Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1858-08-17
MISCELLAN Y.
Awtu, Crime and Impressive Sentence,

Awful crime anu impressive SeuteuCes
The Kanasoha Republican of the Srd inst,
publishes the sentence of Preston S. Turley, con-
yicted at the late term of the kanawha Circuit
Court of numbering his wife, which was deliver
ed by Judge GEO. w. SUMMERS on the 29th OF
June. The annals of crime do not record q more
terrible murder, and we have never read more
impressive address than that delivered by the
Judge After brief exordum the Judge said {:
In performing the requirements OF an occa-
sion so melancholy and distressing, l have no
wish to add an unnecessary pang to the agony
of remorse which must already ill your bosom,
unless the conscience has become SO deadened
by crime as no longer to exert it's Junction.
But in justice to the jury which has condemned
you, | feel called upon To declare, thatin my opn
ion, the evidence before them not only warranted
the verdict which they have rendered, butindeed
left them no alternative. The annals OF Jurls-
prudence can scarcely furnish a more unmistak-
able case of wiltul, deliberate and premeditated
murder, or one distinguished in its atrocity.
T6 take the lie of a fellow being, under any
circumstances, whether iInpeed by motives OF
gain or revenge, is to incur terrible responsi
bility. But the victim of your wicked act was
your wife, and the mother OF your children
Yours was a foul and unnatural crime, perpetra-
has not even the palliation OF being committed
under the influence OF jealousy, for there is not
a particle of evidence in the case, which leaves
stain, or even suspicion upon her good name,
and we have your own dlar ion, made after
her death, that she was { Pufest aud best OF
women.
Some eleven years ago, you made the scqualn'
tance of this injured lady. You were then a
preacher OF the gospel, of good repute in the
Church to which you belonged and with fair
prospects of usefulness. Introduced to herself
and her very respectable family, in this sacred
character, you won her young affection, and
with the consent of her parents, took her to
your own home, trusting and joyous bride.
1t would seem from the testimony, that for
some time, peace, contentment and innocence
accompanied this union. 1t was followed by the
birth of three chidren-who survive their hap
less mother But about three years ago, deci-
ded change in your conduct and character be-
gan to manifest itself
At this period, no little excitement prevailed
in regard to the Coal and Mineral deposits of the
region in which you lived. The public works,
designed to improve the navigation OF Coal River,
with view to the development and Transports
ton of these hidden treasures, were put under
contract. The hith&to quiet and secluded val,
lev of that beautiful stream, was suddenly inva.
ded by the spirit of gain and speculation. The
expenditure OF money, in the purchase of mate.
rials and in the payment OF laborers, was very
considerable. The holy office of the priesthood
proved insufficient to guard you, when tempta-
ton presented itself. Your religious principles
had no such depth of root as could protect you
in the storm. You declared to one of the wit.
nesses, your purpose to exchange the vocation
of preacher, for something which would pay
better" You became q contractor to furnish
timber for one of the locks. Soon afterwards
you abandoned the Pulpit for the Grocery and
became q vendor OF ardent spirits, in large quan
titles, in building contiguous to your dwelling
house.
From this time, your downward course was
rapid and unchecked, until its termination in the
commission of the horrid crime for which you
have been convicted You readily yielded your.
self to the alluring vices to which your new EN-.
ployment and associations exposed you. You
became yourself drunkard. The tongue which
had before proclaimed tdings of salvation, and
uttered songs ofpraise, now spoke words OF coarse
and vulgar profanity. Gaming and other kin
dred wickedness, marked your descending CO.
reer.
Your treatment towards your unoHendinG
wife, was now in keeping with your altered hab'
its and conduct. She bore it all with meek
ness and without reproach
AS If to ill the measure of your iniquity ant
her anguish, you introduced into your household,
a vile parainour to share yonr bed and to preside
at your table, while the virtuous and deserted
wife was made to perform the duties of a menial
attendant.
We may conceive something of the mortifica-
ton and sorrow which this last indignity, the
most cruel of all to which a wife can be sub
iected, must have inflicted upon her womanly
nature. Yet her love to the children which she
had borne you in happier days, and from whom
she could not consent to be separated, with a
lingering hope, that you might be reclaimed
from the error OF your ways, retained her under
your roof.
The last time she was seen in life, was on the
night of the 2lst day of January last when a
neghbor left her, at about nine O'Clock, sitting
by her lamp, engaged in making dress for one
of her little children, all three of whom lay in
unconscious sleep in the same apartment.
Before the morning light she was numbered
with the dead!
There were no stains of blood or other marks
of violence to proclaim the deed which had been
done. Your wife was missing and you gave no
satisfactory account of her absence. To one per-
son Won suggested that she had probably be.
come crazy and wandered to the woods, where
Won recommended search to be made. To 9TH
ers you expressed the apprehension that she had
drowned herself in the river, and called atten-
tion IN some FOOTPRINTS along thA shore 6el0ac