Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1894-02-25

ceTQeQ Ll6y Cdme 70 hC
consent and without my invitation l
did rot invite them nor give my consent
for them to come and find out whether
I was insane or not. No doubt the mo-
tives Of these men were humane, out IL
was through the connivance OF Jalior
Morris that they got into the jail"
The court room was filled when the
Judge rendered his decision. Prender-
CAST appeared Indifferent for llttle
but as the reading proceeded, appeared
ready 10 make one OF his OLD time
scenes. Prendergast was ordered 10
stand IN during the reading oil the SEN
tence. Judge BrentanO said:
patrick Eugene Prendergrast; IL
rarely falls 10 the lot OF the court 10
discharge so painful duty as devolves
upon IL in this case. You stand at THIS
bar convicted OF the crime OF murder OF
a fellow being and it is incumbent on
me to pronounce sentence on you.
You have had q fair and Impartial
trial, and you have been
defended by council whose zeal and de-
votion in your behalf merit the highest
praise and compel the admiration oil the
court l don't think that can fairly
be subjected to the criticism that did
not allow you the widest latitude In the
presentation OF evidence that ln any
wav tended 10 establish the defense
made for you, and you were given the
benefits OF all presumptions which the
law SAYS you are entitled to have.
despite all this you have been tounc
guilty in accordance with the well es-
tab!ished principles of law and evil
dence governing trials OF this KIND.
Possibly large part Of this community
would, for the sake OF the reputation or
this great city, upon whom the
eyes of the world were at that time
rivited, have been cOmforted II
the verdict or the jury had established
the fact that your act was that OF
mentally irresponsible person, but the
result of the trial denies the people that
comfort. The evidence did not estao-
lish that you were acting under any in
sane delusion which irresistibly com
PEELED you to the commission OF an act
which you did not discern TO be wrong
and over which you had not the power
to exercise control. The jury has
found that when you committed the
act you fully understood it and its con-
sequences, and that you might have
controlled your actions il you had so
wiled, and that your own misguided
will was the sole impulse to the com
mission of the deed.
SITUATED as you are, would not say
anything TO you for the purpose OF har-
rowing I'D your feelings or causing you
unnecessary pain. The solemn and pain
ful duty now devolves upon me to i'm
pose the sentence and judgment OF the
law. which is that you, Patrick Eugene
Prendergast, between the hours OF 10
O'clock in the forenoon and 2 o'clock In
the afternoon of the 23rd day OF March,
A.D. 1894, in the manner provided by
the statute OF this State, be hanged by
the neck until you are dead"
When the court passed sentence the
prisoner moved forward a step or two
and then said: 81 did not wish to apollo
gize to the court, for think l did my
duty"
AS he concluded he was led away TO
his cell In the jail by the bailihs.
Prendergast grew surlier as the day
advanced. Tonight when a reporter
called at the Jail and asked II he had
ANYTHING to say regarding his SEN
tence, be cried out:
''No, not to the reporters. No man
is safe from the villiication, abuse, and
personal attack from the newspapers.
Thomas Higgins, sentenced to be
hanged March 23rd, next, with Prem
dergrast, was disgusted when he heard
the news.
"Ihave notion to commit suicide, "
said Higgins. Wont we be two
peaches standing up to be dropped TO-
gether?" be continued with a grin.
''Say when II comes my turn to shuttle
off | want to be hanged with IBfsh
hemp and l also want green shroud, "
went on the prisoner, "but l draw the
line on being compelled to pass out with
Prendergast. Somehow or other l can't
appreciate the fellow. Perhaps l am
obtuse. Any way, if l AN allowed any
voice in the matter, I shall not line no
sn the scaffold with the man who Killed
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