Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1859-09-08
PRISONERS SENTENCED.

IREroRTED FOR THE GAZETTE & CITIzES.l
| Upon Saturday morning, about o'clock, His
Honor Judge okey proceeded to pass the sentence
of the law upon the prisoners found guilty al
this term of the Court.
JAMES BANTER: You were indicted for the
murder of Thomas Thompson. Your case, upon
that Indictment, has been submitted TO a respec-
table jury of your country, and that jury
has declared, that, although the element of NAL
ice is not made out yet that you are guilty OF
manslaughter, that is, that you are guilty of the
unlawful killing of Thompson; and this verdict
has been rendered notwithstanding the unques-
toned ability displayed by your counsel on the
trial Have you anything to say why the Court
should not now sentence you, as required by
faw?
The prisoner said:
Ali have got TO say is, | have struggled
hard in this world to please everybody. have
had hard time oft, large family to support,
and it is very hard on me now in my old age to
snffer in the penitentiary. | have tried TO act
like other white men, and no man that ever en-
ployed me can say that 1 did not do my duty
did not know the gentleman before I went to
his house 10 liye-and repent that | ever knew
him. am an old man of 20 years, and it is hard
for me to suffer now.
do not deny that sincerely pity you. I al
ways feel sorrow for my fellow man-of whatev
ooc,nv yn,,r situat;o, Indeed / nftan fea1 tb,t
witbnnt the ;nnerative p,andata of lecislat;ve
power to support me, would be as Incompetent
in fact IN law TO eoDsign human being to tn e
gloomy walls Of the penitentiary. And it must
ever be So when the offender is, as in this case,
old ami gray headed. and surrounded by a wife
and children. Yet the Jury has convicted you.
aud cannot say that that verdict is wrong. Bat
am unable 60 say with any degree of certainty
what your crime L. PROBABLY the transactions
Of that fatal evening, precisely as thev took
,lacc, will never be fully known. / think il
clear enough that Won dealt a heavy blow on the
hea, Gt THOMPSON either with an ak or gun
INK II was an ax--and that blow produced the
death. ar directly contributed to il. nor was it
given 81. Hor necessary self defence II reliance
can Jc ,.iaced II Ire dyin. declarations OF Tbom
son. yaug crime l. cicsrly iaarjer; but Thomp
son was g. q ioy- condition III the time Be made
those decizr.,i5fls lis l5owe7s of li. we're nearly
exhs,is,e,l ana l,sfhars a very gfeat l,loa1t of
reliance ought not ul.Ger the circumstance, ia
be plaeeG %, his iacsarl,;ons Beei,se. there Is
SONG o.ideies tllas Tacmpsou. during the diff
rul;v ran .tnMIi to Carey's 90, a pistol ani
ctrue; ycu with it. Wheeler that really did
sake i; ace, canaoi positively saw but | thnr
that il did not And while incline to :he opin-
ion that your crime is murder. and therefore
ought 10 be visited with the largest punishment
vet the facts to VIII ch have alluded, and other
facts appearing liz the evidence, cause me, as
they doubtless caused the jury, to doubt its grade
and you have the benefit of that doubt. (Thc
statute dehng the ohense was then read) The
Judgment OF the court is, that you be imprisoned
in the penitenfiary and kept at hard labor for
the period OF seven years and that You pay the
costs OF prosecution
BRAxsoS BAXTER: You also have been tried
and convicted upon the same Indictment with
your father James Baxter The able efforts of
YOUR counsel did not save you The verdic. a.
cainst YOU also is manslauehter, Have you
ANYTHING TO say whyl should not now pass sen.
tence upon you?
The defendant said he was not puilty.
1t is perfectly clear from the evidence. that If
YOU did not strike any of the blows which nrodu-
ced the death of Tbomn.on. that Won at least ran
out with the gun. and we're nresent aiding and
obetting your father IN cop,m;t ibe crime I
think. however. that Won struck one of tho blows
and that. too. after the skulI of IN. Moor victim
mad been fractured Nv vonr fathers ax Rnt
nossibly ven NAV have been nromnted To deal
hat blow from some snnnosed necessity to do
fond vour father: and we ali know how tbe aaec.
tions 90 ont towards the father when he i. in
danger. real or supposed. Moreover your canac-
i,v and education are such that. under the cir
cnmstopces of this case. the highest deoree of
nunishment is not called for.
The Judgment of the Court is that YOU be i'm
nrisened in the peni,entiarv md kent Mt hard la
bor for three wears and that Won nav the costs of
nrosecution,
.c.,a ..