Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1858-02-27

their duty TO the Commonwealth and to the |
prisoner; the Court has epdeavored TO dis |
charge their duty, and now submit the case
10 You to pronounce upon the guilt or limo.
cence Of the prisoner. II you are satisfied
from the evidence he is guilty, It is your
duty SO to find; IL your are not satisfied Of
his guilt, acquit him.
The Court do hope and pray that your
minds may be directed to righteous conclu-
sion.
II you find the prisoner guilty, you should
state in your verdict, ave fnd William John
Clark guilty Of murder in the 6rst degree, in
manner and form as he stands indicted" If
you find him not guilty, you return ave End
him not guilty"
The Jury retired st one o'clock. T. n. and
Court adjourned Immediately after.
THE VERDICT.
FRinAY EvESrSo, Feb. 18th.
Tho Jury, at precisely O'Clock, returned
Verdict Of GUILTY" in manner aud form
be stands indicted" The Court House was
crowded 10 few moments after the bell had
been rung, and the utmost so!emnty and
quiet prevailed throughout the House, when
the verdict was rendered. The prisoner
looked down-cast and trembling, but seemed
to listen with degree Of composure as every
one Of the Jurors pronounced the awful word
| guilty" Court Immediately after adjourned
and the Sheriff took tho prisoner back to
jail.
SATURDAY MoRSrSG, Feb. 20tA, 1858.
Cour: met at 81 o'clock. The House was,
as usual filled to overHowing. When the
prisoner was brought in, Judge JORDAN ad-
dressed him as follows -
WIN. j. CLARK, Have you anything to say,
why sentence Of death should not be pronoun
ced,
The prisoner then with clear voice, and in
fluent manner addressed the Court in sub
stance ns follows
al do not object that sentence Of Death
shall now be pronounced upon me- am
prepared to die-innocence Of the foul crime
charged upon me has strengthened me during
| the long coninem ement and during the trial
and is herving me now in this awful hour.
do not wish TO charge the jury, or the Court
With unfairness but God, the judge Of judges
the ruler OF princes, who searchcth the heart
and knows tho iumost workings OF it is my
judge. and am prepared and satisfedto
go into his presence. II makes no difference
how man dies, if he is prepared, only SO he
don't kill himself. The other deaths he need
not fear. Man only can kill the body but God
can kill body and soul. ] stand here before
God and this large audience an innocent man.
| know it is painful duty to you TO pass SEN
tence OF death upon me, and l don't envy
your Honor to pass that sentence the law
requires it--but since God has strengthened
me- TO bear the trial with fortitude he will do
now, and fell satisfied to enter into eternity.
/. is TO use for me- 10 comment upon my in
nocence, but declare it again in The presence
Of this asscmbage, the Court, and Almighty
God, who sees and hears everything, and who
is to be my judge, and knows that am not
guilty Of the felonious crime OF numbering my
own wife. But as l said before to comment
upon my innocence is useless in such preju-
| diced community as this.
| When at the last Court an application was
made for ing discharge on point Of law the
| public feeling was so strong against me, that
they cried out, that your Honor did so, they
woul kill me, and it is, the reforc that don't
blame you for refusing to discharge me then
and giving your own body to the public. de.
! cline to comment upon the trial at this time
those who have inju.ed me leave to God
who will judge correctly aud justly; ] don't
want to comment upon them but what shall
the Jury and those who have testified against
me think hereafter, when the truth mag GENE
out, for thus having accused me without cause
and wropgFullyl Here are the lips [pointiug
with his fingers to his lips that were never
polluted by harlot's kiss, und here is breast
| Ipontipg to his breast ou which pros stitute
never rep psei. and here is tho heart Ipeinting
| to his heart that never beat for q strange
woman, and attn innocent of the foul charge.
l have nothing more to say now. Yea caA
proceed TO pass sentence.
sESTENCE.
I did hope that, during my official term. !
would have been spared the pain, Of pHssisg
upon any one the awful sentence of death
This hope, like many others in which have
Gondly INDUCED, has vanished The duty Of
the law imposes upon the Court, is most col
emn and painful one but it must be dischsrg-
ed. The crime for which you have been
convicted by Jury Of your country, is the
murder OF your wife under circumstances,
which il possible, aggravlte the enormity Of
the crime, and impart TO it q deeper ard
darker stain, than is usually fouad in cases Of
murder Cath. Ann Clark was your wife,
and from the evidence in the case, was not
| wanting in duty and affection for you. 1t is
but o few years since she gave you her heart
and merged her name in yours-snce you
mutually promised at the marriage altar to
support, love- comfort and cherish each
other in sickness and in health, so long as
God permitted you to lie together. From
the evidence, it'appears that you lived 10.
gether happily. She was the mother Of your
children. 1t was an evil hour for you, when
forgetting your duty to her-your duty to
your God and to your country, you admins
tered to her deadly potion that soon ter.
minated her life. She did not suspect that
when you were in her sick room, and stood
by her, day after day apparently anxious
for her recovery that the cup you presented
to her contained deadly potion, and that
you were seeking to destroy her life. She
did not suspect that the agonies she was sul-
feripg and the pains she was enduring were
caused by you. Oh, it was deed of the
foulest kind, evincing hardness Of heart,
that has scarcely parallel. Your guilt,
which is established by the verdict in this
case would in all probability not have been
detected, had it not been for the examination
made by the Physicians after her death. In
her stomach was found the evidence Of the
cause OF her death.
During the brief period that may elapse
between this and the time when the sentence
of the law may bo executed, thr Court would
most solemnly and earnestly urge apcn you,
the duty of endsavoring to prepare to meet o
Judge from whose dread sentence there is no
appeal from whose eye no one can escape and
who is able, with unerring certainty to distin.
guish between the innocent and the guilty
Do not neglect this, with hope, that the Exc
cutive clemency will spare you. The Court
most d1enlv eymnat hise with Won but onI