The Portland daily press., 1886-05-21
JAEHNE SENTENCED.
The New York Alderman ins Court
Yesterday.
He Gets Nine Years and Ten Months
In the State Prison.
Jaehne to be Taken to Sing Sing To-
Day,


and Terminer was filed this morning with
large crowd of spectators anxious to hear
Judge Barrett pronounce sentence upon AL
derman Henry W. Jaehne, who was convict
ed of bribery in connec tion with the Broad
way railroad franchise. Jaehne was in at
tendance, guarded by deputy sheriff. His
face was pale and his eyes had weary look
After the Judge had taken his seat the dis
trict attorney moved for sentence to be pass
ed on the prisoner. Gen. Pryor, of Jaehn s
counsel, made a motion for an arrest OF Judg-
ment on the following grounds: 1st, that the
Indictment was insufficient In substance; "a,
that the count in the indictment upon which
the verdict was returned is insufficient to
sustain the verdict; and Sd, that because IN
law there can be no Judgment upon the in
dictment and verdict Counsel moved Tor
new trial upon two grounds; 1st, mlsdlrec-
tion Of the jury. in matters OF law, and "a, be,
cause the verdict was contrary to law and
against the evidence. The motions were both
denied by Judge Barrett. The counsel then
took an exception to the denial of each mo
ton. Jaehne then stood up for sentence, and
in reply to the usual questions of the clerk,
gave his age as Sc years and his residence as
43 Vandam street. He said also that he had
learned the jewelry trade. He was asked
what he had to say why judgment should not
be pronounced against him according to law.
he Uldut uU ISply, UuL htDb ulo eyes uAeA
upon the rail in front of him. Judge Barrett
then sentenced the prisoner to nine years and
ten months in state prison. He said the pris-
oner had been convicted after fair trial,
that he had had every advantage that de-
fendant could have, and able counsel. he
had the services of two OF the most eminent
members of the bar, one veteran OF the
criminal bar, noted for his power and force,
and another gentleman of equal power and
force, whose services were ever at the com,
mand of the poor, unfortunate and oppressed
in this and other lands. The case was sad
one 1t was humiliating spectacle that a
man who was selected to public office in this
city should have SO heinously betrayed his
trust as the prisoner had.
1t was humiliating the people of the city,
State and country that such spectacle
should be presented in free government as
a person betraying his trust as the prisoner
had. 1t was sad to see man with the prlS-
oner's advantages in the position in which
he now was. Il could not be unmoyed at
the spectacle of your weeping wife and brok-
en- hearted mother, but the saddest thing OF
all about your case is the doubt which per-
yaded many good and honest minds OF your
conviction. There was not doubt of your
guilt 1t was universally conceded when the
evidence was in that the case against you
was clear, convincing and overwhelming.
There was no doubt of your guilt, but there
was doubt concerning the possibility OF
convicting you. The doubt arose because
people had not sufficient faith in their COM
mon laws, because they feared that crime
would in the end triumph over virtue. 1t
was, too. doubt of our jury system. OF the
zeal of our public prosecutor and of the fldel-
ity of the detective branch Of our police. .Ey-
cry good citizen should rejoice that all these
doubts have been dispelled, and the lesson it
teaches is good one. 1t teaches us TO be-
lieve in the probity and fidelity of our po-
lice, in the efficiency and impartiality of our
laws and in the greatest OF our Institutions.
We are also taught that to be great people
we must not destroy but support it. You
have only had faith in the supremacy of evil
and in the impossibility of working out good
results, and you have fathered and sustained
the very crime of which you have been found
guilty. The faith that you and those like
you have endeavored to trample in the mud
of corruption rises triumphant over you,
while you have fallen disgraced and dishon-
ored man. The faith in evil will now give
way. to that better and higher faith, that
good must triumph in the. end:
Tweed, whose power was greater than ever
yours was? Have you forgotten the convic-
ton of Genet, and of Sergeant Crowley, and
OF Fish and Ward or are only the mlscar-
riages of justice to be remembered? The les
son is there. The people are not, as you and
those like you have thought, honeycombed
through with corruption. There is hope of
better things, and the people willin the fu-
ture have more faith. You and such as you
not only doubt the efficacy of the law and
believe solely in corruption to prevent and
obstruct the law, but you sneer at every hon.
est effort to bring about a better state of
things. The two notoriously honest men OF
your board were sneered at as dudes. Their
refusal to do as you did was cheap bun
combe. In addition to that, you must in
struct your counsel to say that it was person
al ambition and personal aggrandizement; !;
that our worthy Sheriff refused an offer of a
bribe because he wanted to be Sheriff, and
that honorable Mr.. O'Connor refused it be-
cause he wanted to be Governor. Every as
piration for better things you said was an
aspiration for personal aggrandizement and
personal advantage. There is nothing so
contemplate to you as man who seeks to
reform abuses. The lesson of the day is that
the yipers who hold such sentiments had bet
ter hide their heads so that honest men may
breathe more freely and that they may know
that the majority of the people hold their
honor above price, Nothing remains for me
to do but to pass. the sentence of the court.
| have conscientiously consulted my whole
conscience and mind to see if there was any
possibility OF mercy in your case. | have
been asked to be merciful. l am not un-
mindful of Woman'S tears or of any consider
alton which could properly bring about pre- p
er mercy, but there is none. Ii ever there
was case where something like the maxi
mum punishment of the law should be infiict-
ed, it is truly here. This was not only not a
technical bribery, but it was substantial
DrlDery-an enormous sum OF money palu TO
man for the purpose of influencing him
with respect to a stupendous transaction. 1t
was no trivial matter. 1t was one of the
most extreme cases of bribery 1t is one of
those cases for which the law provides the
maximum punishment. | would have you
believe that although we feel it our duty to
impose the maximum punishment for all that
we have no desire that YOU pshould be treated
in any different way from any other prison.
err
The court said he would give the prisoner
day to procure, if his counsel could get a
stay of proceedings, which would keep him
in the City Prison until an appeal was heard.
Lawyer Newcombe, on aff1dayits made by
himself and Jaehne containing the legal
points raised during the trial and the excep-
tions taken, secured from Judge Daniels a
temporary stay of proceedings and an order
to show cause why the stay should not be
made permanent pending appeal Argument
will be heard at O'Clock this afternoon.
Jaehne is in the custody of the Warden,
who assigned him to Cell No. II on the sec
ond tier. According to the remission made
for good conduct he will actually have to
serve six years and four months.
[LATER.l
The application for stay of the execution
of judgment in the Jaehne bribery case was
argued before Judge Daniels in the supreme
court this afternoon, but the motion for a