Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1873-02-01
THOMAS G. BOYD.
THE LAST ACT In THE DRAMA.
The Prisoner Pleads Guilty to Five 0thel
Indictments.
THE SENTENCE OF THE COURT PR<
NOUNCED.
Five Years imprisonment in ihe Il. nAen
ffary and $4,000 Fine.
ELEVENTH DAYS PROCEEDINGS.

ELEVENTH DAYS PROCEEDINGS.
Immediately after the opening of the
court, the defendant, Thos. G. Boyd, was
brought in by Deputy Marshal Clingan.
He took his accustomed seat q little in rear
of and between his counsel, Messrs. Mel
son and Cooke, with whom he at once en-
tered into conversation, speaking in his
usually quiet manner, and occasionally
smiled while talking. His face was OF
marble paleness, while his eyes were very
bright, and as he looked around the court
room, the beholders could not fail to OBJ
serve the appearance of hollowness in his
| features, which appeared almost haggard.
| After taking his seat Judge Emmons
asked the defendants counsel if they were
ready?
Col. Cooke replied that they were, but
he wished to know if the submission of his
client in the five cases adduced in collat-
eral evidence would be considered a con-
fession of guilt in the other cases pending
against him, or would they be disposed of
by note l1roSeqUi?
The Attorney General said that he had
no power to do 50 or even recommend that
it be done, the matter being out of his
province.
Judge Nelson said that Judge Andrews
was corret and he readily understood his
position. The court could either overuIe
the motion for new trial or he would
withdraw it and enter plea of "guilty"
in the five cases alluded to above to be en-
tered of record.
Judge EmmOns then overruled the mo-
ton of Mr.. Nelson for new trial and stat
ed that il the imprisonment was for one
year only or less, the defendant could not
be removed from the Jail where he was now
confined, but in this particular case it
would be different. THE sentence of the
court was then passed, the prisoner being
allowed to remain seated while listening to
the dread penalty, which reads as follows:
THE SENTENCE.
1t is not unusual for courts to accompany
their judgments in cases like this with de-
tailed statements Of the circumstances of
the crime for which punishment is to be
inflicted, sometimes associated with repri-
mandS for the past and admonitions for
the future. They are frequently intended
more for the public than the prisoner. The
usual motive is to attract attention to the
fortunate fact that, however cunning
ly devised, offenseS are not committed with
impunity; and thus, arrest as far as posi-
BILE, all who are contemplating crime. No
effort to enhance your own appreciation of
the magnitude and gravity of your
wrongs is necessary, With an intelligence
beyond that Of the average of your fellow
citizens it is quite impossible that the tur-
pitude involved in the continuous COM
mission of the numerous frauds, perjuries,
forgeries, and corruptions Of public officers,
so amply exposed by the proof, is not as
fully realized by you as by either judge up
on the bench. Now, if net before, you
must feel, with an exceptional force, the
anguish, resulting from having brought
disgrace upon your hitherto respectable
family. It is not that disgrace alone which
! is inseparable from the criminality of one of
its leading and influential members, but
by connecting the names of relatives,
| friends and neighbors frequently with the
instrumentalities of your own crimes,
clouds at least are resting upon some of
| them. They are to pass through the or
deal which has not spared you.
We will not do you the injustice of sup
posing it needs suggestion from us to
| awaken all the sorrow which even the
worst of men must feel for those whom he
has subjected to suspicion and public
prosecution. If beyond this, they too are
| guilty it can but add to your regret that
| you led them into temptation. 1t is not
| with an unfeeling desire to increase your
dependency now that we refer to these
more affecting consequences of your
wrongs, but for wider purpose. A large
| audience has witnessed your exciting trial
and many are here to listen to your sen-
tence You will pardon the temporary
pain it may cause, if the occasion is i'm,
proved to ask their earnest attention and
lasting remembrance to the lesson which
your sad history affords. .....-
| You we know, will authorize us to say
that from the first moment you entered
upon their commission, these crimes have
left you no peace of mind. We should all
know this without confession on your
part. 1t is but an ignorant and vulgar
Judgment which sees in the bold fictions
and desperate resorts which attended your
flight, but additional evidences of insensi-
bi.ity and Indifference to crime.
We read its lesson differently. No man
but one suffering from a fear, a continuous
unrest and mental pain which he could
not endure, would voluntarily attempt the
complicated crimes by which you sought
to cover your escape.
The corruption of new accomplices, the
robbery of the grave, the pretense of as
of false witnesses, the disgusting and re
pulsive burning the half decayed body o
! a negro that yonr family and friends nigh
follow it to the grave and your poor wifi
weep over it as that of her dead husband
the mockery of a funeral, the de
liberate suggestion on the the record o
your 8death that the government
! might be still further defraud
ed, constitute an aggregate of repulsive in
cidents from which every man woult
shrink if he were not goaded to despera
e tion and suffering in excess. And we be
7 all who relate the exciting story of you
a numerous offenses, when the details Q
e those complicated and bold frauds whicl
d constitute the foundation of the twenty
+ seven indictments against you now upo
: our records, and the still more numerou
crimes which an impolitic and unenlight