Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-09-13
H.r.yGE.vG ~. OLDB.v TI.uRs.

a correspondent of the Boston Transcript
gives the following incidents ;-"While
John Hancock was Governor of The Com
monwealth, Rachel Whall was hung in
Boston for highway robbery. Her offence
consisted in twitching from the hand of a
mother female a bonnet worth perhaps sew
enty-five cents and running off with IL.
The most earnest applications for her par
don were unsuccessful. mention this not
to the disparagement of the Governor. lie
doubtless acted from a sense of duty, think
ing IL best for the community that the laws
of the land-however frightfully severe
while they were laws should be executed.
A lad Is years of age was hung in Salem
for arson during the administration of Gov
ernor Strong, similar appeals in his favor
being considered and over-ruled. Yet the
intelligence and the humanity, alike of the
Council. not w%ithstanding the result arriv-
ed at in both these instances, were unques-
tionablc.
"Within the same period, Il gentleman Of
this city saw n girl IL years of age hung in
London, for stealing a silver cream-pitcher.
Edward Vale Brown was hung in Boston
for burglary, committed in the house of
Captain Osias Goodwin, in Charter street.
and stealing therefrom sundry articles. I
once owned a set of the Old Bailey Trials,
Q775, 1921 embraced in a series ofperhaps
2s quarto volumes. The earliest of these
volumes contain the details of the trial of
the unfortunate Dir. Dodd, for forgery,
whose touching appeal for mercy, here re-
corded, was rruitlessly enforced by the
splendid %eloquence of johnson. In a later
volume, long alter the ment of
the present century, eight separate convic-
lions are recorded as one days job ola sin
gle tribunal, the culprits being all boys
aud girls between the ages of ten and fif-
teen, and their offences petty thelts.
one case l remember of peculiar Judi
cial atrocity. A young girl in her eigh-
teenth year was indicted ior stealing a roll
of ribbon worth three shillings. The pros
ecutor's testimony was TO this effect THE
prisoner came into my shop and bought
some ribbon. l saw her secrete this piece
also. | personally knew her, and was on
the most friendly terms with her. When
she left l accompanied her and offered her
my arm, which she accepted, we chatted
together. As we reached the corner Of Il
street leading TO the Bow street office, j
turned toward it. She said she was going
in another direction, and babe me good
morning. / said TO her, No you are 60
ing with me- I saw you steal a piece of
ribbon. She Immediately implored me for
Gods sake to overlook it, and restored TO
me the article. I said TO her that 1 had lost
many things in this way, and was resolv-
cd TO make her an example-that / was de-
termined TO nave her life.' And he got it.
l can never forget how my blood boiled as
| read the testimony of this cold-hearted
wretch. In view of the judgment of a
merciful God, far rather it seemed to me,
would have been in the place of that poor
frail, crring girl, even on the scaflold, than
in the place of her heartless accuser.
81 rose from the perusal of these volumes,
horror-struck with the continuous record
Of inconceivable legal cruelty. 1t appears
to me that the 10000 hangings in the reign
Of Henry VIII. were matched by an equal
ly long list of persons condemned to be
hung in the reign Of George III. Since that
time, much has been done in England by
Romilly, B~rougham, Mcintosh, and sgd
ney Smith, and as much-perhaps more
by kindred philanthropists on this side of
the Atlantic