The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-12-03
THE TRANSGRESSOR'S WAY.
Sentence Passed Upon the Gang of
Pike County Counterfeiters.
Their Leaders Appeal for the Mercy of the
C~ourt-COmer Gets Eight Years and
the HOuchins Boys Seven Each.

II btuttHNtS OI lue southern tlttiltHt COuuttI-
feiters were fix ed by Judge Woods ON Saturday
afternoon. The prise ners were brought into
court in a body, and. before announcing the sen
fences of any of them, they were each given
an opportunity to speak. Richard T. Conner,
the manufacturer of the counterfeit, when
asked If he had anything to say. drew from his
pocket a written statement, a somewhat re-
markable document, which he read. Ii was as
follows:
Your HOnOr-I have this to say, that all may
comprehend. L was born in Kentucky In 1889,
OF respectable and worthy parents-lived strict
" an honest life twenty-four years. Judge,
have been an honest man thirty-five years.
Crookedness is not hereditary with me. I have
que respect FOR all that is honest. l scorn the
unstable, lying creature. know that my nature
is not brlmful OF corruption; that [ have been
OF worth to civilization. and no great detrimept.
Wthln the last three years | made q departure
from rectttude; yes, engaged in that Illegal and
most dangerous ira tfie-cOunterfelting. I am
Appreciated, arraigned and asked what I have
TO say. l can only say thai / am a married man,
ana nave been since Jan. 10, 1882; that we lived
seven months on the place arrested, following
gardening, watering cattle and making specie;
not away from home one whole Gay during that
time; our happiness would have been complete
hut for that mental fear all have when ~violators
OF law. / knew my wife when a small child,
lived within two miles of my fathers place. Her
rather was a Free Mason, her mother a Christian
lady. | was respected then by her, and will be
until the earth closes us out from the gaze OF
mortal man. She is nearly innocent, near unto
a tue CHRISTIAN. | know that she Is all that
constitutes a noble wife: | see no imperfectiOn
in her; she Is perfection, Gods own child. I
pray YOU have compassion on her. Judge. I
nave been a very quiet mai for twelve years; my
only ofense is of the nature you see. I have gone
Oack to reculJude, and endeavored 10 undo ana
set 10 right all the wrong / have done. The
UnltedStates authorities, in a measure, will GER
tainly vOuch for the authenticity of what | say.
have been frank and honest with all, since my
arrest, and expect tO be as long as lite. | have
found the bt brotherhood in crime wicked and cor
fupE In the extreme. nv worst enemies. / have
turned from corruptlon-I embark no more in
unlawful enterprises, Your Honor, / am forty
eight years old, and know that by natures laws
l soon must depart this life. | am a weakly
man. My race is nearly run. Judge, give me a
cnahce 70 JOIN my wife at as early a period as
you can find in your breast, that [ may have a
little happiness in my declining years, among
the righteous and the good, far away from all
vile contamination Task, in tho lame OF the
creator, THAT You have compassion on US. L
submit"
The other prisoners each addressed the court
briefly, asking mercy, and claiming that,
although guilty, they were not aware of the
real gravity of their offense. The HOuchins
brothers, Columbus and Jesse, pleaded
for mercy on account Of their families,
who would be left to the charity Of the world.
Zimri Kinder addressed the court at greater
length than any of the other prisoner. His
life he said had been one of hardship from
earliest infancy. When he was n small child,
his father had been forced 10 leave the country
because he was "a cOunterfeiter. and his mother
was left with a large family dependent
upon her. He claimed that in
his operations as u counterfeiter, he had not
made it a business, and in passing the coin he
had never spent il anywhere except at dances
ana picuics. Ho asked the court to consider the
conditions under which he had grown up, and
he pleaded for mercy especially on account of
his wife, who had tried to persuade him to live
as he ought and who would he left with a family
of children without any means of support. the
only prisoner who made no statement was VIM.
Grussman.
r., "a. l. i -.
that he had been Impressed throughout the trial
by the evidences of the GENERALIZATION of the
community in which the prisoners lived. The
people seemed TO have become so much Injured
TO the criminal influences with which they had
long been surrounded that they seemed to have
no realization of their generalization. This had
been evinced in the testimony of the witnesses
throughout the trial. In Furnishing the men
who had been the cause of this evll the effect
which 1t woulG have upon society was a matter
to be considered. The crime was more demOral-
izing than thieving or robbery; in fact. it EN-
braced both. The sentence of John B. Smittens
he fixed at three months tmprisOnment in the
Pike county jail, because he believed
than the other prisoners. William Gross
drawn INTO the business, was sentenced to six
months imprisonment IN jhiL In consideration
of the fact that Joseph Perkins was nearly
blind, and was yet young, tue judge stated that
he was disposed 20 be eSpecia lly mercIful to
hun also ana ms sentence was made nine
months in Jail. David Wesley Wood, the evil
dence showed, had belonged to a respectable
family, and from the character of the man the
judg 70 believed that he could yet be reclaimed. His
sentence was fixed ut three Years Imprisonment
in he Northern peniSentiary. Ximu Kinder had
been engaged in counterieiting for years, and,
as the evidence showed, had learned the bust
ness from his parents. Az TO his wife and chill
dren, the Judge said he could shed tears with
the prisoner over Them. Tempering mercy with
Justice he stated that he would fix the term of
kinder's Imprisonment In the penitentiary at
five wears. In the ease of the Hnuchins brothers
the Judge said thai he had at first been disposed
TO make some difference. Columbus, it WAS
shown. was a man who often got drunk,
and was very dangerous. while Jesse was very |
temperate in his habits. Both, however, seemed
to be about equally involved in crime, aud he
had decided 10 make no difference between |
them. Their sentence would be each seven
years III the NOrthen PenitentiaFy. In the case
of Conner, the manufacturer of the spurious
coin. the Judge said that he had at first decided
10 give him the full limit Of the law, but, in con-
sideratiOn of the fact that he had given
the government officials considerable in
regarding tue operations of counter !
felter in other states and had saved the trouble
and expense of "a trial by pleading guilty, he
would deal more mercifullY with The prisoner. |
His sentence would be eight years imprison-
menJ in the peuitenUiary. Conner and his wife
had been sitting close together, with their hands
and when the sentence of "eight years
imprisonment" was pronounced the woman
threw her arms around her husband and cried
III each case a fine of 81 and costs
sentencing the woman until this week.
The Morton Monument.