The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-07-10

THE PHILLIPS MURDER TRIAL,
EIGHTEENTH DAY.
VERDICT OF THE JU Y
G e I L T Y!
MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL.

Inc courtroom Wds again SioHuSo W i'H
utmost capacity yesterday morning at 8
o'clock, at which hour the jury were e1-
pected to return their verdict.
At ten minutes of 10 o'clock the court
was opened, the jury having been In the
Senate chamber since 8.
The sheriff was directed to inform the
Jurors that the Court would receive them
whenever they were ready. He returned
with the reply that the jury was not quite
ready yet"
Then followed delay of about two hours
and o half of waiting, during which the
Judge vacated his seat, the counsel sat in
anxious conversation, and the spectators,
gradually losing their patience, began to
withdraw from the room. The prisoner
chatted for some time with q recently-re-
leased prison associate; for q while con-
versed with his father, who paid him
flying visit, and then, picking up news
paper, seemed deeply interested in the pro-
ceedings of the New York Convention.
At length knock was heard at the door
of the Senate chamber. A sheriff an
swered it, and found the jury ready to
report. The Judge was sent for, counsel
were seated, the prisoner threw aside his
paper, and the crowd pressed back into the
rooms, only giving way before two of the
sheriff's deputies, who forced passage for
the jurors. AS the jurors entered and
took their seats, one could almost have
heard a pin drop in the crowded hall. A
thousand eager eyes were directed towards
the prisoner, who, pale and silent, looked
steadily toward the jury-box.
The Clerk: "Gentlemen of the jury
Have you agreed upon a verdict"
Mr.. T. A. Waters stepped forward and
handed in paper, upon which were writ
ten the words of life or death-none dared
to guess which.
The Clerk: "James Jeter Phillips, stand
up"
He stood up, with fan in his hand,
leaning heavily upon the desk in front his
eyes now upon the clerk, who read: " We,
the jury, find the prisoner, James j. Phil
lips, guilty Of murder in the first Degree"
Not muscle of his face relaxed, and no
change of color was remarked by the thou
sand eyes Upon him; but he sank
into his seat, as it seemed to us, with an air
of relief, and commenced tanning himself
furiously, the perspiration standing in great
beads upon his forehead.
The death-like silence which followed
was broken by Judge Crump, who, without
rising from his seat, requested that the jury
be polled. Each one of the twelve men
were then asked if this was his verdict,
and each of the twelve signihed his assent.
The Judge then turned to the jurors. He
informed them that they were now about to
be discharged from their solemn and i'm
portant duties. Before their departure it
gave him pleasure to unite with the coun-
sci on both sides in commencing their pa
thence, their impartality, and their evil
dent honest determination to act fairly in
the discharge Of their solemn and painful
duties. He wished them a speedy return
to their homes, and earnestly hoped that
their business had not greatly suffered from
their protracted absence.
A long pause ensued, and the question on
every tongue was, What next ?" A whis-
per replied, "The sentence" but presently
Judge Crump again spoke. He moved a
new trial, and desired the motion to be
docketed, asking permission to argue it
this morning.
Judge Christian expressed perfect willing
ness to hear the argument, and the pri-
soner having been ordered back to Jail, the
court adjourned until 10 o'clock this morn
ing.