Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1873-01-10
Sentence of Stokes.

The following is the sentence passed upon
Edward S. Stokes by Judge Doardman, of
New York, on Monday last
Judge Boardman fixing his eyes upon the
prisoner, thus addressed him: Ed. 5. Stokes,
you have been defended by most eminent
| counsel, with most extraordinary skill and
devotion You have been supported and sus-
tanned by the sympathy OF loving relatives and
ardent friends. All that wealth, affection, or
industry could do for you has been well and
cheerlully done. jury carefully selected, Of
intelligent and upright gentlemen, have listen
ed patiently and kindly TO your own account
Of this terrible act, as well as TO the other
evidences that has been put in on yonr behalf.
They have found you guilty Of murder in the
first degree, the highest crime known to our
laws, in having caused the death Of James
| Fisk, Jr., one year ago to-day. The verdict
was wrnng from their Judgment, not prompted
by they hearts. am sure ] do each juror
but justice in saying that, and in assuring you
| that their concurrence in this verdict was the
most painful act Of their lives. That result is
not the fruit of unkindness TO you, but of just
respect for, and obedience TO thelaw The evil
| 1ence in the case, even your own testimony,
am constrained to believe, sanctions their
conclusions and juslifes their verdict. am
not conscious, SO far as am personally con-
cerned that have erred in any respect against
you, during the progress Of the trial. have
endcavored, in all cases of doubt, to give you
the benefit of such doubt. TO me remains the
painful duty of pronouncing the Judgment of
the law, not alone as u punishment of your
crime, but also that by your example others
may take warning from your sad, unhappy
fate. So young and attractive in person, with
so many fountains Of joy untasted, still great
| er is my sorrow TO realize the unmerited an
guish you have brought upon your family
and friends. Your disgrace is reflected upon
! them who are pure, and yonf dishonor casts
an unjust but inevitable stain upon their truth
and virtue. II is a friphtful legacy to leave
your famly--a spectre that death alone can
| make vanish. 'Twere lido if it were possible
for me to trace the path from innocence to
crime, TO tell the tale Of unrestrained passions
! | can I do it. Let the time which the law.
gives you be devoted TO reflection upon the
past and repentance for your sins, and in pre-
paration for the great change so terribly near
10 you. Do not delude yourself with uncer-
tain hopes of pardon or cemency.
Edward S. Stokes in obedience to the re-
| quirements of the law, this Court orders and
directs that you be taken hence in custody OF
the Sheriff of the City and County of New
| York, TO the prison, from whence you came,
and that You be there confined in close custo-
! dy by such sheriff, until the 28th day Of Feb
ruary, 1873, and that on that day, between
and three O'Clock in the afternoon, you be
hanged by the neck until you are dead; and
| may God have mercy on your soul.
After The sentence the death warrant was
read to Stokes by the clerk. The prisoner was
then taken back TO Jail, and once more the
bolts were drawn behind him.
COINCIDENCE.
The Sun says 1t was precisely nine min
utes TO eleven O'Clock yesterday when Judge
Boardman delivered his charge consigning
Stokes to death by hanging. At nine minutes
to eleven o'clock on the 9th day Of January,
one year before, Col. James Fisk, Jr., gave a
convulsiye gasp and died.
HANGING AS TERROR TO EvIL-DoERs. The
ineflicncy of the recent hangings in Washing
ton, as means Of grace, gives pause to those
who have been crying 'Hang himI when
ever case Of aggravated murder came to no.
tice The Springfield Republican thus confesses
its inability to solve the riddle:
Within year there had been fourteen mur-
ders in the District of Columbia, and in six
weeks three executions. In Heavens name,
what is to be doue? How many executions
are necessary to insure the moral reform of
the average SPECTATOR If two won't suffice,
will three?
|
pull at judicial strangling, and in answer to
the puzzled inquiries of the Republican, says;
| Not two, nor three, nor half n dozen, nor
! twenty nor any number of executions will
| have any effect in deterring murders, II the
hangings are spasmodic, and contingent not
upon the guilt or innocence of the accused,
but upon the temper of the public. Once let
| it be settled that the law will have its way
| with all assassins, of whatever class; that
murderers will be hanged speedily whether
| they arc rich in money and friends or pehni-
| less and friendless that the punishment will
| promptly and certainly follow the crime; and
if then there is no perceptlble diminutIon IN
! in the number of murders, the opponents of
capital punishment (who are themselves re-
sponsibe for much of the mischief now) will
have better ground for argument than the
mere fact that the hanging of one murderer
out of ten or a hundred does not deter other
slavers Granting what they claim, the fact
remains that for every murderer hanged tie
community is safer that much at least. Even
now, after three recent executions in this city,
the other men charged with murder do not
seem TO realize that it is anything more than
the result Of a culmination Of popular ndigna-
| ton against murderers; that the public will
be satisfied with two or three examples, and
each man of them thinks his own chances
| of saving bis neck are good. This is the di-
rect result of the hopes held out to the cons
demned men at every step of their progress
through the courts and TO the end, and it en-
coarages others 10 commit crime.
! In other words, there is no hope of amend
ment so long as the popular feeling is 6tful
and lets off nine criminals where one is punish
ed according to law. New York readers will
recollect that it was urged in behalf of Foster,
the car-hook murderer, that his crime
committed at an inopportune time, when the
public was seeking for victim to be sacr-
! feed to general indignation.
The New York Commercial Advertiser hits
Mr. Postmaster General CreSswell's pet postal
telegraph scheme the following stunning
| blow
% The President has signed the bill legslat-
ing out of Office the United States Assessors,
| so that by the LIST of next July we shall be rid
Of that interesting brood. As an Offset TO this
act of retrenchment we can think of nothing
better than for Congress to pass law author
izng the postal telegraph sy TEN. Thatwould
| give us an opportunity of maintaining new
set of Government employees, besides keeping
the country lively with the clamors of every
little frontier settlement for postal tele-
graph"
| of course something must be done to pro-