The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-12-12
sentences Pronounced upon con-
victs mt December Sessions.
THOMAS JONES AND EDWARD Meyers.

THOMAS JONES AND EDWARD MRYERs. |
JoSEs. --"Your honor, when went over
the river, went over ignorant that | was |
going ona trip OF depreciation | was |
brought away from home by q slick |
tongue, (Reilly's, who got the money and !,
"skipped'D, was innocent, in one sense of
the word, Of this charge that was put |
against me. was never before court with |
any charge of this kind have got n
home, wife and two little children, the |
youngest child only thirteen weeks old +;
and have no more to say, your honor
only to ask the mercy of the court l didn't
know nothing about it until after the deed
was donc--all ask is the mercy Of the
court, can't do no more"
MYERs.-"I have nothing to say, at all,
sir"
CouRT.-(To Jones.) "Do you say that
there was nothing said about the object or
purpose of the visit over the river?"
JONES mot in my presence, sir. This
man (Reilly,) hired me and this gentleman
NhiN1SiS' w ~ o'Ni thtit anu bu1 plbo'
admit that l went over there, had the
money to pay for them, and was doing it,
as thought, honestly and legally, and
didn't know, sir, until after the deed was
done, that was there with this man on
any crime-that is just as true, sir, as ]
stand in this court"
Court. you have each pleaded guilty
to the charge laid in the indictment, and it
was just as well for you to do so, because
you were surrounded by such Gordon of
evidence, such train of facts, that it
would have been utterly impossible
for you to escape from convic-
ton, if you had made no confession.
You crossed the river, and put forth false
pretenses at that time of what the object of
your crossing the river was. According to
| the testimony of the ferryman, you claim
ed that you were going across the river to
gather chestnuts, but you Immediately
| went up to the house of Mr. Shuman, the
man of the house not being at home; and
| there you resorted to false pretenses mani
| testify and, il there had been no conspir-
| acy before that time. it is remarkable that
when one went up to the house and Oh
tanned link of water from Mrs. Shuman,
after little while the other one, as if by
the merest accident, should happen to
come there while the first was there, the
| two well knowing each other, having
crossed the river together for some COM
mon purpose, and that then, when you
talked about buying the pigs, and had got
Mrs. Shuman out away from the house
| trying to catch them, pen them up, that
then you, Jones, should call upon Myers as
a stranger, saying, Stranger, will you
help me ?"- going to show that the whole
thing was prearranged. II there was
nothing in the mind of any of you about a
larceny before that time, you would not
have resorted to those different subter-
fuges, and then Immediately, when it was
ascertained that the third man (who also
accompanied you) had got into the house,
instead of staying to assist the woman that
You had no intention to rob, have started
(when the alarm was given) off in the op-
positc direction, hut acciaently have got.
ten into the woods with you again"
JoNEs.-"No, wasn't near him."
Court. cat any rate, you were together
at Kistler's that same night, so that the as
sociation of the party engaged in this
work continued after what was done over
at Shumans, and if Kistler tells the truth,
there was an admission by some of the
| nortv Of u,h hat nponrraI ha
offense of housebreaking in the daytime is
not so high a crime as that of housebreak.
ing in the nighttime, burglary; but it is
nevertheless a grievous 0ffensc, and has
become so common that, whenever per.
sons convicted of it are brought before the
court, we must, for the purpose of pro.
tectiDg the community, impose sentence
commensurate with the character of the
crime. Now, yon two men did not go in
to the house"
JoNEs.-"No, we did not 90 in"
CoUEr.-"You did not break nor get in
but the man Reilly, that accompanied you
over the river, and who got into the house
{ while you were circling out pretending tc
, look after pigs, did go in, and the circum
stances arc such as to justify the conclu
sion that you were aiding and assisting
him otherwise it seems impossible Gf yol
, were entirely innocenD that, when yol
knew this thing, you should not have pro
, claimed it"
JoNEs.-"Your honor, | was innocent.
a COURT. -"That, when it was announces
. that there was Il man in the house, an,
Mrs. Shuman was running and screaming
. for help, you two able-bodied men shoul,
have sneaked away. That fact is power
fully convincing evidence that you kney
f what Reilly was doing, and we canno
. come to any other conclusions we are sal
j, istied that you are guilty, as you pleaded
The sentence of the court is that you
Thomas Jones and Edward Myers, an
8 each of you, pay II fine of one hundred do
!. lars to tho commonwealth and the costs {
|. prosecution, and that you undergo impr
i onment by separate or solitary confn,
ment at labor in the Eastern Penitentiar
:. for the period of one year and six montl
and that you stand committed till this SCI
tence is complied with. The Sheriff sha
conduct you thither within ten days, and
-, allowed one assistant"
FRANK TAYLOR.
n CoURr.-"You were convicted by Il
verdict Of jury of having, on the occasc
lie of parade in the borough of Berwicl
70 thrown stone which was in fact dea
ly weapon, of that weight and size that,
T. it had hit any person upon the hoa
would have been very likely to produ,
death, perhaps quite as likely as sh
~ " from revolver, and you may consd
~ yourself fortunate that the prosecutor he
was only wounded, and not:killed, by tn
re blow. So tar as appears, you had no pa
n ticular malice towards any one person
We but the parade that was going on was {
r. fensive to you for some reason or 9th,
d. and ragarllnss nf uho pn;rht e,r., ,