The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1865-06-07
WOOD.
RICHMOND, Va Nov. 4, 1859.

My Dear Sir l have duly received
aud weighed every word of your letter
l give it all credit for good motive and
good morals, and as suggesting what,
perhaps, is good policy. Now listen to
me, for my mind is iufexibly made up.
Had l reached Harper's Ferry before
these men were captured (and | would
have reached there in time. had been
forwarded as ought to have been from
Washington and the Relay House,) l
vould hare proclaimed martial IaO,
haze stormed then, in the quickest posi-.
bic time, have given them no quarter,
and If any had surviOed, l acould hare
tried and executed them under sentence
of court martial But [ was too late.
The prisoners were captives, and then
determined to protect them to the ut
most of my power, and | did protect them
with my person.. escorted them to
prison, aud placed around them such a
force as TO overcome Lynch law. Every
comfort was given them by my orders !;
and they have been scrupu!ousy Y afforded
a fair and speedy trial, with every oppor-
tunity Of defence for crimes which were
openly. perpetrated before the eyes of
hundreds, and as openly confessed. They
could escape conviction only by technical
exceptions, and the chances for these
they had to a greater degree, by the ex-
peditiop of prosecution. And the crimes
deliberately done by them are the deepest
and darkest kind which can be commit
ted against our people. Brown, the chief
leader, has been legally and fairly tried
and convicted admits the humanity of his
treatment as a prisoner, the truth of the
indictment, and the trutbfulnnss of the
witnesses against him. He has been
allowed excess of counsel, and the free.
dom of speech beyond any prisoner
known to me in our trials. 1t was im.
possible not to convict him. He is sen.
fenced to be hung that is the sentence
of mild code, humanely adjudged, and
requires DO duty from me, except to see
that it is executed. | have to sign nc
death warrant If the Executive inter.
poses at all, it is to pardon and to par
don bin | have received petitions, prayers
and threats from almost every Free State
in the Union. From honest, patriotic
men like yourself, many of them, an
informed that banging will make him q
martyr. All! Will it? Why? The
obvious answer to that question shows
me above everything the necessity for
hanging him. You ask, "Have you nerve
enough to send Brown to the State Pris
on for life, instead of hanging him ?"-
Yes, if didn't think he ought to be
hung, aud that would lie inexcusable
for mitigating his punishment, l could
do it without fiuching, without a qWiver
] Of muscle against universal clamor fol
his life But was it ever known before
that it would be impolitic for State ,c
execute her laws against the highest
crimes, without bringing down upon her
self the vengeance of a public sentiment
outside of her limits, aud hostile to hel
laws? Is it so that it is wisely said tc
her that she had better spare murderer
a robber, traitor, because public senti
ment elsewhere will glorify an insurrec
zionist with martyrdom? Ifso, it is time
to do execution on him and all like him
And | therefore say to you, firmly, that
have precisely nerve enough to let hiu
be executed with the certainty of his
condemnation. He shall be executed as
the law sentences him, and his body
shall be delivered over to surgeons, anc
await the resurrection without grave in
our soil / have shown him all the mer
cy which humanity can claim.
Youry, truly, HENRY A. WISE.
| Hon r Woon