The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-04-04

formed no elen,enS nf the OFF inal irssnticns
NOR was II ndltici pased. The judge before
,sho,r, fine csc syas tried, members OF tlle
| tnry.. Che Maynr OF the city Of Portsmouth,
and other officials, end nearly OIL the mem-
hers Oh tfie bal. and other good citizens, re-
eornrnend the committing Of the sentence o.
| the court 10 imprisonment for life.
Edgar Alan. Of Prince Edward county,
convicted al misderne an5s dealing !. cnuek-
| a.Iucknl at the. May (fs72) term of.PrIlce
| Edward County Court, and sentencedto pay
/ q fine of $500 and be imprisoned In she
| comfy jai1 for the term of four months.
| August 8, 1872, pardon Issued remItlng so
much Of the sentence of the court as orders
that the defendant be imprisoned In the
| county jail for the term OF -four months, ior
the. reason. that the judge before whom. the
prisoner was tried, after on examination, OF
the certificates of physicians, atHdayifs, and
other papers accompanying thepetitton ior
pardon, as to.the failing health of the petl-
toner, recommended him to Executive
lclemency, he. having already served out
three-fourths of bis term Of imprisonment
Peter Wallace .fcoloredl, of Powhatan
lcounty, convicted of petit larceny on ;tne
| 10th OF September, 1872, by a magistrates
court, and sentenced to imprisonment in the
county Jail for The term of sixty days. Par
doned October Is, 1872, because the magls'
trate who tried the case, subsequent to. the
trial from r-discoyered evidence, became
convinced of the boys entire innocence, aud
so officially certified, and bis certificate was
fully sustained By sworn, testimony Of re-
putable citizens. !, fs.,rs,,y-tE.1 60 T,-.t!
Harold P. Read, of Bedford county. con
yicted of malicious shooting at. the August
n672} term of Bedford County Court, and
sentenced to Imprisonment in the .peniten-
tiary for the term of two years, December
| az, 1877. Sentence committed to impFlson-
| ment in the county nil until January =,
1874, for the following reasons: In my .Judg-
| ment tteevideuce did not warrant the YER !
dict Of the jury, and consequently have re-
duced the punishment to correspond win
my views as to what the verdict should have
been. While the judge who tried the case, the
Circuit Court to which it was appealed, and
a majority Of the judges Of the Supreme
Court of Appeals deemed the evidence suf-
fcient to uphold the verdict, yet two OF: the
| FIVE judges Of the highest judicial tribunal
| Of the State held that the Judgment of the
court below should be reversed as. against
the evidence, and the county judge states
that he would not have agreed to the verdict
bad he been member Of the jury The
petitioner Is recommended TO Executive Gle
mency By the judge who tried and the Com
| monwealth's attorney who prosecuted the
case, by twenty-eight members Of the Gene
raj Assembly, and four hundred officials and
citizens of Campbell, Bedford, Amherst, and
Nelson counties, and the city Of LyDchburg.
john Appleby (colored), of Prince VIII
liam county, convicted of arson at the De-
cember Os72) term !, of Prince William
County Court, and sentenced to be hanged
on the 7th of February, 1873. Sentence COM
muted to Imprisonment in the peniteptiary
for the term of ten years because OF; the
youth of the convict, he being but about
eleven years of age, on which account, and
because it was his first offence, the judge,
Commonwealth's attorney, and jury Tin their
verdict by whom he was tried earnestly, re-
commended the Communication of the sentence.
james Brooks and Robert Taylor (colored),
of the city of Richmond, convicted of.
barn burning at the September QS72)
term of the Hastings Court Of the city
of Richmond and sentenced to Imprisonment
in the penitentiryzsfor the term Of three
wears. 4 Pardoned December 81, 1872, for
the following reasons: These prisoners were
mere children; too young and too ignorant
to fully comprehend the nature or conse-
q,lences of their acts. Judge Guigon, be-
fore whom these lads were tried, states:
" The jury was compelled upon the law and
the evidence to give their verdict, and to
sentence these children to the penitentiary,
however painful these duties. L am con-
strained to say that the laws for the punish.
ment OF such offenders are SO defective that,
while believe these children should be pun.
ished by some restraints upon their liberty
and made to feel the effects of their bad con-.
duct. am compelled to ask that the sentence
OF the law may not be carried out" The
jury and Commonwealth attorney unite In
the recommendation, rs well as other good
citizens. These boys were imprisoned in the
city jail over four months. !.sst