Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-02-23
SENTENCE OF MARION CRoPP.

We publish, by request, the sentence deliv-
cred by Judge Price in the of Marion
Cropp, who was recently found guilty Of the
murder of Robert NJ. Rigdon, police officer,
in Baltimore, on the 9Th of November last.
Rigdon, if we ieeolieet Alright, had given tes-
timoDy, which caused his conviction, against
a man named Gambrill, who belonged to the
same gang of desperadoes with Cropp, and to
avenge his comrade. Cropp entered the house
of Rigdon and killed him in the presence of
his family. The sentence is somewhat re-
markable, and has attracted considerable at
tention. On Saturday, Jan. 29th, the prisoner
was placed at the bar, when the Judge said:
Marion Crop, after patient trial, you have
been found guilty, by the unanimous verdict
of a jury of your country, of the highest crime
known to our laws-murder in the first degree.
Have you anything to say why sentence
shall not be pronounced upon your
The prisoner replied, 81 have but a few
words to say. / ain innocent; have not had
fair trial; witness that swore against me
perjured himself, and jurors likewise. That
is all have to say"
The Judge continued: Yours is no ordina-
ry case of murder. On the contrary, it is
most extraordinary one. Extraordinary, be-
cause of the terrible wickedness of the motive
that prompted the atrocious deed; extraord-
nary, because of the cold-blooded pertinacity
with which you dogged your inoffensive victim
from place to place, from street to street, and
from house to house; extraordinary, because
of the place where your horrid deed was done
for at his own freside-on his own hearth
stone-his wife by his side, in the rery line of
your shot, and at her feet, did Robert NJ Rig
don, by your hands, fall, to rise in the majes-
ty of his strength no more; extraordinary, be-
cause of the overwhelming strength and mass
of the evidence against you. From the time
You were foied in your attempt to rescue
Henry Gambrill from the officers of the law,
every step you took-every action of your
body-whethcr crouching at the lamp. post or
awning post, or peeping into the window, the
deadly and heavily charged weapon you car
ricd in yOur bosom and sometimes in your
sleeve, and every word You uttered up to the
very place where this deed was done-indica-
ted the bloody purpose of the soul; and even
there, at that little back window, in that little
alley, did you leave the damning proof of your
gnilt; and afterwards, too, your own lips, and
your own letters, and your own witnesses on
the stand, spoke trumpet-tongued against you.
If the jury that tried you had found differ
ent verdict, it would have shocked the entire
State. l believe it would have been felt from
the tops of the Allegheny mountains, in West
ern Maryland, to the sea-shore. believe it
would have reverberated with deep, If not ter
rible significance, in every valley, from every
hill side, in every city and town and hamlet
and freSide in the State. 1t would have gone
booming over the vast plains bordering the
Chesapeake, away down to where the oceans
surf washes Worcester's shore More than
this, believe the great trial by jury itself
would have felt the shock; and that with
few more such shocks it would have tottered
on it's foundations, il not have fallen PROSTATE
before them, and been trodden under foot as
unfit for the times, and unreliable, faith
less and worthless thing.
Again. OF all the extraordinary things a
bout this case, the most extraordinary of all,
days you and l sat here face to face. AS the
case progressed and was deyeloped-as wit
ness was added to wtness-testimony on tes-
timony-facts piled on facts-proof on proof,
could not help looking into your countenance
to see if there was any emotion there. There
was none. The calouSneSs, the stoical indif-
ference, the fixedness, the hardness, the i'm
mutability of stone, and not of human flesh
and blood, were there-and there always.
Your eye never quailed-your brow never
fiushed-your cheek never blanched-your
head never dropped, throughout those eight
days, and not even at the rendition of the YER
dict. 1t is difficult to believe that human
heart throbs in your bosom. What a contrast
you were to the learned, able and eloquent
counsel and accomplished gentleman by whom
your defense was with so much zeal and abili-
ty conducted. | could see, in spite of him.
self, his varying countenance, and his heart
sink within him. And your father, too, who
stood by your side, day by yday-notwithstand
ing forced composure, l could see that he
carried fathers heart in his bosom, and
thought could almost see the iron as it en-
tered his soul, and hope depart. But. as for
you, throughout this entire case-up to this
very hour-you seemed to have been, and now
seem to be entirely unconscious of the nature
of the terrible deed you have done, and of the
terrible punishment that awaits you, not only
in this world, but in that other world on the
threshold of which you now stand. Would to
God, for your own sake, that could say some
thing to you in this solemn hour, that might
wake you to consciousness and feeling-that
could make you in some measure, at least,
feel and understand the atrocity of the crime
you have committed. 1 feel my utter inabili-
to to do Sc. l must leave this to other and
far abler lips than mine-to the ministers of
God, who are appointed and accustomed to
turn the sinner from the road to hell to the
way to heaven. For
s.There is path that leads to God;
All others go astray."
The learned counsel, who with so much abil-
ity and fairness aided in your prosecution, was
| understood by me to have stated in his adj
dress to the jury, and in your hearing, that it
was impossible for any one who was not in
Baltimore at Gambrill's trial, and at the time
| of Rigdon's murder, and who was not part of
| that community, to understand at all the deep
feeling of horror, Indignation and adherence
| with which your crime filed every heart in
| tha. city. In this incline to think he was
| mistaken and will tell you why. But in
order to do SO l must speak of myself; OF the
effect the news of your crime had on me.
And L shall speak to You frankly and truthful
| ly. had not been in Baltimore city for some
weeks before Gambrill's trial, nor was there
during that trial, nor was there for weeks af-
| terwards. had read something but not much
concerning it. had returned from holding a
protractsd court at Elkton, in Cecil county,
| with wearied brain and wearied body, to
] enjoy for day or two the rest of my home,