The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-02-05
THE DAILY DISPATCH.
Thnrsdsy Morning, Febraary S. 1857

The DAILY DISPATCH.
Thnrsday Morning, February S. 1877.
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sentence OF West, the Murderer-Thrill.
an9 speech IN Court.
On Monday last, In Philadelphia, William Ma
;haniel West convicted Of the murder Of his Wife
Arabella, was brought up for sentence. when III.
prisoner was asked by the Court II he had anv-
thing to say why the sentence Of death should mot
be passed upon him hs replied, II have some re-.
marks to make" The prisoner had his remarks :
written. and read them from the Sheets which he
held in bis hands. He said:
81 was born in Baltimore Md, where my an.
cestors have all resided; my ancestors on both
sides came to America with Lord Baltimore; for
merly lived in the city Of Philadelphia when boy
have also lived In New York and worked at my
business, cane and whip manufacturing there;
carried it on there myself after the death of my
father; In New York had . friend with whom
was bound 10 the warmest ties Of Friendships when
I stood at his bedside he asked me to protect his
widow after his dexth visited the widow, Mrs
Arabella De Camp until the acquaintance ripened
into love- an affection of the heart, which was reci
procated, and we were married; she was intelG-
gent, yirtuous, faithful, industrious and all that
wife could be- our life was scene Of uninterrup-
ted happiness cloud to Iaar our domestic feiic
ity."
The prisoner then spoke of his family Difficult.
ties while living in New York, which be said had
been brought about by his sister, who was envious
of his wifs-envious OF the need of praise which
she received for her kindness and devotion to hfs
dying father. The part of the prisoners address
In which be spoke OF the happiness of himself and
wife; cf providng for bis aged mother and bis sis
ters, was truly affecting and bis utteranee, when
speaking of his mother, was frequently choked
wi h sobs. "My mother came to Philadelphia to
live with my sister and her husband after our es-
arrangement; had not seen her for three years;
Ireceived y telegraphic dispatch statiog that she
was very i'll came on and found her living or
rather lingering with my sister; they had been
notified to leave the premises by tine landlord, and
talked of sending my poor old mother to the Aims.
house; could not stand this; she asked me to
forgive her; did SO willingly Ithen got work in
this city. and sent for my wife to come on here;
that was a sorrowfu move for me; my dear old
mothers spirit passed away to that blessed land
where there are no storms or sorrows; buried
her, according to her last request, in the same
grave with my father and thus they were re-uni.
ted IN death peace to their souls, they know not
the sorrows of their child the prisoner here be-
came very much affected; j thank God she is
gone; oh had she lived to see her son in this
aeions dock, it would have broken her heart" The
piisoner then went to state that alter living In
this city some time, his wife, at the suggestion of
his sister, commenced keeping boarders. I'VE
moved to No. 2i Merchant street, the same house
In which had passed many happy youthful days;
ouc CdHe lUto paItUF anu saw my St5iot
haud my wife note; asked to see it, my vile
refused TO give il 10 me" Prisoner went on to
say that he got the note by force, and fund it to
be an assigDation with another man at his house.
up 10 this time ha5 aever had any reason to
suspect my wifes fidelity. i sued out a writ of
adultery, and she was arrested-but had not the
heart TO prosecute her She begged forgiveness
on her knees and forgave her. l did not cast
her off; no. dearly loved and freely forgave her
for the sake of our children When again heard
n yifas infdGl;tv T ka1 n n hnart IN In
thug bat to die-yet believed her true wan
dered through the streets, alone, the whole day.
| could not look upon the domestic happiness of
my friends without q shudder. begged my wife
TO give up keeping such boarders, and she agreed
to do 30 and get small house where could
live alone" The prisoner then narrated the cir
cums;ances of his wife's leaving him AID his going
to New York after her and his return, and all the
circumstances Of the week previous to The murder
which agree, generally, with the evidence pub,
lished at the time Of the trial he had drank Ii.
quor freely, eat very iittle and slept almost none
On the day of the murder l had no thought of
killing my wife. My heart was sad; it appeared
had no home. l went to the house in Merchant
street; they were removing the furniture. / went
into the honse, l saw my wife embracing man
named Ul ykr; Invent up airs, shut he door, got
pistol, whish was loaded, put 1t to my head and
pulled the trigger, but it would not go off-would
to God it had-but was reserved for another fate
Here the prisoner became much affected My
sister Kate came up stairs, took the pistol out of
my hand, and made ME promise that l would not
kill myself l went down stairs and again saw
my wife embracing Updyke; l could have killed
them both, and no earthly power could have saved
them; but had no such thought, felt more like
killing myself
Il had purchased the knife somewhere in Market
street, for the purpose Of killing myself; God
knows had no thought Of killing any one else l
had put the knfs in closet: persuaded my wife
to come up stairs; l wsnted to talk TO her; she
came up placed her on my lap, and enlreated
her, for the sake CT early love and for dear
little children, to lead another life She abused me
and struck me in the face with her fist, and cut my
face with ring. 80 that the blood ran down. l
asked her why she would not live with me- She
replied Because have man whom love bets
ter This fired my brain; / was in hell; ran to
the closet, got the knife, and when l a~oke, as
from dream, the awful dream in which 1 was, 1
found my wife lying bleeding upon the floor and
myself beside her with bloody dsgger in my
hands. She stretched her hands to me and caught
niue in hers, bloody dagger and all she cast her
blue dove-like eyes upon met was a returning
moment of Innocence and love-she smiled-her
spirit passed away forever could not weep, but
tears If blood were shed from the citadel of my
heart, life's fountain.
THAT nshtI slept soundly, and ever since have
slept the sleep OF conscious Innocence. have not
felt that bad committed any crime. Ii the COM
munity desire my life, if it will be Of any to
them, it is theirs; for i; is of to me- have
shaken hands with death, and do not fear him
now. You may kill the body, but the soul, the
troubled sorrow stricken SOUL inhabitipg this poor
tenement of clay will speed its way to the spirit
world, where it will be re-ubited with my poor
wfs, " no has gone before me, and where we can
be happy-where 40 trouble nor sorrow shall come
and where we shall never. never part. l have no
more to say"
When the prisoner had concluded, Judge ALI
son said the Court had listened attentively to his
remarks but would take the liberty of saying that
it would have been much better il some portions
had not been written and had not oeen uttered
The Judge then pronounced the sentence of death
on the unhappy man.
THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO The EE
r1ordinoyu the Amarican psnar hiia ahodi thu