Mexico weekly ledger., 1891-03-12
room, when the sentence was pro
rounced.
THE DEATH SENTENCE.

THE DEATH SENTENCE.
Judge E. W. Terhune, in passing
the death sentence on Johnson.
among other things, said:
"Mr. Johnson, you have been tried
by fair and impartial jury OF your
peers, of your own selection. You
were defended by experienced coun.
sci, and all that human prowess could
suggest was done to avert the terrible
calamity now awaiting you, but of nc
avail, for the evidence was so eonclus-
i've, SO convincing, that you calmly,
deliberately took the life of William
Shumate, when your young wife with
her infant at her breast, was beseech-
ing you to stay your hand, and that
your purpose in committing the crime
was to enable you 10 rob your victim
of his property, that the jury was au-
thorized to assess the full penalty of
the law.
1.-THE evidence showed that Mr.. .Shu-
mate was your benefactor; that he was
endeavoring TO aid you in our misfor-
tunes so you could overcome them and
live the life of an honorable man,
earned by honest labor, but you envied
his property, and took his life SO you
could appropriate his effects to your
own use and live without labor.
"You carried an express package of
money to Mr.. Shumate, believing it to
be 81 900, and then began to plan to
take his life You endeavored to get
others to kill him, proposing to testify,
if suspicion was aroused, that he fell
and broke his neck.
Failing to secure an accomplice, you
made frequent threats to your friends
that you would take the old mans life,
then take his property, because he was
old, with one foot already in the grave,
and in killing him you would be but
shortening his life but a few days.
"Your wife, though faithful to you,
from her own testimony begged you to
desist, prayed you to let the old man
live the few days before him, implored
you to keep your hands spotless from
the blood of a human being.
"Yet, on Sunday night, April 9th,
1890, after Mr.. Shumate has eaten his
supper, pulled Off his coat and shoes,
while he sat by his fireside, reading
his paper, calmly smoking his pipe,
you armed yourself with an axe, and
while Mrs. Johnson was in the kitch-
EN- at her work, just after she had en-
treated you to let him alone, you
stealthily crept up behind your friend,
while he sat, with his long Snowy hair
and beard falling over his shoulders
and breast, and with no word of warn-
ing, you struck him lifeless to the
floor.
"As the body lay there with the last
spark of life ebbing away, as the mus
cles quivered with the last gasp, you
struck him a, .in, splitting his fore
head, so clots of blood and brains ran
to the floor.
"You then took the body, and after
taking everything of value from it,you
carried it on your horse to the woods,
threw it down, then dragged it by the
feet to its final resting place, and left
it to be devoured by vultures that
would feast upon the carcass of him
who was your benefactor.
''Then you compelled your wife to
assist you i'm removing the CORY, clot-
ted mass of blood and brains, and in
concealing all traces of your crime.
You told your neighbors that Mr..
Shumate had gone home Oh a visit,
and on Monday night, while the rain
fell in torrents, while the body lay
uncared for where you left it, to be
destroyed by vermin and vultures,yo
loaded his wagons with his effects,
hitched his horses and mules to them,
and with your wife and babe, fed from
the scene of your crime, carrying its
fruits with you.
"Your motive for this fiendish crime
was to get the money and other proper
ty that Mr.. Shumate had, 50 you could
live without labor"