Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-11-16
sentences OF Coppic, Cook, Green aud COpe.
land.

sentences OF Coppic, Cook, Green aud Cope
| land.
The Charlsstown correspondent Of the Tn-
buno, under date of Nov 10Th, says the Court
Room was crowded to bcas the prisoners SEN
fenced The prisoners having been severally
asked if they had anything to say, previous to
listening to their sentence of death, OoPpic
rose and spoke thus:
"The charges that have been made against
me are not true / never committed any trea
son against the State Of Virginia. 1 never
made war upon IT, l never conspired with any |
body to induce your slaves to rebel, and never |
| even exchanged word with one OF your ser |
J yants. What came here fer always told |
YOU Il was to run of slaves into a Free /
State and liberate them there. This is an Of
tense against your laws, l admit but never |
committed murder. When l escaped TO The /
engine house, and found the Captain and his
prisoners surrounded there, I saw no way OF
deliveranco but by fighting a little. If any
body was killed on that occasion, It was IN
fair fight have, as ! said, committed an
offeuse against your laws but the punishment
for that offens5 would be very different from
! what you are going to inilict on me now,
have no more to say
1t will readily be seen that this statement
comedies exactly with, and substantlates the
account which l sent you few days ego, from
Brown s own lips, of his real intention in this
expedition. The next two prisoners, the negro
and mulatto, CIR cen and Copeland, when called
upon, said nothing. When Cooks turn came,
he delivered in hesitating, nervous manner,
n a speech, which had probably been carefully
prepared He said, in substance, that he had
| ,ter,lar hut
merely in pursuance Of orders from his COM
d mander-in chief with a design to liberate slaves.
10 As to the sword and pistols of George Wash
, ippton taken from Lewis Wasbington's house,
a be said they we're seized by order of Brown,
d not for purposes of robbery, but for the sake
n 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,
I'd Judge Parker pronounced sentence of death, in
" a manner showing genuine sincerity of emos
70 ton and pity-feelings that did not seem to be
shared by his hearers These were the Judges
. words
i. "Your trials, on which we have been so long
employed, have at length ended, and all that
remains to be done to complete these Judicial
proceedings is to pronounce and record the
judgments which by law must follow upon the
IL crimes for which you have been tried and OF
"a which YOU have been found guilty. These
ed crimes nave all grown out of a mad inroad upon
IL, this State, made with the predetermined pur
pose to raise IN our midst the standard OF a
uu seryile instruction. In the execution Of this
Ter purpose, in the darkness of Sabbath night,
Ia YOU seized upon a portion of our territory;
captured several of our best citizens, holding
them as hostages of war until your party was
VI itself overcome by force, armed such OF our
op slaves as YOU could seize upon with deadly
ty- weapons, which they were to use against theiI
al owners whom you denounced to them as theI
opprossors; and in your efforts TO push your
rs bold and unholy scheme through to q successiu
IT. issue, you have taken human life in no fewer
of than five instances. The evidence most abun
Il, dantly proved that all these things had beer
- done and by the force of that evidence Jury
OO alter Jury has felt itself compelled tC
of bring in it's verdict of guilty against eact
one OF you. Happily for the peace OF oul
whole land, you obtained no support iron
that quarter whence you 90 confidently expect
-. ed it Not slave united himself to you
party, but, so loon as he could ge' without the
ma range of your rifles, or as night gave him al
rec OppOrtunity, made his escape from men wh'
orr had come to give him freedom, and hurried t,
49,. place himself once more beneath the care ant
70" protection of his owner When we reflect up
III on all the mischief and ruin, the dark and lear
cs- fll crimes which must have attended even you
Dc. partial success-men everywhere should b.
thankful that you were so soon and so easil
oyeroowered For these offences the law de
oI uauds the penalty of death, and imposes upO
Os'S me the duty of pronOunClng that sentence.
can is the most painful duty have ever been call
ave ed on to perform. In spite ol your ohense
ZEN against cur laws, l cannot but feel deeply fc
sh YOU, and sincerely, most sincerely, do sympn
e to thize with those friends and rclatiiys, who's
nan lives are bound up in yours, and whose heart
.he will be so wrung with grief when they sha
vice hear of the sad fate which has overtaken yo'
seH . the objects of their warmest and holest atfe
S sIe tions. For them we all do sorrow: while dt
III regard for our safety may not permit us to 10
.rio' give the oflenses of which you have been gu
spe ty, | hope they will turn for consolation, al
the you for pardon to that good Being, who in h
wrath remembereth mercy. Make then yo
peace with IIim-for you must soon be usher'
into his presence, there to be dealt with as ii
the justice and His mercy may ordain. To col
der cude this sad duty, now announce that Il
.CoI sentence of the law is that you, and each ol
of you, John E. Cook, Edwin Coppic, Shie
n TO Green, aud John Copeland, be hanged by Il
con- neck until you are dead-and that the exec
run tion of this judgment be made and done by Il
the Sheriff of this County, Friday, the 81
teenth day of December next, upon you, ,Shiel
oueI' Green and John Copeland, between the hOu
Col of eight in the forenoon and twelve, noon,
Lake that day-and upon you, John E. Cook a
ro~t Edwin COppic, between the hours OF twet
on,and five in the afternoon of the same da
keep And the Court being of opinion that the exec
grain ton of this sentence should be in public, it
as at further ordered that this sentence be enfoTc
and executed, not in the Jail yard, but at su
public place convenient thereto as the ST
Sheriff may appoint-and may God have meI
upon the soul of each ono of YOU"
The risoners were then remanded The
'nI fixed for the execution is the 10th of Dece
Der. There is, however, very strong reason
believe that the Indictments will not hold
,tion gcther in the Court of Appeals. The m
tran prominent of the native lawyers here have
the pressed great doubts as to whether they col
latter stand under some of the objections taken
Col. Mr. Eennott and others. In case strict lie
ingly Justice were exercised the matter would be
as ac- yond doubt; but these fellows do mot Sta
New upon points, "and the determination to secure
con- prompt punishment of the invaders is
strong, that it is possible that all inaceurAc
of the trials will be overlooked. Nothing
compare with the hexibility of the Virgi
,an law.
GAY OH BoY.-The Dayton Journal
ss'ao Sasnao nOunces the sudden exit from that city
selves certain Joseph Hemphill, about forty ysar