The true Democrat., 1856-10-21
From the Memphis Bulletin. A Horrible Catalogue of Crime---Strange | Verdict Of the Jury.

and tend like crime, is not to be found in the criminal records. Unless maniac, Smith de- serves deoth, if ony crime should be so punish ed; and yet the jury bring in verdict of man. slaugter with confinement in the Penitentiary! The death penalty is mockery, in the face of such verclicts this. Judge Scruggs, in pas sing sentence, justly rebukes this looseness of administering the law, in the following strong terms:
 "In reviewing the testimony in the case, I am convinced that while the verdict affords to you abundant cause of qualification and relief It IS at the same time, to every intelligent mind familiar with the facts source of special won- der. And although it may have been honest ly made up, it has inflicted upon this commu- nity deeper and a more lasting injury then was done by the crime which it is intended to punish. The proof shows that on various oc- casions previous to the death of your son, you indulged in various unknd remarks concerning him, and while the earth was yet fresh upon his grave, when charged with having killed him, you denied the fact, but added, that often before his death you would have killed him if you had had gun, but damn him he knew you had no gun. On another occasion you spoke of him to Miss Bass as an idle drunkard (of which there is no proof,) and expressed all intention to kill him. Still later, and not more than month or two before you killed him, you stated that you could very easily make a pretence of friendship, whilst concealiuga wea- pon, and by throwing him off his guard, you could strike blow that could enable you to take his life without danger of being hurt your self, although he might be much stronger than you. That you could then pile limbs or fallen boughs of trees upon him, and no one could tell but that they had fallen upon and killed him. pOpcndiro tbiC borriblo rooito1 ,yitb bo remark, "Pll be damned if the limbs shan't fall upon him. The proof further shows that within month or two after this you went to the field where the deceased was alone at work that you struck him four blows upon the head, either one ot which was sufficient to produce death. Two of which, according to the opn- ions ot learned medical gentlemen, could have been inflicted only with sharp metallic n- strument, and just such as would have resulted from the use ot the axe, which 1t is in proof you had inquired for and obtained that morn ing. You then piled upon him some limbs, the breaks in which showed that they were not recently blown down, and so far from any trees, that if they had been freshly fallen limbs, they could not have fallen on him. With his skull mashed and broken in at three or four places, a part of his tongue cut of, the limbs lying upon his body, his hand still holding to hls plough line, welterng in his gore and strug- sIlng Tn the last throes of dissolving nature, you, his father, and at the same time his mur- derer, left him alone in this condition, and re- tired quietly to vour little shop to pursue your work, as though nothing unusual had occurred. It IS further in proof that shortly after the er- actment of this horrible scene, little brother oI the deceased who was at work out of sight in another part of the farm, was attracted tow arl the spot by the barking of his faithful dog, more true to him than his own father and on gong to see the cause of it, discovered the con- dlton ot the deceased He immediately ran to the house and gave the alarm. His distract ed wife, with the true instincts of woman, fled to the scene, and as she, poor woman, vanly hoped to the relief of her dying husbanl.- You tolIowed-ald there, sir, over the mang- led body oE your own son, and in the ear of his contidlDg and distracted wife, you dared to add the crime of falsehood to murder: and mlslead and abuse her confidence by suggest ing as you had originally planned to do, that the limbs of the trees had fallen upon and killed him--thus putting enquiry upon a false scent, to divert it from yourself and conceal
 your horrld crime. And when his knife. the Instrument which there is no doubt, you used m severlng his tongue, was found upon the ground, under his body, open and bloody, you ouSSCStCh tO HIS W It that It must nave fallen from his pocket and opened iu the fall Gui- ty man. at that point in this awful scene spoke the voice which tells to all |" be sure vour sin will fuA you out' That false suggestion with others set inquiry afoot, for the wife was fami- liar with the knife and knew as she testified that 1t was strong knife and difficult to open
 If anything could add to the infamv of your chd's murder, the means to which you have resorted to excuse or pallate that of1ense would do It. Not content with cruelty murdering your own son, and that, too, while he was in the very act of laborlng for your support But. to save yourself from the consequences of that act, you have endeavored to hlacken his mem ory by assocatng his name with deeds of dis | honor toward his own sister, not then twelve years ofage, and, as though you really designed to make your infamy too deep to admit another shade, you have caused that poor child to con- hrm your accusation, and to do so, too, in the face of proof and under circumstances that fully satisfied every intelligent listener that the whole was fahrcatlon. In the result of that at tempt to blacken the memory of your murder ed child, and that too by destroying the char acter of the living, we have another striking illustration of the impotence of falsehood and vice when confronted by truth and justice That very attempt led to the disclosure of the horrifying fact that an older, virtuous, and truthful daughter of yours, had to be removed from home, and placed out to live elsewhere by that very brother, to free her from the dis gust and annoyance of your incestuous solci- tatlons. II there be yet depth of depravity, untouched by the proof in this, freely confess that It lies beyond the range of my imagination And yet in the face of all this proof, so clear so distinct, so undeniably bringing out, and fill ing up to their full measure all the elements of murder, twelve jurors of the country have been found to return a verdict in effect that you did not intend to kill In the name of reason and of truth, what did you intend, if you did not intend to hUe
 Such verdicts can excite but one feeling, and that feeling of universal disgust; and they can have but one tendency, and that to the total destruction of the ends of justice. It is to such that we owe in a great measure the bloody re- cords that now stains the courts of the country and the scenes of violence and bloodshed which have blasted the hopes and shed gloom and despair over the prospects of so many widows and orphans in the land. The fathers, brothers and sons of murdered relatives will not always wait for the slow process of legal mockery In proportion as verdcts such as this one in your case are multiplied, public confidence, in the ability of the law to afford protection to life will wane; a disposition to inhict summary ven- geance upon violatorS of the law will become stronger until mob violence will take the place of the law, and self-constituted judges will usurp the place of regular courts of justice. To avoid so fearful a state of things it behooves every lawabiding man, every lover of national liberty to set his face and raise his voice against all such verdicts Let men who render such verdicts feel the indignation of an injured and outraged public. For, whether they are the re. suit of weakness, or wickedness, they are equal ly ruinous to public interest and destructive to the ends of justice. Whatever may have been the motives of the jury, they have by their yer dict dealt out to you the last drop of mercy, and you have none to expect from the court. It IS to this strange indulgence of the jury you are indebted for the fact that you are not now