Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-06-23
seu.eucs o, s,oddard.

The Gazette of yesterday informed our
readers OF the sentence of Stoddard for the
murder Of his wife. The following was the
sentence as pronounced by Judge Wilkin-
son, as we find in the r I. Nens:--
"DAyip SropDARp. You are here TO re-.
ceire the sentence Of the law for one ofthe
highest crimes human being can perpe-
irate. After deliberate and candid inves-
tigation of your case, jury ofyour country
have convicted you Of the crime of wiltul
murder. The evidence on which conyic-
ton rests is such as to leave the Court no
room to doubt its propriety, consisting as II
does, of the positive testimony OF eye wit
nesses to the deed, and supported By your
own admissions, as also By circumstantial
proofs of the most convincing character
lnstiga,ed by evil passions you have sud-
emily. and with preneditated violence, taken
the life fyour own wite-she whom in the
earlier, and perhaps better years Of your
lite. you had chosen, OF all others. as the
special object of your love and protection,
became the subject Of your hatred, and fell
victim 10 the yiolt nee OF your arm.
For number Of years before the occur
renee of this fatal transaction, your mar
rage relation with the deceased had been an
unhappy one, and by agreement you had
generally lived separate from her. When
living together as you occasionally did, !,
was not in the enjoyment OF conlugal reia-
ton, and at such times it is shown that the
deceased was not unfrequently the subject
OF your violent abuse and threats, and also
of severe personal chlstisement at your
hands.
For crime Of such magnitude and per-
petrated under circumstances Of such cruel
ty, the law affixes the EXTREMIST penalty
II declares that "the punishment of any per-
son convicted Of the crime of murder shall
be DEATH" Severe as is the penalty, il is
deemed necessary for the security of soce-
ty and the protection OF human life, and is
seldom inflicted where even humanity does
not fully acquiesce in its justice. This
punishment you may MT hope to avoid
The indulgence Of such hopes will only
serve to distract your thoughts from the
consideration Of those subjects which in
your relation should receive your exclusive
| and mos. solemn attention.
Rest your hopes upon Him, who in the
hour ofyour extremity, is alone able to sus
tain and save you.
| The sentence of the law is. thatyou, Dd
vid Stoddard, be detained in close custody IL
the Jail of this county, and tina. on Friday
The l3A day Of July nert, you be thence ia
/ ken to the place of execution, and there, be
tween the hours Of eleven O'clock in The
forenoon and four o'clock in the afternoon
! you be hung by the neck until you are
dead. May God prepare you for tina, even
and have mercy on your soul"
The Nsios says
The Court room was densely crowded b.
an audience who listened in almos, breath
less anxiety during the delivery of the sen
tence. twas evident that the noble ant
generous feelings Of Judge Wilkinson wer,
deeply panied in the discharge of this duty
yethe delivered the sentence in clear ant
distinct tone.
The reckless Indifference which charac.
terzed the prisoners conduct throughout
the trial appeared to give way when the
sentence was pronounced, and he showet
evident Signs OF deep sense of the aw lu
facts which he il soon TO meet.