The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-03-04
From tina indianapolis Journal
The Conviction OF Mrs, Glenn.

and his wife, on the 18th of Septem-
Der last, returned a verdict of guilty
Of murder Ia the second degree" and
a sentence of confinement in the
State 5 Prison for life. Thus has ter
trials In the history of crime, and
aecomplishit has been cleared away
one of the most horrible mysteries
that ever shrouded q crime from de-
lection. An the incidents of the
murder were startling in their bold
ness aud apparent indifference to the
chances of discovery, and yet for days
none could be traced beyond the sand
bar that drank the blood of the vic
abundance to enable a shrewd OBJ
server to paint an accurate pic
ture of the scene, the spot
where the gun was fired, the posi-
ton Of Mr.. Young, the struggle that
ended with the pistol shot which
killed the terrified wife, the rihing the
pockets of the dead, the retreat of the
murderers. and the return to burn
the body of Mrs. Young, but nobody
| could suggest the features Of the chief
actors to Complete the awful picture.
The track of a dainty female foot,
small and neatly shod, added to the
horror and mystery equally. Could q
ladv have been one of the murderers?
Who was she? The ground was thick
" sown with marks by which, at q
first view, it would seem easy to trace
the crime to its authors, the gun, the
footprints, the carriage tracks, the
horse hoofs, showing the direction
| taken in returning to the city, the toll
gates at which passers would be noted
| and a clue found. The scene was ex-
posed for nearly half a mile upon the
east, and probably more upon the
west, side Of the river, to any chance
fisherman, or hunter, or laborer in
the corn field opposite. 1t was
but a few hundred feet from
the road along which some
body was passing every five
minutes of the day. The vic
tins, and the woman who helped
to murder them, were seen on
the sand-bar-but a few moments be-
fore the fatal shot. The children
who saw them went away a few min
utes and returned, and by this mere
chance absencs failed to see the
crime committed, or, as 1t might have
proved. by their presence to prevent
its commission. Thus this terrible
tragedy was enacted almost in sight
of a score of people, any of whom
might as easily have seen 1t as failed
to see it, and in the full hearing OF
many more. 1t approached the very
verge of the beldest exposure, and
missed it so narrowly that the con
oo.T-n-& r0rvonIa atonFn11 HAnnnnr FhEn
if every mark had been effaced, and
no eye or ear had detected the pass
ing signs of murder. An assassina-
ton at midnight in a lonely lane
would have presented fewer features
of terrifying mystery than this day
light and daring act. The elegant
footprint could not be followed be-
yond sight of the rivers edge. The
gun was traced to nobody. All specu-
lation and conjecture travelled round
and round upon that bloody sand bar
and could take no step beyond. 1t
would do no good now to speak of the
hundred quick changing suspicious
that followed each other into the ON
niverous credulity of the public
that Young had been concerned with
counterfeiters and had been killed
that he might be robbed and danger
of exposure evaded; that he had shot
his wife and killed himself; that he
was followed to Cold Spring and
murdered by some of the many rob-
bers about the city who had heard of
his careless or boastful exposure of
large sums of money. The whole
community was excited as We never
saw it before by any occurrence.
When at last a ray of light came, it
came not from the scene of the MUIR
der but from the business relations of
l. the victim, and it fell not upon the
actual perpetrators but an alleged
accomplish. The mystery of the
, sand bar was entered from a direction
that seemed least likely to turn to-
wards it. The Coroner's investiga-
ton, so far as the public learned it,
cleared up nothing. The mystery was
as mysterious as ever. Somebody had
been suspected, but that was all.
Now, after a trial, lasting three weeks.
and conducted both for the State and
the defendant, with so much care,
industry, and ability that no room is
left to doubt hat all has been done
that could be done to reach the truth.
the jury sweep away the mystery by
an unanimous declaration that they
are satisfied Mrs. Glen was the
woman on the sand-bar, and that she
saw and aided in the murder.
We need not stop to comment on
the absurd form of the verdict, fur
ther than to note it as another illus
tration of the compromise that sensi-
bic men have sometimes to make
with fools to secure a verdict at all.
Mrs. Glenn is guilty of a thoroughly
planned. premeditated murder. or she
& is innocent. Murder in the second
t degree" is as senseless a verdict In
; this ease as theft without intention
to steal" In a larceny case. But the
sentence is doubtless what would
have been given if the verdict had
been formally correct, and substan-
tial justice has been done. No jury
In Indiana will ever hang a woman,
as long as they have another alterna-
tive, aud imprisonment for life is
equally the penalty of murder In the
first and in the second degree. We
believe ninety-nine of every hundred
of our citizens viii approve the YER
diet. The opinion is more than
general. it is almost universal,
that Mrs. Glenn is guilty. That
conviction was deepened with every
development of the first trial, and
still more by those of the last. What
was lacking to complete the chain of
evidence before was supplied this