Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-05-23

1sANCASrER, PA, May %, 1880.
sheileabereer,s Sentence.

S Judge Ierkee reJecteu the appeal OF
{ ehellenberger's counsel that he should
temper justice with mercy, and an
slAouncsd that he could see nothing in
= defendant's crimes calling for mercy
their punishment that he had con-
1nued them through many years, while
- had been an attorney practising In
That court, and even, perhaps, while he
AAd bsen the prosecuting attorney of
The commonwealth, seeking the con-
demnation and punishment of men no
more guilty than himself. Judge Yerkes
ouncluded that, with the constant warn
ing against crime presented to him,
he had no excuse or palliation to
0der for falling into IL himself.
4 AL OF which seems to Ike true and yet
~, do not think that the Judge did well
70 impose upon the confessed and we'll
/ warned criminal the punishment of life
3 imprisonment. We do not think that
Ire law contemplated so heavy pun
! tnhment for this class of ofienses,
though it may be visited upon re-
! peated commission of them.
We do not approve Judge Yerkes'
severity, because we do not think that
pnnishment should initiate crime in
brutality. The judge desired to mark
his sense of the Nervousness of the ofiense
and to make an example of this
notorious offender. But he overshot the
mark In giving punishment which
there Is fair reason to suspect as vindic-
tive and to condemn us brutal.
To man who has lived in
luxury, as this man has. Any imprison-
ment is a severe punishment; and to one
who has had such position and aspira-
lions, imprisonment for life is far worse
7 than death. Half of twenty-five years
would have been up to the high water
mark Of penalty so far meted out to this
4 class offenders; and Judge Yerkes, when
he set out to make an example Of Shell
lcnberger, who but yesterday was a shin
ing light in his community and an hon
!. Ored guest In his own and every house
hold, did what he could towards defeat
{ ing his own object and drowning the
memory Of the convict's ofienses in sym
Il pathy for him In his overwhelming pun
ishment. And Furthermore, he imposed
4 sentence which every mans sense
tells him will not stand long before
half OF the term has gone, Shellenberger
Will be psrdoned, as he ought to be.
h We believe In the punishment of the
I law. We believe that it should be made
& nute and speedy; but we see no sense in
k3mposing a heavy sentence for a first
3pne; and we revolt against life SON
Bnce for first conviction. The law
loos not contemplate 1t and reason does
not sanction it,any more than humanity
xexcuses 1t. This man, doubtless, had
many warnings and was deliber-
atc criminel; but he never before
hAd been under accusation or sus-
I picion. He stood high among his fel-
lows, Whose carelessness and stupid
!, ~ gave him opportunity for his
4 Ohenses. He seems to have been as
weak IN character as he was popular in
/ nAnnes. His fellows accepted him at
I his own rating and stamped his dross us
pure gold. He had not the calibre they
attributed to him or the money or the
capacity to earn it with which they
Z credited him. He found that their
favor gave him opportunity to get their
4 money and he freely availed himself of
4 it and took advantage of their conf
dence. The crime was his, but not all
The fault. II they had been more care
fni they would not have lost their
/ money.
Z 6hellenberger was confidence man,
0f the type with which the world
abounds, who are sometimes punished
and oftener 60 free. He is of the class
Of men who seized upon the American
Life Insurance company in Philadel-
phia, to build upon it other structures
through which they could get flies into
their net and money into their Golfers (;
though he ia not so guilty as they nor
half 90 worthy of life imprisonment.
But he gave the Montgomery coma
@unity cause to suspect that t6Hy,-
n0fl flassls.r apd this is an ofiepyHAyAN
brought MaiY w" ps1 y haf Of IL
i gomery's avenging justice. It does not
do to notify men that they are dolts.
II makes them savage and when their
teeth strike in they tear the heart out.