Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1859-06-23
WILLIAM FRENCH sENTENCFD To
BE HUNG.

tins county. we understand, has been re-
Gently tried in Carroll County, Ind, for
the murder ofMrs. Hannah Briney found
guilty by the jury and sentenced to be
hung on Friday, the 10th day OF septem
Der next The following sentence of the
criminal by Judge Wallace, recites the
horrid ami disgusting circumstances at
tending with the murder.
UWiom French you have been indicted
during the present term of this court, tried
by aJury of your country, and convicted of
the murder of one Hannah Briney, in this
county on the Goth day of November last.
The proof in the case shows your offence
one of the most unprovoked, cold blooded
murders in the history Of crime You by
your own confession have convicted YOUR
self of the horrible deed and have given
IN detail the disgusting and shocking par
tIculars of the inhuman transaction. 1t
appears in proof, that on the Goth day of
November last. having no fixed place of
abode, and while ranging the country, You
entered the peaceful home of the deceased,
alone aud unprotected-and seized the OPP
portunity which her helpless condition Of
fered you. male her. despite her efforts to
prevent it, the unwilling victim of your
brutal lust. The appearance of the body
as discovered after death. tells of the fear
full struggle which she made to defend her
honor against your attacks, and had YOU
possessed the proper feelings of man
misled by a moments ungovernable pas
sion, this effort on the part of Your victim
to protect her virtue, and preserve her pu-
rity. would have commanded your admi-
ration, stilled your unholy passion, and
saved her from the contamination of your
hellish purpose. But the work went on,
you violated her person, and by your supe-
riOr strength. you repeated again and
aSrin that heart rending deed; after which
You cody informed her of your intention
to east her in the well, and with fiendish
cruelty which seeks III vain for parallel,
you deliberately forced her to the brink of
the well and cast her into it, with the moral
certainty, that in the absence of immediate
relief. if not Immediately killed by the
fall. she mast perish from exposure to the
chilling temperature of the water or be
drowned. Here it would be reasonable to
presume that were you capable of pity,
You would have relented and exerted YOUR
self to the utmost to save the life of that
helpless woman, if indeed it were not then
too late, or II YOU possessed a conscience
IN common with other men, that it would
have been narrowed to its proioundest
depths. by the scene in which you had
played SO prominent and so fearful part,
and that you would have FASTENED with all I
speed from the place But no. Deaf to
the cry of pity, and apparently void of
conscience, you turned from your work Of
death, to that of theft, and as though You I
would brave all the consequences of letec-
tion and arrest, you deliberately searched I
the house for some article of valuc which +
you might conceal and carry away. la .
Wow of the testimony, there seems to be .
no one circumstance which mitigatcs the 4
sendish character of the act. While the
almost stole indifference with which Won
treated the matter, extending even through 4
all the time of your trial. indicates moral
deprayity, which renders your life danger
Gus to the safety of mankind
lou have hal assigned you counsel from
among the ableSt at this bar, and most
faithfully have they served you; using
their own means TO procure the attendance
OF absent witnesses to testify in your be-
half, sympathising with You in your great
peril AMI exerting themselves with all
their distinguished ability to secure Your
acquittal the case was submitted TO iu-
ry of your own selection, and | may say
lat never did iurymen seemingly impressed
with the greatness of their responsibility.
display a more anxious solicitude for the
truth. in the patient attention and careful
elaboration which they gave to every mat
ter which by possibility might affect their
verdict. Notwithstanding all this, that
jury was impellel by the force of the testi-
mony, to pronounce You guilty of murder
IN the first degree, and have further said
that you should expiatc your frightful
crime, by the loss of your own life. i
have heard the argument of Your faithful
counsel in support of your motion for
new trial, and although | would gladly
for your sake, sustain the motion. if my
duty would permit, and save you vet
little longer from the doom that awaits
you. vet conscious as feel, that the verdict
is well supported by the evidence. | am
powerless, did my feelings incline me to
1t, to grant that request.
1t is not the province of the court to
grant a new trial, simply because of the
ailedged severity of the punishment The
guile of the accused having been once de-
termined by the jury the law leaves it with
them to fix the penalty within the limits
prescribed. 1t follows, therefore. that un
less some error has been committed on the
trial. sufficient to Justify the superior court
in reversing the judgment of this you have
But a short time yet to live. | would
Nest earnestly suggest to you thc necessity
of schooling your mind to meet calmly the
fate that awaits you, and prepare also for
the presence Of that God whose law you
have so cruclv violated, and who even now
calls you to judgement.
1t only remains for me to pronounce the
Judgment of the law upon the verdict of
the jury, which is that you. William French.
be taken hence to the common jail of the
comfy, and be there safely kept, until
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