The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1877-05-02
1Ha pALroa WIFE MURDERER.

! ~ UAl- ~ WIZ = tss~-N
Khnball. the man who murdered his
wife with such horrible cruelty in New
Hampshire a few weeks ago, was tried
and sentenced last week. The Court
assigned as his counsel Ossian Ray
and Irving W. Drew, of the firm OF
Raw, Drew & Jordan. An adjourn
ment was taken for a few hours TO al
low of consultation by his counsel
with the prisoner, and on the reopen
ing of the Court the prisoner made his
reply to the reading of indictment,
equity of murder in the second
degree, and of that only" Attorney
General Tappan, acceped the plea and
aslSad that sentence be passed. The
Clerk then asked the formal question
of the prisoner if he had anything to
say why sentence shouldnot be passed
upon him, and he replied that his
counsel would speak for him. Mr.,
Drew then addressed the court at
some length. He claimed for the
prisoner that he had never been of a
malignant disposition; that he had
served long and honorably and bravely
as a soldier in the war; that he had
while in the service received a gun-shot
wound on the head, the bullet entering
the top part of his head and passing
through into the shoulder that he had
never been man of ordinary intelli-
gence, and that the gun-shot wound
must have impaired the slight degree
of intelligence which his Maker had
bestowed upon him and that since the
wound Intoxicating liquors had had al
unusual effect on his mind. At the
time of the murder, his counsel further
said, his mind was crazed by a free
use of unreduced alcohol with a mix
ture Of saltpeter and laudanum, which
mixture had been prepared as wasl
for a boys broken arm. He also urg
ed with great earnestness the fact tina
the prisoner, after the deed, made II
effort to escape, gave himself up a
once to the officers, and that his ap
pearance and conduct immediately
after his crime would indicate grea
agony of mind. For these reasons h
commended the prisoner to the mere,
of the Court. The Attorney-Genera
replied, urging that the highest sen
tence known to the law, thirty year
confinement at hard labor, should b
imposed. He contended that volunta
~ INVESTIGATION was no excuse. Ih
manner of the murder and the mean
used were most brutal. He chase
his wife from room to room, inflicte
innumerable wounds, using first a cane
then a loaded whip-stocll, and then
goad stick; he dragged the poe
woman, then covered with blood, b
the hair of the head from one room t
another, and he fastened the door wit
hammer so that the poor creatul
vvsll. 4 aiOo -.,~e'PU' M way Or CO,s..,,
for the prisoner, followed, claimin
the sickening details themselves shove
that the respondent was not in h
: right mind. He had always befol
been a peaceable man. The cour
addressing the prisoner, said he coul
' not but look upon the voluntary drinl
; ing Of the poison as an aggravation {
the crime of murder in the second dC
gree. The awful crime was the resu
of the prisoners own voluntary col
, duct, and ifthere was q statute til,
permitted the court to add anythin
for aggravated circumstances,
should add to the thirty years. Il
felt it his duty to impose the highe.
penalty known to the law. According
ly the prisoner was so sentenced.