The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1860-06-21
Morris Sentence.

! In the case of the Commonwealth VS..
James Morris, in which the defendant
was convicted the first week of court Of the
crime of rape upon the person of Catharine
Shira, a. kopelin, Esq, of counsel for the
prisoner, stated to the Court on Monday,
18th inst, that it was the prisoners desire
to be relieved from anxiety by having SEN
tence pronounced Whereupon, the priso-
ner was brought into court, and, after his
counsel, Messrs. Fenlon and Kopelin, were
heard in his behalf, JUDGE TAYLOR ad-
dressed him, and passed the sentence of
the law, substantially y as follows
JAMES MORRIS: You stand before the Court
convicted by the verdict of jury of yonr
choice, and after having been zcalously de-
Tended by learned and able counsel, of the
crime OF rape, to receive the sentence of the
law.
1t is duty always unpleasant to Judge to
pass sentence, and mete out punishment, to
those convicted of high crimes. In your case
We confess, il view of your age, intelligence
and the unsullied character you had previous
ly borne, and of the measure of punishment
which sense of duty in view of the heinous-
ness of your crime cOmpels us to intiict, it is
especially painful To find any one sunken
TO that depth of deprayity which prompted, or
permitted, the diabolical deed, could not fail
to excite feelings of cOmmiseraton. But we
have a duty to perform, and cannot shrink
from its performance.
The verdict of the jury fixes your guilt
That verdict, however, i. IS proper here to
say, receives our entire approval. Your guilt
was proven with degree of distinctness and
certainty not common. The narrative Of the
child, Catharine, which ii was apparent she
could not have invented, and which she had
no conceivable motive to fabricate-a tale the
thought of which could not have entered her
mind if it had not foundation in tact-was
given from the stand with all the truthful
simplicity of innocent, artless child that
had not learned TO lie, and which forced con-
yiction on the minds Of all who heard it. The
facts adduCed in confederation of her state
ment, proven by her little plavmates with that
artlessness and candor, and by other witness
ses who had no conceivable motive to prevar-
icate, with the testimony of Catharine, proved
your guilt, not merely CT an attempt, but of
the consUmmated crime, beyond the possibii-
ity of mistake There cannot Hnger in any
mind doubt of your guilt.
Thus before the court, what punishment
does duty call upon Us to infict? Formerly,
at common law, the penalty of your crime was
death Il IS still so when committed upon the
high seas, and within the jurisdiction OF the
courts of the United States. By Statute
of 1884, the penalty was imprisonment In tho
penitentiary notices. than ten nor more than
tweuty-onc years for the first offence. BY the
act of April, lS29, the time of Imprisonment was
fixed al not less than two nor more than twelve
years. Under these statutes, the punishment
was Imprisonment within the specified limits
graduated according to the circumstances
which extenuatcd or aggravated the offence,
IN addition to the imposition of the costs and
q nominal fec. b. the revised criminal code
approved the 3lst OF March last, & month after
you committed this crime, and now the law
of the State with regard to all crimes commit
ted since its enactment, rape is to be punished
by fine not exceeding $1,000, and imprisOn-
ment in the pcnitentiary no! exceeding fifteen
years.
You are to be sentenced under the act of
l8Z9-the most lenient of all these statutes.
Our discretion Is 10 be exercised between Jhe
limits of two and twelve years, the latter be-
ing the extreme penalty applicable to case
of extreme Nervousness and aggravation-and
what less is your crime? When it is remem-
bered that your victim is child, a child not
only in years, but in physical and mental de-
vclOpment,-a child, moreover, i'll innocence
and purity, and whose mind had never been
polluted by impure thought; and who had,
we doubt not no conception of what you were
attempting when it .s remembered, further.
that she your pupil and you her teacher;
her person and her purity, all that was pre-
clous TO her and her parents, committed to
your care that you sustained TO her for the
time the relation of a parent;-when it is re-
membered, further, that you possess the intel
hgcnce which that relation implies when
all these elements of aggravatiOn are brought
into the account, we are utterly a. loss to
conceive what would be an extreme case, if
yours Is not. We are unable to imagine any
thing which could add shade to your guilt |
One OF the objects of punishment, moreover, |
being the prevention of crime by detcrring
from its commission, since your case shows it |
to be possible, what could else scarcely |
think possible, that in our public schools, Il |
child committed by its parents to the care |
and guardianship of teacher, may be- thro |
his brutality, the victim of an outrage like !
this-it is duty, we feel, to make your case |
an example, and your fate a warning, to all |
such monsters Of depravity, if such others |
there be- And, in view of everything con- |
nected with your case, although we pity you |
we are constrained by imperative sense of |
duty to treat your case one Of extreme |
guilt, meet to be punished by the extreme !
penalty of the law
The prisoner was accordingly sentenced |
to undergo an imprisonment in solitary |
confinement at labor in the western peni- |
teutiary for twelve years.
NEW ADVERTISEMENTS Francis A. |