Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1854-01-12
From the Wisconsin s'hfonicIe.
EMANUAL DAMON.


have just seen your paper Of yesterday, i,
which is touching history from the pen of m,
esteemed friend Beriah BrSwn, of the boy-lnar
tyr, whose murderers were tried before ne q
the Marquette circuit. That history is in til,
main correct, though not quite so in some un
important particulars.
When | first saw the account of the death o
the little Chicago Hero, my mind at once rever
ted to the case above referred to as an instance
of truthful fortitude, if anything SURPRISING
that of knud Avorson. And you may well say
that if Chicago erects a monument, to commem.
crate the virtues of her child Hero, who suffer-
ed the comparatively easy death by drowning
because he would not steal how much more
Ishould we commemorate in fitting raannef the
heroism of Emanual Damon, who boea rlr twt
hours the most equisite torture: sratI uissss
. Tie. Thefacts, as they Scros el::tsssd Oh tls
trial, were as follows
The defendants-husband and wife-were
respectable farming people residing in Marquette
county, and were childless. They had two or
phan children bound to them-one little girl
about ten years of age, and the other the boy
Emanaal, eight years ofagc | have no means Of
ascertaining anything of the previous history of
Emanual, 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 intel
lgent, bright, blue-eyed boy, and very winning
in his little playful ways.
1t appeared from the testimony of the little
girl-who was the sole witness to the torture
that Emanual was charged with having told a
lie. What the lie was, we could not, by either
persuasion or by the fear of punishment, induce
her to tell. The counsel for the State exhaust
ed their ingenuity in vain; nor could l, after
drawing her to me, and by soothing words en-
deavoring 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 ascertained to be the fact when
the trial was over, and her foster safely
lodged in prison. She then said that Emanuel
had by chance discovered the woman in crimi-
nal act, and had told her, and she had told her
wicked parents. Hence it became all-important
to the woman, (who had succeeded in quieting
her husband,) that the lie should be whipped
out of Emanual. Accordingly the man pro-
cured six whips-the toughest kind of swamp
willow-which by his own confession were four
feet in length and as large at the butt as one s
little finger, and about nine o'clock at night
took Emanual, who still persisted in telling the
truth, to the loft of the cabin, and having strip
ped him to his shirt, wound that around his
neck and tied him up by cord fastened to both
wrists to rafter, so that his feet but barely
tT'achef the ar-'rs ssss
Here he whipped him for two hours, ouly rest
ng as intervals to procure a fresh whip, or to
lemand of his victim that he should own that
he told lie The boys only answer was, 'Pa,
told the truth" Pa, did not lie." The
girl said that Emanual did moi ny much and it
is probable that he tainted during part of the
time, as the injuries upon his body showed tor
ture, under which even the physical strength of
an adult would have sunk. The physicians who
examined the body, testified that there was not
u spot, from the arm-pits to the ancles, large
enough to place your finger upon, but was COW
ereved with livid welts and that in very many
places the skin was broken
And still the brave boy held out lie must
have had sainted mother, for the teaching of
none other could have SO implanted truth in his
every fibre.
Yes--he still held out and when he was ta-
ken down, with the cords cutting deep into his
little wrists, and the warm blood tricking from
his limbs, with his head upon his murderer 8
shoulder, his last words were, 8" Pa am 50
cold !" and then his pure spirit fled forever, be-
yond the reach of torture and inhumanity, to
that bright world, where wrong and oppression
can never be known.
lie unquestionably died with TRUTH still in
his heart, and was martyr to it.
The whips were quite worn up, as the splin-
tered fragments were afterwards found. Tho
trial, as you may imagine, was one of deep and
painful interest. There was scarce dry eye ii
the courtroom. The verdict was manslaughte'
! in The first degree and the convcts were senten
ced to ten years imprisonment in the state pris
on--the extreme penalty of the law.
| have watched with much interest the effort
that have been made to erect a monument to tn
memory of the lad Iverson and trust that NJ
one who may wish to add his mite, will be pre-
vented by the croakers, who alwsysstaaaia in tn
way of every noble and humane work.
We, too, should in some fitting way perpetu
ate the memory of Emanual Damon. | kno'
that you will promptly lead the way in such
design and it would be well to ascertain somt
thing more of his prior history-his parentag
his birthplace, &c. This You probably can d
by reference to the records of your county.
/ can add nothing further to the story as pu'
lished in the madison Democrat. But do thin
that we should not permit such heroism to pa
wholly unnoticed. viii not every little WI
consin boy on Christmas day, set apart portlc
of his gifts, to be expended in perpetaating tt
memory of little Emanual And with this as
beginning, am sure their fathers will see tn
enough is provided to ensure the completion
the design. Very truly yours,
G. II. LARABEE.
PARENTAGE OF EMANUAL DAMON.
= EmanuaPs parents came to this city from u
= l. =. Ed thnr .uas