Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1859-11-25

The SENTENCE OF THE HARFER's FERRY
PKIsoxERs.-We copy the following from
the Cbarlestown correspondence of the New
York Tribune, the letter being dated Nov.
10.
The prisoners having been severally asked
if they had anything to say, previous to list
ening TO their sentence Of death, COppic rose
and spoke thus:
The charges that have been made against
me are not true | never committed any
treason against the State of Virginia. ] new
er made war against it. | never conspired
with anybody to induce your slaves to rebel,
and | never even exchanged a word with
one of your servants. What | came here
for. always told you. 1t was to run off
slaves into a Free State and lberate them
there. This Is an Ofiense against your laws,
| admit, butl never committed murder -
When | escaped To the engine house, and
found the Captain and his prisoners sur
rounded there, | saw no way of deliverance
but by fighting little. If anybody was
killed on that occasion, it was in a fair fight.
| have. as | said. committed an ohenSe against
YOUR laws, but the punishment for that Of
tense would be very different from what you
ace going to inflct on me now. have no
more to say.
1t will be readily seen that this statement
comedies exactly with. and substantiates
the account. which | sent YOU few DAYS
ago, from Brown 5 own lips, OF his real in
tention in his expedition. The next two
prisoners, the negro and mulatto, Green and
Copeland, when called upon, said nothing
When Cookies turn came, he delivered, in a
hesitating, nervous manner, a speech, which
had probably been carefully prepared. He
said, in substance, that he had not come to
commit treason or murder, but merely in
pursuance of orders from his COmmander-in-
Chief, with design to lberate slaves As
to the sword and pistols of George Washing
ton, taken from Lewis Washington S house,
he said they were seized by order of Brown.
not for purpose of robbery, but for the sake
of the moral effect that their possession
might afford in case of a war of liberation
At the conclusion of his not very effective
speech, Judge Parker pronounced sentence
of death, in manner showing genuine sin
cerity of emotion and pity-feelings which
did not seem to be shared by his hearers
These were the Judges closing words
''For these offenses the law demands the
penalty of death, and imposes upon me the
duty of pronouncIng that sentence 1t is
the most painful duty have ever been called
on to perform. In spite of your offences
against our laws, | cannot but feel deeply
tor you, and sincerely, most sincerely. do |
sympathize with those friends and relations
whose lives are bound up in yours, and
whose hearts will be 50 wrung with grief
when they shall hear of the sad fate which
has overtaken you, the objects OF their warm
est and holiest affections. For them we do
all sorrow. " bile due regard for our
safety may not permit us to forgive the Of
lenses of which you have been guilty, | hope
that they will turn for consolation, and you
for pardon, to that good Being who in his
wrath remembereth mercy Make then your
peace with Him for you must soon be ush-
cred into His presence, there to be dealt
with as His justice and His mercy may or
dain.
To conclude this sad duty, now announce
that the sentence Of the law is, that each
one OF you, John f. Cooke, Edwin Coppie,
Shields Green, and John Copeland, be hang
ed by the neck until you are dead-and that
execution of this judgment be made and
done by the Sheriff of this County, on Fri
day, the sixteenth day of December next,
upon you Shields Green and John Cope
land. between the hours OF eight in the fore
noon and twelve, noon, of that day-and up
on you, John F. Cooke and Edward Coppie,
between the hours of twelve, noon, and five
IN the afternoon, Of said day And the Court
being OF the opinion that the execution of