Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1859-11-18
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Judse Parke. Sentenced tbes fnen to death
On tbs 10th. The Judge, according to the
TrtBuns,s CharIestowD correspondent, showed
~sincerity Of emotion and pity" in pronoun-
cling the sentence. After enunerafing the
charges Of instruction. treason and murder.
supposed to hare been proven against tbem)
and dwelling upon the enormity u their ofen-
sss, the Court aid:
Fer these o7enses the Law demands The
penalty of death. and imposes upon me the
Anty Of p~Fonoshcing that sentence. It Is the
nost painful duty ! have ever been called On
60 perform. In spite of POUR ofenses against
car Laws, I cannot but feel deeply for you and
sincerely, most sincerely, do | sylnpathize With
sAose friends and relations, whose lives are
bound up in yours, and whose hearts will be SO
wrung with grief when they shall hear Of the
md fs.e which has overtaken you, the objects
ef their warmest and hottest affections. For
them we all do sorrow while q due regard for
ear safety may not permit US to forgive the Of
fsnses of which you have been guilty, hope
that ssey viii turn for consolation, and you for
nardon, TO- that geed Being who in his wrath
~reuembsreth mercy. Make then your peace
With Him-you must soon be ushered into His
uesssnee, there TO be dealt with as His justice
esd Hs mercy may ordain 70 conclude this
sd dutv, I now announce that the sentence Of
the laR Is, that you, and each one of ron, John
Z. Cooke. Edwin Coppic. Shields Green, and
John Copeland, be hanged by the neck until
goa are dead-and that execution of this
Judgment be made and done by the Sheriff of
this County, on Friday, the sixteenth day OF
December next. upon you Shields Green and
John Copeland, between the hours of eight ID
the forenoon and twelve, noon, Of that day
and upon you, John E. Cooke and Edwin Cop
pie, between the hours of twelve, noon, and
fye ia the afternoon of same day. And the
Court being of opinion that the execution OF
tin should be in public. it 10 further
euasred that the Judgment be enforced and
axecstsd, not in the Jail yard, but at such pub
lie place convenient thereto as the said Sheriff
mag sppoint-and may God have mercy upon
the soul Of each one of you-"
Before sentence was pronounced, the custom
cry form Of asking the prisoners whether they
had anything to say, was gone through with
The two negroes. Green and Copeland, said
nothiag. Coppic spoke as follows:
The charges that have been made against
ne are not true. / never committed any trea-
con against the State of Virginia. I never
nAde war upon it. I never conspired with any
bedy 70 induce your slaves to rebel, and | new
er even exchanged a word with any of your
s~ervauts. What ] come here for / always told
you. 1t was to run of slaves into . Free
State and liberate them there. This is an Of
fence against your laws. ! admit, but I never
committed murder. When / escaped TO the en-
CINE house, and found the Captain and his
prisoners surrounded there, I saw no way OF
deiiserance but by fighting a little. If any
body was killed on that occasion, it was in q
fair fght. / have, as said. committed an Of
hnse against your laws, but the punishment Of
that oaense would be very different from what
yoa sre going TO infict on me now. l have nc
more to say"
When Cooks turn came, he delivered, in q
Aesitating. nervous manner, a speech, which
bad probably been carefully prepared. He
said, in substance that he did not come to com
nit treason or murder. but merely in pursuance
Of orders from his commaDder-in-chief, with a
design to iiberate slaves. As to the sword
and pistols of George Washington, taken from
Lewis Washington's house, they were seized by
order of Brown. not for purposes of robbery,
but for the sake of the moral effect that their
possession might afford in case of a war of lib
cation.