The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1859-03-17

OVs~ssvss " AZ AvA WY s.sO 1850.
more Plug.Ugly, Of Murdcr---Ex-
traordinary Sentence Of Justice
Price.
The prisoner having been placed in
the dock, Judge Price addressing said:
Marion Crop, after patient trial you
have been found guilty, by the unani-
nous verdict Of jury Of yous country,
Of the highest crime known to our laws
murder in the first degree.
Have you anything to say why sen.
tcnce shall not be pronounced upon
you?
The prisoner replied" Yes, sir: |
desire to say few words. Some Of the
witnesses and jurors perjured them selves
in my case, and I have not had fair
trial. That is all ! have to say to your
Honor"
Yours is no ordinary" case Of mnr-
der. On the contrary, it is > most OK !
traordinary' one. Extraordinary be
cause of the terrible wickedness of the
motive that prompted the atrocious
deed; extraordinary, because Of the
cold blooded pertinacity with which
you logged your inoffcnsive victim from
place to place, from street to street, and
from house to house, extraordinary, be-
cause Of the place where your horrid
deed was done. For at his own frcside
-on his own hearth stone-his wife BY
bis side in the very line Of your shot,
and at her feet, did Robert NJ Rigdon,
by your hands fall, to rise in the ,najes
ty Of his strength no more. Extraordi
nary, because Of the overwhelming
strength and mass Of evidence against
you. From the time you 1erc foiled in
your attempt to rescue Henry Gambrill
from the officers Of the Law, every step
you took-every action Of your body-
whether crouching at the lamp. post, or
awning post, or pecping into the win !.
dow, the deadly and heavily charg: ID
weapon you carried in your bosom and
sometimes in your sleeve, and every
word you uttered, up to the place where
this deed was done-indlcated the bloody
purpose Of the soul !; aud even there, at
that little back window, in that little al
ley, did you leave the damning proof Of
your guilt; and afterwards, too, your
own lips, and your own letters, aud
your own witnesses on the stand, spoke
trumpcd tongued against you.
If the jury that tried you had found
a different verdict it would have shocked
the entire State. I believe it would have
beon felt from the tops Of the Allegha
ny mountains, in western Maryland, to
the deep and terrible significance in ev-
cry valley, from every hill side-in eve-
~ city, and town, sand hamlet, and fire-
side in the State. It would have gone
booming over the vast plains bor-
dering on the Chesapeake, away down to
where the ocean surf washes Worcester's
shore. More than this, believe the
great trial by jury itself would have felt
the shock, and with few more such
shocks it would havs tottered on its
foundation, if not have fallen PROSTATE
before them, aud been troddca under
foot as unit for the times, and as an un-
reliable, faithles. and worthless thing.
Again-of all the extraordinary
things about this case, the most .xtraor-
binary of all, as it appears to me, is
yourself. For eight long days you aud
I sat here face to face. As the case
progressed and was developed-as wit
cess was added to witness-testimony to
testimony-facts piled on facts-proof
on p,oof-I could not help locking in
your countenance to sec if there was any
emotions there. Thcre was none. The
collousness, the stoical indifference. the
6xedness, the hardness, the immutibil-
ity Of stone, and not Of human flesh and
blood, was there-and there always
Your eye never quailed-your brow new
er fushcd-your cheek never blanchel
your head never dropped throughout
those eight days Of time, and not even
at the rendition Of the verdict. It is
difRcultto believe that human heart
throbs in your bosom. What contrast
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