The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1893-02-10
SENTENCED.
Continued from fourth page.

Continued from fourth page.
and in this case feel that it does not,
though the crime committed was bru-
tai and atrocious.
/ fear no criticism only that | am
too humane. This charge in italics
of the most conspicuous kind | want
preferred against me at the final judg-
ment. I have certified on the record
the reasons for the action / shall
take in this case.
And in this case [ see no reason why
the court should ever interfere with
the punishment.
THE SENTENCE.
Judge Severance then pronounced
Z the following sentence upon the prl-
soner, who had during the time been
standing with downcast eyes:
You, Frank Giefer, stand convicted
, by the verdict of the jury of the
crime of murder in the first degree as
charged i'll the indictment, and 1t is
here considered and adjudged by the
court and the sentence and Judgment
! of the court is, that you, FRANK
Giefer, for the crime OF murder In
convicted, be punished by cOnf1ne-
ment at hard labor in our states
prison at Saltwater, in the state of
Minnesota for and during the period
ofyour natural life"
Giefer was then taken back to Jail.
Before pronouncing sentence, Judge
Severance made the following certifi-
cate. which was entered upon the
records, by the gentlemanly and
efficient Clerk of Court, Stephen
ThOrne;
II hereby certify that in my opinion
that by reason of exceptional clrcum-
stances this case is not one in which
the penalty of death should be i'm
posed. in that there is evidence in the
case tending to show that the crime
was committed under sudden i'm
pulse and passion that was in part
provoked by the deceased, though not
sufficient to reduce the crime from
murder in the first degree.
NJ j. SEVERANCE,
Judge"
I The sentence is generally a disap-
fpointment,aS it is not too much to say
I that nine out of ten people expected
and desired tnat the full penalty of
the law should be imposed, owing to
the peculiar atrociousness of the
s crime and the slight and sordid mo-
tive. There is no doubt in the minds
of but few that the murder was de-
| liberately premeditated, and even
those who are opposed to capital pun
ishment on principle say that II
ever 1t was justified it certainly was
in this case. Others say that if this
imam escapes, with his self-confessed
GUILT upon his head. the death penalty
}mayas well be repealed. Of a large
Z number of people who were heard to
! express their opinion on the sentence
today, no one approved it, and all re-
GREETED that the ordinary sentence
prescribed by law had not been pro-
nounced. 1t is apparent that public
sentiment does not endorse the len
iency Of the court in this instance.
THE CRIME.
The crime for which Frank GiefeI
will spend the remainder of his days
behind prison walls, was committed
on the night of August 18th last
The story has SO often been told that
it is still fresh in the minds of all
The prisoner, being in need of money
waylaid Leonard Roway, a fellow
workman, and slew him in an unfre
quented spot near the brick yarC
where both were employed. He
pounded Roway with hammer unit
the old man,was unconscious, and, al
Giefer supposed, dead, and then rob