batlled in iheir efforts to fer
ret out your crime. 1t was known certainly some
one of the many fduciaries along the line from
Baltimore to Wiamsp0rt, had betrayed his trust,
but nothing transpred for many months to indicate
the particular offender With coolness that strikes
us as vely remarkable in a mere boy as You were,
you seem to have prldently kept your own coun-
sells. You kept your fatal secret buried in your
own bosom for the space Of three entire months, and
you were perhaps the only person connected with
the post office establishment, between the termn
of that long line of transportation, who did not in
Cur TO some extent, the suspicion of the community
When at length you supposed that all trace of
your robbery was lost, you eoped from your faith
er's roof and posted TO the City of ST. Louis to in
vest your il-gotten gains Adventurous boy !
You did invest them judiciously enough, and then
you hurried back to Virginia 10 copsumnatc. as it
would SEEM marriage with her who had plighted
to you her affection. But you were not destined
long to tread ''the primrose path Of dalliance.
A clue was afforded by your flight to tho robbery
of the previous November. The agent Of the de-
partment pursues you through all your wiEdings.
Arriving at St. Louis he speedily learns all the
particulars of your purchase, but you are not there.
You are pursued hack again 10 Virginia and the
Il, ba al
your betrothed. You are arrested, and informed of
the nature of the charge against you. You protcs.
yoIr innocence at first, but you bet,dy yourselfby
the Inconsistencies of your statements. Finding
that circumstances of suspicion surround You which
your ingenuity cannot dispel the terrible secret is
at length disclosed, and you make full confession
of your guilt and all the circumstances attending
its commission. You breathe more freely than be-
FORE and declare, doubt not truly, that You eX-
percnced great relief from dislodgng from your
mind secret which had set like an incubus upon
it for months. That confession was detailed in ey
idence before the jury who sat in Judgment upon
you and the circumstances OF the case show that
it was made without reserve and with perfect
truth. You have been defended by able counsel,
stimulated to the display Of unusual skill, ngenu-
ity and eloquence, by your own extreme youth,
and the sted sobs of your excellent father, as lie
sat beside you in an agony OF woe. The jury who
tried you were just but compassionate men, and
while they condemned You. unanimously recon-
mcnded you to the mercy Of the Executive am
myself persuaded that the moral effect Of your trial
and conviction will not be lost by unconditional
pardon, and in consideration Of your youth, and
former good character, and that your conviction
could not have been had without your full and vol
untary confession, | shall most heartily eopcus in
the recommendation Of your jury.