The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1875-01-11
TWICE DOOMED.

Taylor Strauder, who has twice been
tried and convicted Of numbering his
wife received his sentence in the Circuit
Court on Saturday. The prisoner was
present and watched the proceedings
with an earnest attention, that only one
in his situation could.
The motion made at former day Of
this term, for new trial, by the counsel
Of the prisoner, Messrs. Davenport &
Doyener, was taken up and disposed Of
by the Court.
The principal question arose upon the
competency Of one of the jurors, Larkin,
who il was averred had before the trial
expressed an opinion hostile to the pris-
oner. The affidavit of the juror was
filed in opposition to the affidavit alleg-
ing the opinion, and the Court, after re-
viewing the law and facts, held the juror
duly qualified. The rulings Of the Court
upon the trial, to which exceptions had
been taken, were also discussed, and no
error discovered as to them. There were
also some questions raised and decided
without Neutrality-suspicious. that had
been raised upon the former trial, but
which had not been passed upon by the
Court of Appeals, when the case was de-
termined and new trial awarded. The
Court adhered simply to its former rul-
ings. The motion for new trial was
oyerruled.
This motion having been disposed OF
the inquiry was made whether the prison
er was ready for sentence. Upon an
affirmative reply being made, the prison
er WAS told to stand up, and was then
asked, in the usual form, if he had any
thing to say why the judgment of the
court should not be pronounced upon the
verdict. He promptly responded that nc
had. and then proceeded to say that he
didn't think he had had fair trial at the
hands of the jury, that one at least Was
hostile to him, they having had at one
time some personal difficulty, which had
only been partly made up, he admitting,
however, that this had escaped his rec
collection at the time the jury was I'M
panneled. He claimed also that he should
! have had trial by his peers; that there
was II prejudice against him on account
of race and color and that those of ms
own race should have been plaCei upon
the Jury. He continued in this strain,
speaking deliberately and without excite,
ment that was perceptibly. He expressed
himself as more than satisfied with the
efforts made in his behalf by his counsel,
and complained only of the action OF the
jury.
The Judge then addressed the prisoner
preparatory to passing sentence. He
said that notwithstanding the suggestions
made, the trial had been II fair and I'M
partial one; the jurors had been OF his
own selection from the panel in attend
ance, and all were duly bualiiiedi he had
been defended earnestly by able counsel;
all the safeguards had been thrown
around him, and Notwithstanding all, a
verdict of guilty of murder in the first
degree had been returned. The punish
mcnt in this event is death. The jury
might have exercised discretion rs to
making it death or confinement for life
in the penitcntiary. Virtually they had
affixed the former punishment, and the
Court had no discretion to change 1t.
The prisoner was briefly urged to bring
himself to realize the grave and solemn
situation in which he stood, to not rely
upon hopes of further Judicial proceed
ings in his case, or the exercise of execu-
tive clemency, but rather to place him
self under the charge and advisement OF
ministers of the Gospel and other relig-
ious men, and generally to avail himself
of the facilities which would be afforded
to prepare himself for the terrible ordeal
which, in all human probability, was in
his near future.
The sentence was then pronounced,
the prisoner remaining standing, and was
vlsibly affected, The sentence was that
the prisoner be remanded TO the Jail of
Ohio county until the 2Gth day of March,
1915, on which day he would be taken by
the Sheriff t. the place of execution, and
there be hung by the neck until he was
dead.
1t is understood that the counsel for
Strauder have filed exceptions, and the
case will most likely come before the
Court of Appeals again, which meets in
Charleston tomorrow.