The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-04-27

0-AA DAIA SACA-I1 NtA0 N8AtttAACtA OtA
the night Of June 18th. John was taken
al the home Of his parents in Morrelivilie
aud Jackson was found al a NorreIlville
saloon. A peculiarly shaped brown slouch /
hat WAS found IN John Roddy's bedroom.
which was afterwards identified by
number Of witnesses as the hesdgear
worn sometimes BY John aud again by .
Jim ss they passed aioug the road lead /
ing from Norrellville 20 the Berkey farm I
house on the afternoon aud evening pre-
eeding the robbery. The prisoners were
taken 10 the Berkey home, where two red ,
handkerchieEs, found in their pockets |
when they were arrested, were tied over /
the faces Of John and james Roddy after |
the manner in which the robbers had I
worn their masks, when Mr.. and Mrs. |
Berkey both positively identified them as
the men who had visited their house on
the night of June 2, 1876. for the purpose
of robbery.
Upon the trial Of the case the defend
ants were represented by Gen. A. II. COf-
froth, William II. Ruppel, and by Charles
F. Uhl, Jr., Esqs. District Attorney A.
J. ColbOrn was assisted by Gen. W. II.
Koontz. FL. KOoser, and L. C. Colborn,
Esqs. The case was heard by Judge Long
enecker, and a remarkable feature OF the
trial was that only three or four excep-
TONS were filed TO the Courts rulings.
Eight days were consumed in the trial.
The strongest evidence for the common
wealth was given by Ms. BeraSey, wife
of the murdered man, and by fifteen
year-old lad named Jackson Ripple. who
was watering horse on the public high
way leading TO Berkey's on the evening
preceding the robbery, when three men
passed along and made particular inquiry
in regard 70 the location of the Berkey
house. Young Ripple picked the Roddy
boys and Richard Jackson out from a
score or more Of prisoners in the county
Jail as the men be had seen that evening,
crowded courtroom. The dying declara-
tion Of Farmer Berkey, in which he aver
red that the Roddys were ''the same men
that robbed and tortured me- was admit
ted in evidence against the earnest pro-
test Of counsel for defendants In addi-
ton to the evidence cited above, the COM
mOnwealth traced the Roddy boys step by
step from Morrellville to within q short
distance Of the Berkey home, an6, on the
morning following the robbery, placed
them at point on the b. Il O. r.. r.,
where they would naturally have crossed
after abandoning the stolen horses in or
der TO avoid passing through JohnstOwn,
where they were we'll known, and 70 take
a short cnttO their homes in MOrrellville.
Mrs. Naugle. a neighbor of the Roddys,
testified that on the day following the
robbery James Roddy destroyed Con-
federate ten dollar note in her presence,
renarking as he did 50 that it might be
the cause Of getting him into trouble.
The defense was an alibi. the defend
ants and a number Of their close relatives
declaring that they were at home and in
bed on the night Of the Berkey robbery;
while a Morrellville saloonkeeper named
"Andy" Leonard testified that the ROcdy
boys and "Dick" Jackson had been at his
saloon at 10 o'clock that night. The de-
PENDANTS were able to account for their
whereabouts only on the fatefuI second
and created a bad impression upon the
jury. The strongest evidence in their be-
half was given by a MOrrellville coal Op-
orator named Hill, who swore that John
Roddy had worked in his coal mine ON
June % and 81, and offered his books to
eorrObOrate his statement. II developed
on cross-examinatiOn that Hill had no
s,F he.a
to, as he had made the entries in his book
from a slate kept 10y a boy in his employ.
''Dick" Jackson elected to be tried sep
arately, and was placed on trial immedi-
stely after the jury in the ROddy case had
retired 10 deliberate. Without knowing
the nature of the verdict returned in the
ROddy case, the Jackson jury on the
night of December p, 1855. retarned
verdict of mot guilty"-four days after
wards. The testimony against Jackson
was not nearly so strong as the evidence
against the Roddys, while the alibi set up
in his defense was much stronger.
a few days following the conviction of
the ROddy boys a reporter for tho Johns
town Democrat discovered that Robert
Herdman, the witness who had placed
the defendants at the b. & o. r. R. on
the morning following the robbery, had
borne false witness, Fs he (lIerdmanl was
in Gettysburg. Pa, at that time. When
this fact was brought to the attention of
the court Judge LOngeneeker promptly
granted the defendants new trial.
And now comes one of the most singu-
lar features Of this celebrated case.
Nicholas Slick, a veteran of the Mexican
war, who has lived in JOhnstOwn for
number Of years, appeared at the second
trial aud supplied the link in the chain
OF evidence against the Roddys that had
been broken by this discovered false
statement of Herdman. Slick declared
that be had seen the defendants on the
morning following the Berkey robbery
at almost the identical time and spot
where Herdman had placed them.
on the 2l day of June, exactly one
year following the Berkey robbery James
and John ROddy were found gIilty Of
murder in the first degree the second
time for the murder of David Berkey.
Three weeks later they were sentenced TO
death, aud when Judge Longeneck er pro-
nOunced the fateful words condemning
'-Jim' to death on the scaffold. the pris-
oner looked squarely into the face Of the
Court and smiling said Thank you sir.''
An appeal was taken to the Supreme
Court on the grounds that the dying
declaration Of the murdered msn had
been improperly admitted in evidence,
but the highest legal tribunal in the State
after reviewing all Of the evidence de-
cided that the old farmers dying state
ment had been proper evidence for the
consideration Of the jury, and that the
defendants had had the benefit Of fair
and irnuSrtial trial