Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-12-05

He was arrested, indicted, and on Friday
the 22d ult., was arraigned in the Court
OF Common Pleas at Ravenna. He plead
guilty, and was sentenced to ten years
confinement in the Penitentary. Be-
fore the sentence was pronounced, he
read the following address to the Court:
MAY 1T PLEASE THE COURT 1T is not
my design to attempt to make any thing
like a plea upon tho case now in your
hearing; neither would 1t be i'm place for
me to do so IL had the ability. My
counsel will plead in my behalf, while
what little may say will be confined to
q statement of facts, and confession with
the case in hearing before your Honor.
1t is not my design to uncover any
more Of the unfortunate past than may
I've rfndispensably necessary to arrive at
the important facts in the present cuse
TO that end decided to plead guilty to
the Indictment as presented, as l cannot
separate the charges therein contained
against me, and must rely upon your
Honor to do as the facts may be set forth
in your hearing.
The committing of the crime a. charg-
e. again7t me do not intend to deny;
but instead OF its being the result of the
act of malice, premeditation or fore
thought, it was done upon the impulse of
erati, n, or r rtason-when brain and body
were ike exercised with the most In
tense excitement which none can realize
better than those who have experienced
its KEEN REALITY.
Intemperance, and its twin sister, Dis
grace, on my part, confronted by pride
and fierce ambition on the part of my
family, was the cause of my Punishment
from home which combined includes the
.I | nfn all ~ IN
exceedingly to speak; but 1t has such an
important bearing upon the cuse, l cam
not possibly avoid it. Your Honor is
well aware that u little over a year ago
my wife filed n petition before this court
for livorce--charging me with habitual
drunkenness and gross neglect. From
that time. earnestly and faithfully re-
solved and struggled against the tempter,
but in my weakness have failed to accom-
plsh that permanent reform so earnestly
desire mot only to save and redeem
myself, but, what was the height of my
ambition, to regain the confidence of my
wife, and win her to myself again. But
to err, is human. | am not an exception
to all that have trified with the intoxi-
eating bowl.
by times the temptation overpowered
+ my strength of resistance. for in the pur-
suit of ny business it was almost con-
]
very air was freiglled and contaminated
with its polluting breath. The rec' I'd :
of Akron Lodge of Good Templars are
proof of the sincerity of my wish to re-
lorm.
Faithfully then did remember n,y ob-
N1dtiOR. Total abstinence Uns my motto.
God knows / hie,i to be good,. hut with
the insatiate appetite gnawiny like fam
ished wolf Mt my vitals, or like scorpions
nt th1.s # ifa In, ~
guarded moment was again foiled In its
snarings, and M hope Was lost. The dye
was cast; my doom wns sealed; no par
don could reach me there. In that con-
dition | sought an interview with my
family upon the day in question. then
realized the dread reality that had
dressed her hand, and our eyes had met
for the last time. God only knows the
anguish that wrung my soul that scorch-
ed my brain --.the horrid, living DEATH
We still lived, bat must be dead to each
, other.
A quarter Ofa century, day by day, and
year by year in their turn have circled
away since together we bowed at the hy-
menial altar, and there exchanged vows
of eternal constancy and fidelity to each
other. And | must he abandoned now
for that could not help; and to have
her hand thus wrenched from mine il
wanton cruelty--it is deliberate murder!
feel as Mary the Mother OF Jesus did
when she gazed into the empty sepul-
cher
"rhey have stolen my Lord away; I
knoW not ,ohcre they hare Tain him."
Bat harbOr no malice; | cherish no
feelings of revenge-F can exclaim i'm the
language of the manger-born Babe OF
Bethlehem, Father forgive them; they
kROtO not ,Chut they do.
Nv nnrp pnnl a bla hOpa T dtannaaI
of and divided the proceeds between my
wife and son, reServing ~ small share for
myself. The ninth hny of February last,
my son told me ii wolld place it In the
hands of some responsible person for safe
keeping, my wife should he immediately
restored to me again. With that consid-
Grafton willingly and cheerfully placed
It in his possession to the utmost farthing,
for to he restored again to my family Wds
nty only thought; my only iOish. Thought
II what little property | had was to be u
barrier To my domestic happiness 1t was
no account to me, and the sooner l was
rid Of IL the better. .r
The greed for gain, the thirst for power,
The " = that backens while II burns,
An these the whitcst souls dcvour;
Ana aci and all OF In @ Ivy turns
Rob man h y lirines, 'wer.
l do not mention this rs any reason or
cause of justification 0f committing the
VeeN WIFI WHICH L HtH cllNTSeu ana am
here To answer, but to show the sincerity
of my desire to live with my family
Thus to live In sight OF home and not he
welcomed there, was the keenest torture
| trod III on enchanted ground; / could
not advance, dare not retreat. Painful
as the position was TO me, yet Was SPELL
bound to their presence. We had euer
tOishCd to die in each others arms. |
have done that am sorry for, when
mind and body were controlled by strange
and deeply excited feeling. But | have
resolved ii ! am ever free, before my body
shall be bowed beneath tho weight OF
years and toll, and before my mind crum-
bleS tn decay, i'm my second childhood to
commence II new existence, and let the
past be as though Uhad nepcr been.
As the last year stands like horrid
speeter in my recollection, IL Is q wonder
to myself That instead of being incarcera-
ted in II felon's cell, that long g o this
was not crouching upon the floor a dis
gusting, hopeless idiot, or confined in
some friendly bastile, raving maniac
With this burden ofdisappoinlmenta and
sorrow bearing down upon me, the day
in question, i had resolved upon self
destruction. In my melancholy mo-
ments, ! had resolved to do IL long ago,
| | L,t n al, t~2 ~ y