Santa Fe weekly gazette. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 185?-1859, 1857-07-11

yer varying IN ltS material points, ne came TO
his death by violence at your hands !; and,
from the posture in which the body was found,
the conclusion comes irrcsiStibly andpainfully
upon the mind, that he was hurried from time
into eternity, while lying in confding or un-
suSpecting repose orresign to the oblivionand
helpesness Of sleep. Thus perGdiousy and
cruelty, without the warning Of a moment, to
have sent the fatal bullet into the brain Of
your unconscious comrade-thus suddenly to
have haStened his immortal spirit into the
presence ofitS Creator casts a stain of guilt
upon your crime too deep and forbidding for
the gaze of your fellowmen. The heart ms
tuctively Shudders at the picture, and bleeds
in view of the depravity which it reveals.
May a remembrance of the scene lead you to
reflection and repentance, and may it serve as
a dreadful warning, to others, to void the
pathway which you have taken to the grave.
You are, as yet, in the flower Of early man
hood. From a letter addressed by you to
your parents, and which has been read in e.
videncc during the progress Of your trial, it
appears that you have a mother, father, wife
and little son, whose sad portion it will be to
bear the sorrow and the shame of your iguo-
miniouS doom. The terms in which that let.
ter is written indicate that you have been the
subject Of kind parental care; and the contri-
tion you therein express, and the praye- you
therein breathe, that you may be forgiven the
offences which you have committed against
those who loved you best, and that your inno-
cent child may be brought up in the fear Of
God, indicate that your heart has not be-
come entirely deSolatc Of human affection If
you had have listened to the precepts Of those
whose forgiveness you now implore, and pro.
fitted by the timely counscls Of parental allcc-
ton, you might now be living amidst the
granite hills Of your native State, an honor
and q comfort to those whomust soon deplore
your wretched doom, instead of fhding a
lonely and ignominious grave amidst the noun
tainS of New Mexico.
To add to your miSery--to aggravate the
wretchednesS Of your situation, is no part of
my purpose. 10 excite reflection and repen-
tance, and to induce you to consciousness Of
the Importance and solemnty Of preparing
for the sad end which awaits you, is the sole
and friendly purpose with which | direct
your thoughts to the retrospect your past
life, which, according to the disclosures nude
among the eprogreSs Of your trial, is interspers-
ed with deeds that loudly call for contrition
aud atonement.
The sands of yourlifc are nearly run, You
have now no earthly hopes on which to lean.
In obedience to the command of the offended
law, you are soon to pass from this bar, to be
arraigned at one more august and terrible.
The Judge who there preSideS is helrom whom
no thought no guilt is hidden. Let the few
remaining days that you have, on earth be
Soemnly devoted to q preparation for your
appearance at that tribunal whose judgments
cannot be reversed and whose sentence rurS
through eternity remembering that, there is
no repentance in the grave, nor pardon offer.
ed to the dead. '.,.
1t remains for me only to perform my last
sad duty, bypronouncing the sentence Of the
law. 1t is, that you, James B. Sumner, o.
thcrwlse James S. BOyntoD, be taken hence,
in custody Of the sheriff, to the place from
whence you came, and that you be taken
thence, on the 18th day of July next, to the
place of execution, and, on that day, between
the hours of the rising and the setting of the
sun, you be hung by the neck until you are
dead. And may the Lord have mercy on
your soul