The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-01-01

your defense two legal gentlemen OF
high standing and eminent in their pro-
fession--and for the earnest, honorable
and conscientious manner in which they
have performed their duty, this court,
as the representative OF the law, and In
the name OF that Justice which is the
pride and safety of our people, tenders
them its sincere thanks.
Their efforts may have accomplished
nothing practical for you; they have al
least demonstrated that the constiru-
tiOnal guarantee of 4 fair and impartial
trial is not IA glittering generality.
Your trial has resulted, as before
stated, in your conviction. The verdict
is right. Either on account of All old
and frivolous grudge, or for the purpose
of robbing, under the guise of friend
ship, you enticed Thomas Howard,
drunk with liquor, into lonely and Sc
cluded place and then treacherOusly,
cowardIy and brutality murdered him in
cold blood.
1t is for this that the state demands
your life. Why? Not for vengeance!
Punishment for crimes committed ordi-
narily cuntemplates their purpose. To
remedy the wrong done; To reform the
offender; to protect society. No pun
ishment that can be inflicted upon you
can remedy the wrong which you have
done. No judgment or decree which
this court can render can restore TO life,
wife or friends, your victim, Thomas
Howard.
From your conduct aud manner since
the commission of Your offense, this
court is not warranted in experimenting
any reformation in you yet for the sake
of your gray-haired father and mother,
if not for yourself, YOU are earnestly
entreated TO accept the ministratiOns of
those who, in the exercise of their Divine
calling, shall endeayOr TO teach you that
it is not all of life to 1--we, nor all of
death to die.
Your execution will, however, pro-
tect society; primarily against any other
crimes which, living, you might COM
nit; and again from the possible Of
fenses of others, evil disposed, by the
fear of detection and punishment in
spIred by remembrance of your fate.
Your ignOminious life and death will
be a lasting warning. 1t Will teach the
young to honor their father and mother
that their days may be lOng-that to AS
sociate and cCnsort with dlSsolute men
and lewd women Is to forfeit self-re-
spect and to enter the very gates OF hell
itself; and that sooner or later the inev-
liable wages of sin is death.
You will stand up. And now, in ODE
diencc to the mandate of the law il Is
considered adjudged and sentenced by
this court that you be a; once conveyed
to the common jail of Vernon county,
there 10 be kept and safely confined un-
til Wednesday, the 18th day Of july,
1888, and that on said day, between the
hours of ten O'Clock in the forenoon anu
two O'Clock i'm the afternoon, at the said
county of Vernon, you be hanged by
the neck until YOU are dead, and may
God have mercy on your soul.
AFTER THE SENTENCE.
When told 10 arise the prisoner arose
with great deliberatiou and looked
calmly but with an attentivenesS that
was intense at the judg" while the last
words of the sentence were being SOL
emily and Impressively pronounced.
Not muscle quiVered; slight flush rs
of shame mantled his cheek, but his eve
was fixed unquailIngly upon the Judge
of anxiety, of trepidat!"n or fear.
there was no sign. lmmovablc as = rock
and seemingly as impressive, he heard
the stern decree of the court that COR
signed him TO "A terrible and an ignO-
death with a Stoicism that
almost To absolute indiffer-
ence.
Before the words land NAV God have
mercy upon your soui'' had died away
the sheriff was ordered To remove the
prisoner, the vast aSsemDlage dispersed.
and Fox Was conducted al once TO his
cell. What his feelings were could NOT
be judged by his bearing. That they
were gloomy on his way To the cour.
room there can be no sort OF doubt. All
nature seemed 10 conspire To make him
so, if his own conscience did not. Clouds
hung black and ominOuS i'm the sky: a
misty rain made all the aimGS-
phere heavy and fOreboding. Ii were
strange ii he were not depressed. Bat
he took his seat without giving any sign
Of mental agony or perturbation. Calm
" he looked about him, but upon no
lace ia all that vast throng could he read
pity or compassion. There were aen
there and ladies whose sympathies were
but it mattered little To- the |
prisoner. He made neither prayer nor
plant. Friendless. hopeless. but stocial |
as an Indian, he gave neither syn nor |
word of his need of human compassion. |
While his counsel was iaboring TO have |
his sentence postponed and thus secure |
4 new trial OF his case, Fox sat looking |
istlessly out OF the open window upon |
he leaden clouds, reading in their /
'om6re outlines. perhaps, the prophetic |
picture of his own dreadful doom. All +.
his time the gloom was made oppres-
i've by the solemn stiffness all around,
broken only by the melancholy pattering |
If the rain, sObbing piteously outside.
And still the prisoner sat st0lidly. Hun !
ireds OF curious eyes were fixed upon |
him for some sign of weakness. or con-
ritiOR, or fear, but he was apparently /
oil oh sxysNn oE L.