The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1855-10-11
Sentence Of Death passed upon Jacob
Armbruster.

Selu uVlluS VI tuo Oouis ab OoyieotoWH,
Bucks County, Jacob Armbruster was
brought up to receive the sentence of the
law for The murder of his wife, Christi
ana Armbruster. After be was placed
in the dock, Judge Smyser asked in the
usual form, what be had to say why SEN
tencce of death should not be pronounced
against him. To this he responded inI
German, that be wanted a new trial. and
that he could prove that on the week OF
the murder lie was in a distant part OF
the country. As he had made this state
ment previous to his trial, and it being
unsupported BY any evidence, the Judge
did not feel at liberty to grant his request,
and proceeded to pass the sentence OF
death upon him in the manner following;
JACOB ARMBRUsTER:-Y Y on have been
convicted by jury of your country OF the
wilful murder of Christiana Armbruster,
your wife j: and you will soon, very soon,
be called upon to expatiate that offence,
by shameful and ignomiuious death on
the gallows. If the doom that awaits
you is dreadful, your crime has been no
| less so. At its hideous aspect nature
shrinks, and humanity shudders. Your
victim was your wife, the partner of your
bosom, the mother of your children! She
was often and long the subject of your un
kindness. Once she was obliged to ap-
peal to this court to i1tcrpose the shield
of the law for her protection from abuse;
but the warning was given in vain. Oh.
that you had then needed it! Then, she
would not now be the untimely tenant of
the tomb, nor you the doomed victim of
the law you have so previously offended.
True, she may not have been always
blameless; but she was woman, ,-and your
wife. In that two-fold character, she
should have been safe from outrage at
your hands. But you seem to have been
incapable Of feeling the force of senti-
ment like this. Intemporance, with you,
as with thousands Of others, seems to
to have been your bane, and to have aid.
ed in your ruin; for it is in testimony,t that
when under its influence, the evil quail
ties of your nature were most developed
and displayed.
With mind and heart thus prepared fol
the crowning and supreme act Of guilt
the temper, the arch enemy Of souls
found you. You looked with eyes of CO.
; vetous desire on her little property whicl
she held in her own right. You inquir
ed, and we're told that if she died iutes
tate, it would be yours; and so thinking
} you resolved to secure it. and prevented
any other disposition Of it by deed or de-
wise, by taking her life with your owl
homicidal hand. The fell design wa:
darkly shadowed forth in your language
to Thos GHinner and John Osborne. L
was slight temptation to so horrid g
deed; but it suficed. Withdrawing your
self from home under pretended jour
ney, you lurked in the vicinity of your
dwelling, awaiting the favorable opportun
ity, like the tiger awaiting his prey. 1
came. You attacked, The knife wa'
aimed at the throat of your miserable vic
tim! The blow descended, and the life
blood of Christiana Armbruster was pour
ed forth like water on her own hearth
stonel Leaving your victim to welter il
her gore, you fed, as you thought, un
seen. Vain hope The eye of Omnis
cience, that never sleeps, was on you, anc
summoned guileless childhood to the spot
to witness and testify to your hurried
} fight from the scene of blood. The
bloody coat you wore on the occasion, still
bearing the sanguinary stains of Murder
was produced, mute but terrible witnes:
against you; and your vague allegation
that you were at distant point on the
afternoon and night of the murder, un.
supported by any attempt at proof, wher
if true, proof was SO easy, only strength
ened the coils by which you were envir
oned.
Rash mani Did you not know that the
earth that drinks the blood of the mur.
dered, cries out INCREASINGLY against the
murderer, until justice has done her full
and perfect work! That work will soon be
consummated. Avenging Justice ha:
her hand upon you now, soon to strangle
you in her grasp!
Believe me these remarks are not made
to harrow up your feelings, or wantoniy
} to probe fresh and bleeding wound--
But it will be wholesome and salutary fol
you to realize in all its magnitude and o.
yerwhelming horror, the deed you COM
mitted. I would have you do so, you
may be the better disposed and prepared
to address yourself to the work of prayer
and penitence, as preparation for your
near and approaching doom. The shad-
ow Of death is upon you even now, and
you are already signed and sealed for the
grave. Will you not realize, in all its
dread reality, the startling fact! I tell
you, death is now at your side with out
stretched arms, ready and eager to fold
you in his embraced VIII you not realize
his presence?
Look behind you, and what there do
you behold! Your wife, your murdered,
butchered wife, lying on the hearth, wei
tering in gorei Anon she rises, and with
eyes swimming in blood, with tottering,
reeling gait, the death damp on her brow,
she staggers onward from the fatal room,
and dies. Look behind again. You see
a bloody track from the room of murder