Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-08-28

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fer . CsmDutasion - Sentsaee
The Governor and Council gave . hearing
Yesterday forenoon. to the petitioners askins
for . communication of sentence for Oscar E
Blaney- in State Prison under sentence o.
death for the murder of Thomas E. Barrows
in Kittery, November Is. 1888. Mrs. Bar,
rows, wife of the murdered man, was also
convicted of the murder with Blaney.
Franklin W. Blaney, whose adopted con
Oscar is, was in the Executive Chamber, and
closely watched the proceedings. Geo. C.
Yeaton. Esq of So. Berwick appeared for
Blaney. and Attorney General Baker aud
County Attorney Higgins for the Govern
ment. This case was presented to the
last Council in an exhaustive manner. and
by them was referred TO their successors.
Mr Yeaton, in opening for his client, first
touched upon the imbecility plea. He said
Oscar Blaney was eongenitally weak willed,
10 an extent that he was not who'll
" sane-as doctor would SPEAK.
We do not take the position that
he was sufficiently weak minded to warrant
acquittal. The facts are these: His father
was a marine in the Kittery Navy Yard, q
brutal man and a sot. He was erratic and
eccentric in his behavior, and was finally dis
charged from the service. wandered away
and died within year or two, which facts
support by affiiavits The mother of Blaney
died of alcoholism within three wears of the
birth of Oscar. The second ground OF Mr..
Yeaton, and his most telling point, rested upon
pure and simple principles of law, he said ::
II W. fbaf hav tfal Fra To- md
fully in regard to the commission of the
crime and convicted Mrs. Barrows he was by
aiding the State entitled By all principles of
law to mitigation of sentence or even pardon.
A large number of authorities were cited
to show this Mr. Yeaton read a communi-
cation from Ex-Attorney General Cleaves
to the Governor in connection with the
Blaney case, in which Mr.. Cleaves stated that
in a case similar to that of Mr. Blaneys,
where an accomplice in crime is employed as
witness BY the government to convict
another. and makes a clean breast of his own
crime, he is entitled to a mitigation OF sentence
or pardon for his crime. Blaney testified OF his
own accord, and knowing that he was not
obliged to act as witness against Mrs. Bar
rows. Under these circumstances
deem it my duty to recommend
Executive clemency in this case.
County Attorney Higgins,In opening for the
State, said At the time of the murder of Mr..
Barrows. some ten days had elapsed before
the authorities took any action. The first
intimation which the authorities had in rela-
ton to the preparation of the crime was from
Mrs. Barrows herself, and not until she had
spoken did Blaney open his mouth. Blaney
was used as witness by the State freely.
contend that the ground of the learned coun-
sci who has just spoken is the old one of
approvement-which does not prevail in this
State In the case of the Italians at Bangor,
each testified against the other, yet they have
suffered for their bloody work, and why
should not Blaney? Oscar acted conscien-
sciously, believing that the only atonement
which he could make for his crime was to
confess the whole.
Franklin w. Blauey. being called .testi fied ::
reside in Kittery. having lived there 60
years. l adopted Oscar E Blaney when he
WAS baby. Oscar was an excellent boy,
always ready to do all asked him, and he
never gave me an uncivil word in his life
My wife just before she died called me to
her bedside and asked me to give him all nv
property He would often sit down and cry
just before the murder. | did not
know that anything like the shooting was oc-
curing If | had, L could soon have stopped
it. Mrs. Barrows came to my house one
Sunday morning and Oscar appearing, she
said, Oscar are you going to marry Martha?"
Oscar then went into the sitting room and
cried Before the woman left the house, she
said she would have revenge on Oscar, and
told her she had better be careful what she
said about nv bow.
Attorney General Baker reviewed at
some length the reasons given by Mr..
Yeaton why Blaney should have his sem
tence committed. He said In regard to
mental unsoundness do not apprehend that
that plan will bear much weight here.
weakness of the mind would have been taken
int account at the trial and if he had been
sufficiently imbecie to warrant 1t a verdict %
acquittal should have been rendered. | do
not think commutation of sentence can
reasonably be granted on this ground. NV
learned friend asserts that Blaney has claims
upon the clemencv of this Honorable Body, by
reason of the evidence which he gave for the
State.
The Attorney General here cited the au-
thorities referred to by Mr.. Yeatou. The
court, he held. could in the Blsney case have
lawfully suspended proceedings at the begin
ming or later on had he deemed the prisoner
entitled to such action. yet the court did not
move in the matter. Mr.. Baker further stated
that the Attorney General has the right to
decline to institute proceedings against an
accomplice or, after comm encement, to drop
them, yet in a full knowledge of this Mr.
Clesves declined to use his power, st a time
when he had the interest of the State in his
case. What can the Honorable Council do
now when asked to commute Baney's SEN
tence?
MIR. Yeaton again took up the thread of
his argument and elaborated. After referring
again to the plea of imbecility he returned to
Blaney's rights as a witness for the State
There is a moral duty recognized to reward
those who have rendered it a service. There
is not a case since the Stuarts of England
when man who has testified for the State
has been executed. Because one attorney
general and court in other States suspended
proceedings against a prisoner there is no
reason why it should be done in Maine.
The hearing lasted from o'clock A. NJ.
until noon.
The Council toek NJ final action on the
matter. yesterday, but postponed it until the
next session which occurs the 2lst of Sept.