Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1855-12-05
s'..e q Iowa y. John ). Jo.e..

i state 81 Iowa W John j. JODcs.
| SENTENCE OF THE COURT
The prisoner was yesterday P. N. brough
into court for sentence. His Honor Judgs
Lowe, addressed him as foIlowg
| The prosecution against you for she murder o.
Horatio w. McCardlc, has resulted, asyou have
painful reason to know, in your conviction, aftel
| patient hearing and most able defense By you,
| counsel If you have any legal cause to show
you, the court will hearit
The prisoner, being permittedby the court to
speak if he had any thing to say why sentence
| should no, be pronounced, Judge Rorer his attor.
neg, read the following in his name:
| Nay it please the Honorable Court:
lam an old man fast tottering to the grave
The frosts of ofseventy-three winters-though they
have not whitened my brow, have wrinkled my
| face, and chilled my heart with many sorrows--
Mine has been chequered life. And now,
| when about to be separated from my fellows,
may give truthful version Of the past.
Ihad o family and home-a rude home, it is
| true, and plain and humble family-but they
| were my all. The deceased robbed me of the
| one and invaded the sanctity ofthe other. Two
small sons-a lovely daughter and . wife-a
cherished wife
On returning to that home the day of the IA
tai deed, learned the certainty of the maddeaing
truth, and FASTENED to the field, my rife still in
hand. know not why Invent. had no fixed
| design. He met me with a club shot him.
And thought claim not to have acted in defence
l do assert that there was mutual combat. You
know the rest. / fed-my family followed. But
for the fifteen years have lived at Lockand
made no secret of the deed had done. "a,
Now time has done its work The Govern
ment itself has changed New laws are
! passed and old ones repcalcd-and those who
then surrounded me have mostly passed away.
A different people are in the land-a different
| code of morals now prevails. drank liquor, it
is said, and true it is drank it. Not to have
done SO then would have been the objection. Men
high in station leaned upon the dranlshop for
support. To treat ones fellow to the poisoning
cup was deemed proof positive Of gentccl train.
ing. l may not be held responsible alone for
| the vices Of socety-it is enough that l have
been their victim. Those days are past, and that
loved one is gone-bourn down with trouble she
| sank into an early grave. That lovely daughter
is now, hopeless cripple, wearing haggard
face. OF those two boys-who.should have been
the prop Of my old age-the one is gone to join
his injured mother as witnesses against the dead
! destroyer of their peace-thc other-and my
heart sinks within me when say it--liues-but
not to me-with an ear deaf to my calamity, he
comes not near me! But forgive.
To this Honorable Court, the Jury, and to
the Attorneys and Officers thereof and to the
people Of this community return my humble
thanks for their impartial hearing
l have never been criminal of choice.
but rather the creature of circumstances be.
meath the weight of which far better men than
me have sunk. may have been too Jealous OF
mine honor, but never have but once proved
| faithless to my trust. When my countrys rights
were invaded answered them and so did mine
honor With Gen. Jackson in all his Creek cam
paigns battled for my country and its laws AT
the FAST in the WILDERNESS was there. At the
fast of acorns was therc-at Enmefa and Tale
dega was thcre-and when the shouts of vic.
tory drowned the cries of the dying at the bat.
tie of Horse Shoe, in the front ranks of my coun.
try was tl,cre-and the name of him whom we
now call John J. Jones was another word for
deeds of daring .. --..... .
These arc Of the past A long life is nearly
spent-the scene has changed, but He above who
reads the human heart is, further than the form.
al sentence of the law, competent to judge me-
The Court cannot accept your statement as a
vailed or sufficient reason in law, to arrest the
| uplifted arm of justice and therefore it remains
for the court to perform the last crowning act OF
your trial, by proclaiming the sentence of the
law Your great age, having out-lived your
| three score and ten years-the fact that you long
resided near my native spotin Ohio, and the still
more important fact, that you have honorably
served your country, as am informed, in the
capacity of soldier under Genl jackson, make
the performance of the duty one of great poig
nance and severity on the part of this court
And he would willingly been spared the same
for the honor Of your weight of years-for the
honor Of that patriotism, at whose affairs yor
bravcy served in the flower Of your manhood:and
still more for the greater honor of that common
| humanity, which in later life you should have
observed towards that inoffensive neighbor OF
yours, for whose murder you now stand convic.
ted. 1t is painful to reflect, in reviewing the
evidence for and against you, the mind can rest
upon no one fact or circumstance that would
seem to offer the slightest apology or palIiation
for your ofense. The story of your crime is a
| short one, and may be briefly told thus: You
cupied by Mr.. McCardle, upon which he had
raised crop, and was engaged in gathering the
| same for himself and family. Instead of testing
your claims in the peaceful mode prescribed b,
law, you insisted upon reaping where you had
not sown. And you said to McCardle thatif he
should take any more corn from his field, thai
you would shoot him. McCardle believing him
self entitled to the fruits Of his own labor, per
sisted. You, brooding over that fatal menace 1
few days walked deliberately into his field with
yourgun and executed your fell purpose by sen
ding bullet to his heart, in the presence Of hi
son. Nc Cartlle went down to the grave, ant
you, guilty felon, parts unknown FSfteer
years have since rolled away, and mysteriou.
Providence turns you up, and brings you within
the jurisdiction Of that law, whose majesty yo,
have outraged.
| You have been tried and pronounced guilty o
the highest grade of homicide And to gran
you immunity under these circumstances, from
the legal consequences Of your crime, woul,
cause McCardle to turn in his grave. The Law
under which you committed the deed, visits YOU
crime with the penalty Of death Since which tn,
Legislature, has materially changed the law o
Murder-which fact taken in connection will
the peculiar construction given this law BY tn,
Supreme Court, makes it more than doubtful
whether this Court has the power, under the in
dictment and form of the verdict, to claim YOU,
life as the forfeit Of your crime, and therefore
| giving YOU the benefit of this doubt shall lin;