Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1876-12-02


court and confess, and throw him
self upon the mercy of the jury,
which he was assured would fix his
term of Imprisonment at the mini
mum limit Of the law. According
ly on the day fixed for the trial,
while solemn silence reigned through
out the court, young Whit arose,
and in reply to the questions of the
judge confessed to the Indictment
No human imagination a picture
the chill Of horror that fell upon the
court when on his confession his
wife, who was seated in the court
house, laughed. 1t is true she did
not laugh outright, but her laugh
was like that of the hyena as he
prowls about seeking for carrion re-
mains. 1t was dreadful, it was aw-
full to see a oma so deport herself
in presence Of the moral and human
wreck she had made. Nc a man in
the court house but what believed
her particeps criminis If not the au-
thor of the crime which DOOMED her
husband to the penitentiary, while
she remained at large. After a brief
and spirited address to the jury by
the a torney for the defence the jury
retired, and returned a verdict
fixing the time Of Imprisonment at
the minimum limit of the law, and a
unanimous recommendation for re-
prieve. A petition to the Governor
was circulated through the crowd,
and not a man refused to sign it.
Human sympathies were aroused,
and while no one doubted that he
had committed the forgery, no N
believed him a real criminal. A
crimeless criminal. s&
From the creation down to the
present day woman has always been,
directly or indirectly, the canse of
mans downfall. We do not censure
woman for this, but pity men who
are so weak as to be led into sin by
a woman. But is there q woman
at the bottom of all evil, IL is none
the less true that there is u woman's
hand and heart in everything good,
and after all men would not be men
! if women were not women, and we
think it safe in this connection to
postulate the corollary that man or
woman must needs have the other
in order to make them what they
are, and as good and evil were Gre
ated by the same power, no human
influence could change our destinies
from what they are. ''For He saith
to Moses, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and | will
have compassion on whom / will
have compassion" Romans 9th,
18th.
That young Whit fell we are not
surprised, for Solomon says: "Jeal-
ousy is the rage of man ; and in an-
other chapter adds: "With her
much fair speech she caused him to
yield" But what is, is, whether
right or not, and we imagine Louis
Whit soliloquizingin the following
lines of Lord Byron
woman, experience mis bit have told me,
That all must love thee who behold Thee ;
Surely experience might have taught
Thy firmest promises are nought,
But placed In all thy charms before me,
All | forgot but TO adore thee.
< * x + = y
How quick we credit every oath,
And hear her plight the wiling troth;
Fondly we hope twill last for aye
When 10, she changes in a day.
This record will forever stand,
Woman, thy vo VS. are traced in sand =,
A plan for changing the electoral
college system, which meets with con-
siderable favor, is proposed by the
Boston Advertiser, 1t suggests con
stitutional amendment making it
obligatory Oh the electors to send
their certified lists to the Chief JUS
tice of the United States Supreme
Court ; that he shall open and count
them in the presence Of the full court;
that objection to any list shall be filed
with specifications by a certain day
that before this august tribunal, Tex