Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1853-07-20

plea was urged of insanity. The jury
was empannelled on the evening of tbs
9Th, and the trial continued until neal
noon on the 18Th The jury retired bu
a short time, and returned a verdict o
guilty of murder in the first degree. and
on the next day the accused was senten
ced by Judge Camden to be hung on Fri
day, the 28th Of October.
We learn that Judge Camden acquit
ted himself with great credit during the
trial, giving evidence. by the promptnes'
and correctness of his decisions, of a
comprehensive knowledge of the law, en-
Ijoyed by few.
The prosecution was conducted by G.
J. Hall, Esq. the Attorney for the Com
monwealth. The prisoner was defended
by Samuel Woods, Esq. Both gentle
men distinguished themselves for ability
and legal learning.
We have obtained a copy of the SEN
tence pronounced by the judge. which we
take pleasure in laying before our read
ers:
Thomas Board, you have been indict-
ed, tried and found guilty by jury of
your country, of the murder of Strickler
I. H. Crislip, on toe eth of February,
last. lovely and interesting child be.
tween FIVE and six years of age, the son of
your own sister. In your defence, the
committing of the homicide by you was
not denied, but the effort was to shield
you from the penalty of the law by the
plea of insanity.
No question has been raised as to your
present state of mind. You were allowed
to lay before the jury every fact and cir
cumstance since your birth and before it,
that might tend to support your defence !;
and although you were aided by able and
Jealous counsel, jury marked for its IN
telligence and patient investigation, not
only found your plea to be false. but that
you committed the horrid act under such
circumstances as to make it murder in the
first degree.
In reviewing the evidence, the Court
finds no cause to be dissatisfied with the
verdict. In consequence of your being
charged with the killing of one so young
and "blood of your blood" The evil
.dence was heard with much interest, ex-
pecting and hoping that it would appear
that an act so cruel and unnatural was
not committed by one of sane mind.
But all who have heard your case have
been doomed to disappointment. AL
though the evidence showed that your
mental capacity was below that of a ma
jority of those of your age and oppor-
tunities, it left no doubt on the mind that
it was of sufficient strength to enable you
to discriminate between right and wrong,
and to know that you were committing an
act against "God and nature"
Your case presents the horrid fruits of
one of weak intellect. allowed to grow up
in idleness, and suffered TO cultivate his
evil passions, instead OF having them re-
strained and modified by proper training
and instruction.
The most weighty circumstance in
your case, tending to show insanity, was
the cruelty of the act, but it's force was
destroyed by proof of your previous ma
licious feeling towards the parents of the
child, because they would not suffer you
to remain with them as you had done for
some years before, in sloth and idleness.
Your appearance at times, no doubt to
some, seemed to indicate arrangement of
mind, but the weight ofevidence showed
satisfactorily that such appearances were
but the result of wicked and unrestrained
passion. Be that as it may, when the
killing by you was established, in order
to exempt you from punishment, it was
necessary for you to show that at the time
your mind was in such state that you
did not know that you was doing wrong,
of which you wholly failed-and the
proof on the part of the state was clear,
that up to almost the fatal moment, and
soon thereafter, your mind was in its
usual rational state, thereby removing all
presumption that at the time of the act
there was insanity. The commission OF
the horrid act, your arrest for 1t, subse-
quent imprisonment of near FIVE months,
and the severe trial which you have un-
dergone without any apparent derange-
ment of intellect, would seem conclusive
against you.
Your case should be a solemn warning
20 parents and others entrusted with the
care and instruction of youth, not to let
them grow sp in idle and vicious habits,
but to force them into moral and indus
trious walks. The youth who may hear
of your wretched end, I hope and pray
that it may sink deep in their hea,ts and
eradicate every evil andIwicked desire, and
incline them to follow the precepts of the
wise and the good-to shun the path Of
wicked and immoral, and to learn the i'm.
portant truth that vicious and evil prac
tice lead bat to Indebtedness, shame and
ruin.
1t is distressing to look at one as young
as yourself, standing convicted of the
highest crime known to the laws, and
about to suffer their severest penalty; THU
feeling is felt, perhaps more strongly b,
! .Lsss ,sl,ase sir, .;c;.s Ia tLa,as