Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1853-12-19
Emanuel Damon.

have just seen your paper Oh yester-
day, in which is touching history from
The pen Of my esteemed friend Berlah
Brown, of the boy martyr, whose mnr-
derers were tried before me at the Mar
quette Circuit. That history is in the
main correct, though not quite SO In
some unimportant particulars.
When first saw the account of the
death of the little Chicago Hero, my
mind at once reverted to the case above
referred to as an instance of truthful for
litnde, if anything SURPRISING that OF
Knud Iverson. And you may well say
that If Chicago ereets a monument to
commemorate the virtues of her child
Hero, who suffered the comparatively
easy death by drowning, because he
would not steal, how much more should
we commemorate in fitting manner the
heroism Of Emanuel Damon, who bore
for two hours the most exquisite torture,
rather than tell lie. The facts, as
they were elected on the trial, were as
follows
The defendants husband and wife
were respectable farming people residing
IN Marquette county, and were chlldless.
They had two orphan children bound 10
them--one little girl about ten years
of age, and the other the boy Emanuel
eigh, years -of age, have no means OF
accertaining anything IF the previous
history Of Emanuel, and only know that
he was taken from the Milwaukee poor
house. He was fragile child, and had
never been in robust health. Those
who knew him spoke of him as an in
!elligent, bright, biue-eyed boy, and We
~ winning in his playful little ways.
1t appeared from the testimony of the
little girl-who was the sole witness
to the torture-that Emanuel was char
ged with having told lie. What the
lie was, we could not, by either persua-
sion or by the fear of punishment, in
duce her to tell. The counsel for the
state exhausted their ingenuity in vain ;
nor could |, after drawing her to me
and by soothing words endeavoring To
quiet her fears, induce her TO tell what
the lie was. The child had evidently
been intimidated by threats of personal
injury. This was afterwards ascertain
ed ..s5 De the fact when the trial was over
and her foSter~parents, safely lodged in
prison. She then said that Emanuel had
by chance discovered the woman in Z
criminal act, aud had told her, ard she.
had told her wicked parents. Hence
1t becane ail-important to the woman,
(wlo had succeeded in quieting her hus-
band, that the lie should be whipped
out Of Emanuel. Accordingly the man
procured six whips--the toughest kind
of swamp willow which by lis own
confession were four feet in length and
as large at the butt as ones little fin
ger, and about 8 O'Clock at night took E.
mariuel-who still persisted in telling
the tru'h--to the loft of the cabin, and
having stripped him to his shirt, wound
that around his neck aid tied him up by
a cord by both wrists to rafter, so that
bis feet but barely touched the floor.
Here he whipped him for hours on
iy resting at intervals to procure fresh
whip or TO demand Of his victim that he
should own that he told lie. The boy $
only answer was, 'sPa. l told the truth. .
PA, did not lie.' The girl said that
Emanuel did not cry mach and it is
probable that he tainted during portion
OF the time, as the injuries upon his bo-
dy showed torture, under which, even
the physical strength of ar adult. would
have sunk. The physicians who exam :
ined the body testified that there was not a
spot, from the arm-pits to the ANGLES,
large enough to place your finger upon,
but was covered with livid welts and
that in very many places the skin was
broken
Aud still, the brave boy held out J.
He must had sainted mother, for the
teachings Of none other could have SO
truth in his every fibre.
Yes-still he hell out; and when he
was taken down, with the cords cut
ting deep into his little wrists, and the
warm blood trick ling from his limbs,
with his head upon his murderer's
shoulders, his last words were, "Pa!
am so cold! and then his pure spirit
fled forever, beyond the reach of torture
and inhunanity, 10 that bright world,
where wrong and oppression can never
be known.
He nnqnestionably died nth TRurH
still in his heart, and was martyr to
it.
The whips were quite worn up, as
the spllntered fragments were afterwards
found. The trial, as you may imagine
was one of deep and painful Interest,"
There was scarce dry eye In the court
room. The verdict was n,ansluughter
in the first degree, and the conyicts
were sentenced TO ten years imprison-
'nent in the State Prison-the extreme
penalty "a The Jaw.
! have watched with much interest
he efforts that have been M de to erect
a monument to the memory of the lad
tverson; and | trust that no one who
may wish to add his mite, will be pre-
vented by the croakers, who always
stand in the way Of every noble and hu-
name work.
We, TOO, should in some fitting may
the memory Of EMANuEL
DAMON. know that yon will promptly
lead the way in siich design and i,
would De well to ascertain something