The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1870-01-20
CHE Uribnnf.
WITH SUPPLEMENT-,
Editorial and Local on Second and Third Pages.
An Eloquent and Timely Charge.

no Editorial and Local Second and Third Pages
An Eloquent and Timely Charge.
There is not usually much in the RECORD
| of criminal trials that we would ins:s
i upon being read or heard by society a
large, but the following remarks from
Judge Johnson, at Adrian, Mich, t.
Albert +. Shannon. physician convicted
of every one There is ring and keen
ness in the words of the judge which ap
| plies to the present condition of Ameri
can society: -
ALBERT Shannon, you have been con
| vIcted, after prOtracted trial, OF the
crime OF manslaughter, and as evidence
disclosed, in an attempt to secure an abor
ton, by surgical operation upon the body
| of Adelaide Duryea, young married wo-
man, aged about seventeen years, and re-
sulting in her death under circumstances
OF great horror, arising from her plead
ings to her brutal husband to spare her
from the crime resulting in her butchery,
and from the terrible suffering she en-
dured from the momeat of operation un-
til death set his icy seal upon her and
kindly terminated her agony, about thir-
tysiX hours after the operation Your
mature age, instead of paliating, high
tens the shade of your guilt but your
impaired state of health, and rather pre-
mature infrmities, and the fact that a
wife advanced In years must to great
extent share your own punishment, to-
gether with the kindness OF your nature
in your ordinary intercourse with your &C,
quaintances, are legitimate matters to be
taken into account in your favor in grad
uating your punishment The fact that
you did not design or probably anticipate
the tragIeal results Of your unlawful act
has already been taken into account by
legislative enactment, making the crime
prescribed not murder, but manslaughter,
Inasmich as the attempt to procure an
abortion of SO young foetus is of itself
not felony, but a misdemeaHor, in which
case the resulting death of the mother is
not murder, but manslaughter.
But in this case the public welfare i'm
peratively compels the court to bear in
mind the magnitude Of the crime; to
take into full account the exigence, so to
speak, of the public safety. This must
be fully weighed, SO that in your sentence,
no toleration or sanction direct or implied,
of tie nefarious practice may be found.
This crime, which resulted so fatally to
the life of the young wife, when you and
L were born and tenderly watched over
ana reared by maternal kindness, was al
most unknown in our land, and only heard
of here and there, at long intervals and
but to brand its authors and abettors' with
univ ersal detestatlon, and If, by a medical
practitioner, however skilled, to Consign
him to merited neglect and contempt,
but has now grown into widespread
mcnacing evil, and it is already prod ucing
disastrous effects upon society, morally,
and with its attendant vices is rapidly
working the destruction OF our people,
prolnoting amongst the youth of both
sexes RIGHTEOUSNESS and brutality, iRstitu-
ting in the place of modesty, delicacr,
and refinement of American maidens,
unblushing effrontery, unchastity. aud
utter heartlessness and in later life robbing
our women of their crowning glory, the
most refined, ennobling of all the attri-
butes Of humanity, motherly instinct, 20
be replaced by-what? The heartless,
sallow, worn-out devotee Of passion, and
the pursuit of momentary and giddy
pleasure and Incidence. In fact its ten
dency is to blot from AmericrH society its
of our country-to rob homes of prattllpg
infants, happy and affectiona:e youth, or
worthy and aHectionate fathers and moth
ers, to acrihce the future of our country;
to impoverish our race by the sacrifice of
all that enobles and elevates man and wo-
man-and for what? For the sake of a
few years of uninterrupted lust and the
heartless indulgence in fashionable amuse-
ment, to be followed by greatly dimin-
ished, diseased and degenerated offspring,
and to purchase for the guilty themselves
in advanced life, when pleasure has palled,
a cold and cherries existence ungladden-
ed by the grateful affection and endear-
ing intercourse and kind care of grateful
children willing to bear with and tolerate
their in6rmities, and smooth the pillow
of death and bedew it with the tears of
tender affection.
This terrible and prevalent evil, unless
arrested, will speedily canker and poison
our whole community when its deadly
pail cannot be lifted. Then will have
perished, In one miserable and appalling
wreck, all that is valuable in society, and
all that is dear in domestic life. We wit
ness as an evidence of the popularization
of this practice already in communities
that fatal premonition from the mouths
of hundreds, all do so,' all physicians
are alike. This, although in the main
base SANDER upon noble profession of
honorable men, is one of the familiar in-
struments used by the bad to break down
and overcome any opposition to their
victory; and ia fact is one Of the last
weapons they resort to. and generally
with fatal effect Such expressions usu-
ally herald in partial or absolute de-
gree, the victory of the body over all op-
position of the advocates of purity.
Impel,ed by these considerations, the
cuort have fixed and determined your
sentence-that you be confined at hard
labor in the state prison at Jackson, IN
this state, for the period of seven Years
from and including this day.