The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-04-25
Prohibition.
SENTENCE or sALooY-EEEPEFe--A ktNARs
ABLE Address.

0If INA T. Of oa aLOON-h EEI EfE-1 kthAkb
ABLE Address.
Hon. N. NJ. Hubbard, district fudge Of
the eighth judicial district of lowe, il
passing a sentence upon some liquor deal
ers for violation Of the prohibitory laws
Of the state, said
While there are greater crimes known
to the law which are punishable with
great severity, there are none which in.
volve more of those qualities known as
despicable meanness and audacity than
the selling of intoxicating liquors.
There is something in the taking of
human life by violene SO instantaneous
that it shocks and terrifes the miDds,Qt
all, and yet we look upon the man who
takes human life quite as surely, but by
q slow, lingering prooess-if not without
condemnation, at least not with horror
You who stand before the court for sen.
tence are in every moral sense murderers,
and you are within the spirit, if not the
lester, guilty Of manslaughter for the
law SAYS that whoever accelerates the
death Of human besg unlawfully is
guilty OF the crime. Your bloated vic.
tins upon the witness stand, and who uu
doubtedly committed pe:jury to screen
you from the law, not only abundanty
testify that ysu are acceleratiug death,
but that you are inducing men to commit
still greater crimes than your own.
You still maintain the appearance OF
respectability, but how morally leprous
and ,crofulous you are inwardly, the ruin.
poverty and ideness which you are in.
licting upon the community declae as
from the house.top,. Yeu are living in
idlcness and eating the bread Of orphans,
watered with widows tears. You are
stealthily killing your victims and muir.
deriDg the peace and industry Of the com.
muity, and thereby converting happy,
industrious home, into misery, thriffless
poverty and rags You arc sowing the
seeds of ignorance, idleness and want
among the generation. to come.
Anxious wives and mothers watch and
pray in tears nightly with desolate hearts
for the coming home Of your victims
whom You are Turing with the wiles and
smile, Of the devil into midnight debauch.
cry.
10 hue, one can have no adequate con-
ceptUn of cataract until he has saep
Niagara, nor Of the terrible fury aud
grandeur Of a storm in mid.ocean until
he has witnessed one, so no one can know
the utter degradation and total depravity
to which his species can be brought until
he looks upon the desola:c ruin caused by
your hellish traffic.
You are persistent, defiant law break
ers, and shamelessly boast that h defiance
of the law and moral sense ot the com
munity you will continue in your wiaed
and criminal practices.
1t has therefore now become the imper-
ative duty of ibis court to let fall upon
you so heavily the aSm Of the law that
you shall either be driven from your ne
farious traffic, or ruined in your fortune
or wicked prosperity. You have become
stencil to the noskils of the community
and all good men are praying that you
be speedily reformed or summarily les-
troyed. BY the providence + God aud
the favor of His court these prayers shall
be speedily answered by sigpal and exact
justice hr your crimes. This court will
feel proud satisfaction in taking from
you by law your ill.gotten gains and Civ.
ing it to the common school fund Of this
county, where, let US hope, it will assist
in educating the rising youth to shua
your vices and wicked practices.
And, finally, let me entreat YOU, if yos
are not lost to every sentiment Of human
ity, to desist from your criminal vagabonl
traffic and betake yourself to some hdhest
calling for livelihood aud you may yet
become virtuous, useful citizens, and en-
titled to the respect of a Christian com
munity while if you persist in this way
your own ruin is certain, and you will
receive, as yon deserve, the exeeraton Of
mankind
You may think that the sentence OF
the court is harsh and unjustly severe,
but the court assures you that, compared
with your crimes and the desolation you
have already brought upon the commu'
nifty, it is mild in the extreme.