Daily Republican., 1883-05-10
THE PENALTY OF CRIME.
HORSE THIEF 9ECEl VES A
sEyERE SENTENCE- -OCMER
CASES TRIED.

Of IL \
i; Iic,ed for the larceny of a horse from
p,udolph Peters, was resumed.
Alexander B. Cooper, EsI,, appeare,
s,r the State, but the prisoner was no
represented
resides in this county, and on the nigh
of thel fourth Of May some one enter
od his stable and stole horse wortl
slD, He started in search Of th'
animal, and from information whicl
he received went to Mr.. testers y
where he found the prisoner and til {
horse.
william Peters cOrroboratel the ties
hmouy of the preceding witness.
lanes \. Jester testified that las
Saturday, morning the prisoner came Il
him in Delaware City with the horse
vlirn he wanted to sell. He told tn,
w,,ucss that he had owned the hors.
over a year; hat it had p eviously he
onppd 10 his brother who died. The
r,isonrr wanted S22.G0 for the horse
In, said he would take $1,000, and til,
wi;Lcss srI.pi,ioning something wrong
gave him check which he could not
draw for several days.
shortly after, the witness was handed
F dispatch stating that II horse answer
iup ihr description of the one he had
h,lgllt had been stolen. He then
rsue 10 New Castle and saw Mr.. Peters
saw the prisoner afterwards, and he said
that he had obtained possession Of the
horse that morning. Mr.. Peters idenli-
Hpl the horse as his property, and had
| Mason arrested.
The nri ,oncr called Clerk Cochran
and another witness TO the stand to
prove his character, but neither seemed
10 know much about him for the past
year or SO. They both testified that
some years ago Tom bore a good charac-
ter, and was an industrious man.
Mason made a loug and rambling adj
dress TO the jury, denying the charge
and asserting that he was given the
horse to II by another man.
The Chief Justice charged the jury
that testimony Of character was very
valuable, where there was no positive
testimony to establish the guilt of the
prisoner but in this case they had heard
the evidence and must be governed ac-
corlingly. The case was submitted to
the jury, and after an absence of few
minutes they returned with verdict Of
guilty.
The Court sentenced him to pay the
costs OF prosecution, $3.50 restitution
money, il fine Of 500, be imprisoned two
years, and on next Saturday stand one
hour III the pillory, and receive 20
ashes.
When the scutence was pronounced,
the prisoner rose to his feet and said,
."What do you want to send me to
prison for? Ion didn't prove that
No- the horse" The Chief Justice
ookrd at him a moment and then said,
S4rrlii, he !, committed to your
charge, and that official removed him
frH HE room.
I,allh lavlor, las Bricc, colored, was
paced on trial on AN indictment charg-
j : him with the larceny of about 800
poNnos ., meat from Adele Hopkins, Of
Mi, C',e Hundred
AttIorucy General Gray appeared for
lie state, and l.. G. N.,nleIrlit, Ed,
for the II, truse. Abcic liopkinsaili,m-
rI that his Smoke-hO VAS broken
into and robbed of a quantity Of bacon
ami beet about the 81 OF March. The
smoke -housc was about twenty yards
from the dwelling, and was entered by
CpaNIng off he lock.
William Adams, cOlorcd, testified
that he /, acquainted with the prisoner
OIL the night Of the robbery he met him
and another rolorcd man named George
Washington in a wagon on the road be-
tween Newark and Kimbleville. He
asked them where they were going, and
they said to Hopkins To get some meat.
This was after II o'clock at night, and
'nc witness got III The va on and rode ii
short distance with them. The wit
ness was afterwrrd arrested for stealing
the meat, and told all he knew about it.
John a. Hopkins affirmed, and icStl-
,rl that he is II son Of ADtle Hopkins,
and arrested the prisoner the next sun
lay after the meat was stolen. Searched
Iaylor's house, bat did not find any
meat afterwards searched Browns
lon,e, and found the meat which he
,nd Taylor had broaght there and sold
% him.
When he arrested Taylor, he said eff
!Ou can prove other things, you cannot
prove where got the horse and
wagon"
The State closed with this witness,
and Mr.. VAndegritt opened for the de-
icfse
Samuel Brice, colored, sworn,a and tes-
iIti,l tl,,t hn ,i,,ht hA tuanf
.en Isaiah Taylor was not out OF the
house. The prisoner is his brother,
and that evening he was at home read
Ing the Bible, and went to bed about ~
o'clock. he could not have gone out
during the night without the witness
hearing him.
The witness was cruSS-eXamlncd by
Mr.. Gray, but he did not vary much
from his direct testimony.
Annie Bricc, cOlOreL, testified that
She is the wife Of the preceding Wit
hess. She had bought two Bibles from
man who came to the house, and on
HE evening IN question the prisoner
md her husband were reading the l'i-
bIeS until half past ten o'clock. Her
'"stlmony was corr"horatrd by an"!hrr
witness, whJ PASSED the nigh, III lil'
house OF the prisoner.
Mr.. Nandrgrltt closed for the defense,
ind Contendtd there was but one man
who testified that he had taken the
neat, and as he was implicated, 1t was
'easonable to suppose that he would
estiy to anything to save himself. The
letens had proved by three witnesses
where the prisoner was the night the
meat was taken, and they all agreed
nat he was at home reading the Bible.
He was followed by Mr.. Gray, who
said that where there was posi1ir"
it was customary practice
II the defense to eudeavor to establish
Al a!ibi. The witnesses may hav,
sworn 1ruthtully about the prisoner and
his brother reading the Bible together
ne evening, but in his opinion II
vas some other evening it was
very easy for these people to become
on1llSeu about the time. Mr.. Gray
'I"sed by asking for II verdict "i
guilty.
rnr jury was charged by the Chief
Justice and retired at g.. o'clock, amt
rturned in fifteen minutes with IL Ner-