The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1866-11-01
Twenty Years in Prison.

just think ont a moment reaCer -
Twenty years in Prison" Hard fate is
1t not! and the victim young man too
1t will be remembered that some time
ago the good neighborhood of Bingham.
ton was cursed by series of incendiary
fires, starting and unnerving the people as
ours of few years ago. Well numbe
of young men were arrested on suspicion
of being concerned in the foul deeds, and
late session Of the Grand Jury indicted
four of them. One was a young fellow
named Delaney indicted for arson in the
first degree. He stood trial in the Cir
cult Court and Court of Oyer and Ter
miner on Friday last, Judge Boardman
presiding. Delaney pleaded not guilty,
but the evidence by the District Attor.
ney on the part of the people give con-
elusive proof that he was engaged in
burning the Eldridge building Della
Dey offered contradictory testimony, but
the evidence he brought forward could
not shake the straight story sworn to by
the witnesses of the prosecution. The
trial continued through the greater part
of two days, and on Saturday afternoon
closed by the summing up of the oppos-
ing counsel. The jury retired, and on
again being brought into Court returned
verdict of guilty of arson in the first
degree" The court then asked the prs-
oner eff he had anything to say why
sentence should not be passed?" to which
he responded, g. never set fire to the
building" The Judge then passed SEN
tence that Delaney should be confined
twenty years in the State Prison. When
the dreadful sentence was announced,
two sisters of the prisoner, who had been
in attendance upon the Court, hoping
against hope, that the brother they loved
so well would be cleared from the heavy
charge against him, were thrown into VII
olcnt Mysteries, so that they had to be ta-
ken home in carriage and a physician
called Young men who lead thought
less and unlawful course Of life, do not
realize how they shatter the strong lore Of
their mothers aud sisters, and completely
wreck the fond hopes INDUCED in BY their
faithful friends.
Moralizing on this sad life chapter the
Republican remarks:-
TWENTY YEARS. = Only think of it
young man; twenty years in prison. A
young man commits desperate deed
against the law, but not only destroys
property but endangers life; he is arres-
ted, tried aud convicted; the judge SEN
tences him, to long imprisonment = not
for life, but for twenty years, the best
part of his life. How changed will all
things appear to the old man, the man
who entered those walls full of life and
vigor but with downcast look and brok-
en- hopes = when he emerges once more
into the busy world, with wrinkled tea
lures and silyery hair and feeble frame. =
Which way will he turn to meet the
friends of his youth, or who will remem-
Der in him = the old man Of forty five or
fifty years = the young and active man
of twenty years of age? Young men, you
whose acts occasionally lead you into err
rors against the peace of the neighbor
hood and into the breaking of the law,
stop and think oftwenty years in prison
twenty years of hopeless toll for the State
= twenty years Of Incarceration away
from the bri ght fields of the outer world.
Is it not dreadful to think about it even
How much more so is the reality? =
Scranton Register, Oct. 18th.