Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-02-16

that there could have been any feel |
ing of intent. and that the only thing .
that could be charged to the defend /
ant was the fact of his then condition. |
which resulted unfortunately in the |
death of his friend. l hold in my
hand a paper. which is signed by the
parents OF the deceased. and | will
hand it TO the court for Inspection. |
would read il il could.
The following paper was handed 10
the Judge:
We. the undersigned. parents of the
deceased Harry Booz, who was killed
by the defendant herein. being we'll
satisfied that said deceased and de-
PENDANT have always been on the most
intimate terms offriendship. and feel
ing that the unfortunate occurrence
was the result Of intoXication on the
part OF the defendant. and learning
that defendant has plead guilty of
man>laughter. and is to be sentenced
on the morning of the 18th day of
February, 1876. now desire. as far as
* proper for them to do 50. to ask the
Court. in passing sentence. 10 observe
ant as IL, the judgment ofthe Court
may be right and proper.
j. q. BooZ.
MARY Booz.
Feb. 10. 1876.
Judge knapp-(addressing Captain
Fcc.) Have you anything to say or
the part of the State?
fF,~@,.,, At I,no .....
ncy. said:
| loCR HONOR: | desire TO be fully
understood in this matter. If The
/ Court desires me to throw any light
on the transaction.I would prefer not
/ to give my own statement. but would
/ have some witness who saw the mat
! ter. and should detail il to the court.
| suppose l can state ii correctly. as
there is no controversy. perhaps. as to
the facts in the case. l might take
the testimony given before the Cor
oncr,s jury. so that the exact circum-
stances might be fully understood by
the court from the testimony itself.
/ Judge knapp--It is hardly neccs-
sary TO read it; Il have read il myself
/ Minutes of testimony before the
/ Coroner were handed to Captain Fee
Feel suppose this is substantially
as detailed before the grand jury
I There is no question made by myself
or anybody but what this act was
done under n high state of intoxica-
ton and frenzy. Had not that been
the ease there would have been no
plea for manslanghter accepted by
] myself: the grand jury could not.
f from the testimony before them. have
found an Indictment for any other Of
Tense: and yet, it is probable that
man>laughter would have been the
verdict upon a full investigation. and
ii Is better to accept the plea that has
been accepted than to have had Il long
trial and arrived nj the same result
we have. mt last. No one feels more
deeply the result of this act than | do.
except the parents, and yet desire to
have il understood by the court that
il is not so much for the punishment
OF the defendant here. a. for the fu-
ture and the community, that occu-
Ply the position l do in regard to this
ease. This Young man became intoX-
icated, and seriously so. have his
testimony before the grand jury in
another case, in which he said he
drank some eight. ten or twelve
times in Il saloon here. and
that. perhaps. is sufficient 10 show
that lie was intoxicated. and yet
il is no excuse. except to lead us to Il
charitable view rs to the crime com
mitted. Perhaps This is MOI in the
examination before the Coroner. and
the Court may not have known any
thing about that.
Captain Fee briefly referred TO the
circumstances connected with the
tragedy, substantially as sci forth in
the testimony before the Coroner.
ii is a question. perhaps. as to
whether the pointing of the revolver
and firing was accidental. but such
seems to be conceded. The accidcn!
and the death happened upon his own
yolilion and as a drunken man would
have done. he fred the fatal shot.
This is the true state of facts. a. ! un-
aerstand.
This is a question which will. of
course. give the court "A good deal of
tronbie--would give any person some
trouble-to know what should be
done. There are so many elements
entering into Ibis matter, The punish
mcnt of crime. they enter into every
ease. Ii was my own conviction. and
il is justice to the community. that
the plea of manslaughtcr should have
been accepted. and when this has
been said. then we are on the verge
of The most charitable view of the
case. | have given the defendant the
benefit of that in his plea. Man.
slaughter may be punished from
cigl; years down. Gould there be a
more aggravated ease of manslau"h-
ter than this2 If the time of punish
mcnt is to be fixed and graded, as il
were. by degrees of aggravation, this
must be an offence of the highest
grade. and requires the highest pun
ishmcnt inflicted. 1t may be said that
he was intoxicated, and that he is not
responsible: and yet that does not re-
lease him from the requirements of
the law for the protection of others
and in this aggravated case it would
be my duty to say that such punish-
ment should be inflicted. If the
court says otherwise, Of course j ac-
quiescc. But ] cannot sit still and
say nothing. The court cannot con-
slider that nobody is interested but
the young man; ii so he might be
spared seycrcr punishment than
will he given; but the public, the
community, the people are interested.
Punishment is nccessary-sucha as will
deter others from the commission Of
crime. Ii is necessary for the protec-
ton Of community and to keep others
from going in the way thai young
Booz has gone.
II Is not rs punishment to the
young man. but that il may be a ter
ror TO Others I: if il is not, others will
become Indifferent and commit crime
under like circumstances. 1t is nee
cssary, not only thai crime may not
be pcrpctratcd. but that these men
will be deferred from putting them
selves in such condition in which
they will commit deeds of violence.
they would not otherwise do: this
community here is interested--it is
somewhat of a local character-we
have men flooding this town, men
flooding the streets with intcmper-
ancc saloons pouring forth this lava
over the community all the time: ir-
responsible men. transient men.
| thieves and robbers come in here and
commit crimes and there is nothing
to deter others. and hence the COM
munity is unprotected. This is fair
view OF the ease. II there are no ter
rors in the law, there will be more
crime. l wish it could he avoid
ed for his friends sake, but the
protection of the community de-
mands il, and yet il may be that
this young man will be the greatest
gamer of all the people who are con-
corncd in this unfortunate transaction
and il may be wen to take him away
from these evil surroundings where
he may learn better habits--awaN
from the haunts of vice, and establish
character for the future for tenn
peranrr. and good. and ifi+iat should
hc the result, the time will be Well
spent. II might be that two years
Woull do as well ms riohf so far as he