Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-12-22
Lewis AlmOn Meaker.

The doors Of the prison at Windsor have
closed upon this unfortunate young man.
That he should forevermore be restrained
of his liberty by bolts and bars there can
be no question. That he should, on the
second Friday of February, 1883, suffer the
extreme penalty which the law has pro-
nounced for the offense of which he is con-
fessedly guilty. in the light of present de.
velopments admits of many doubts There
are many circumstances connected with the
inception and commission Of that dark deed
that shocked and stirred this community
last April which lie locked within his guilty
knowledge. He has told many things which
the testimony of individuals and of circum.
stances conclusively verifes. The things
he refuses to tell are only secondary in inn
portance and interest to the facts he has dis
closed. No persuasion of court or counsel,
or those who have humane interest in him,
has thus far avaied to unseal his lips. The
inference to be drawn from his refusal to
speak is not entirely ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
he could disclose would give additional
force, If, indeed, that were possible, to the
against his mother. Having already, voluu-
tarily, placed himself under the ban of the
EXTREMIST penalty for the highest crime in
the penal code, it is hardly presumable that
any consideration of self seals his lips.
What he might say affects other parties.
In the eye of the law his confessions can
not seal or suspend the fate of his mother.
She was, beyond reasonable doubt the
great overmastering principal in the murder
of a defenceless, friendless, little girl. 1t is
difficult to imagine on what ground she can
be released from the execution of the sem
tence which legal technicalities have tenn
porarily stayed. Under ordinary circum-
stances, her sex might be her shield
Cruelty to children always sharply pricks
the popular heart. The brutal murder, by
most infamous methods of an innocent
girl of tender years is a crime against which
the dullest human sympathies cry out. In
the commission of crime like this, that
which, under other circumstances, might eff
fectively appeal for the mitigation of the
penalty the revered sex of woman, seems
strongly to demand the irrevocable and mer-
CHESS execution of the law. 1t is evident,
so far as light has been shed on this dark
transaction, that Almon Meaker acted en-
tirely a secondary part in the commission of
this great crime. His dull moral sense and
weaker will were dominated by the stronger
mind and satanic impulses of his mother.
The former, having hopelessly compromised
mis- chances for defense, pleaded guilty to
murder in the first degree to give his mother
whatever legal advantage she might gain
from an act that involved no sacrifice on
his part. The latter, after an exhaustive |
trial before an impartial jury, was found |
guilty of murder in the first degree, and all
the people said amen. As the relations of |
these convicted parties to the crime in |
which they jointly participated appear to-
day, it seems clear that substantial Justice |
will be done by the execution of the princi-
pal criminal, and by committing to imprison-
ment for life the sentence of death pro-
nounced against Almon Meaker. We be-
lieve that his case is so strongly marked by |
circumstances, that dangerous
precedent would not be established by the |
exercise of executive clemency, and we be-
lieve communication would meet the approval
Of an impartial public.