The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-01-19
THE PATTERSON Verdict
Conviction of the BOsschieter Slay-
ers a General Topic.
Prosecutor EnIey Expects the Three
Men to- Receive Thirty Years at
Hard Labor-BeIieves the Prison
ers Should Have Been Given the
Extreme Penalty for Their Crime.

PATERSON, n. J.. Jan. dissatisfaction
prevails here over the verdict rendered in
the case of Walter c. McAIister. Andrew
j. Campbell. and William A Death, con
victed last night of murder in the second
degree for causing the death Of Jennie
Bosschieter, the mill girl, on the night of
October IS under circumstances that, as
Prosecutor Emley said, in his summing
up, filled the heart Of man with over
flowing wrath wherever its story went
Paterson hears from other cities and
towns that the verdict was a wretched
compromise. and that the ends OF justice
were not served by il, but Paterson is
content that the jury united upon q judg-
ment that carries with It thirty-year sen
fences TO Imprisonment at hard labor, If
the limit Of the penalty is inflicted by
Justice Dixon. What the city has feared
all along was a miscarriage Of justice
that the powerful influence which some of
the prisoners in the case. including
George L Kerr, under Indictment for the
same crime as the others, could com
mand might enable them to evade the law.
When seen this morning McAlister said:
thirty years staring Us in the face, but We
are hopeful"
; Prosecutor EmIey took tn view Of the
verdict Thirty years at hard labor is
what l hope and expect viii BE the SEN
tence Justice Dixon will impose on the
slayers of Jennie Bosschieter- With this
l Will be content
Il hunted for no mans life. the milk
of human kindness is not soured in me,
even though 1 am prosecuting atLor-
ney, but those three men certainly de-
! served the extreme penalty But I am
satisfied. They will be punished
''PateFson's name is cleared from the
faint it has suffered under for three
months, and justice is secured The three
prisoners are lucky
Sentence Will not be passed on The con
yicted men until after the trial of George
Kerr, the fourth of the accused men.
Kerr's case was originally set down for
trial next Monday, but Justice Dixon an
nounced yesterday that he would hear
civil cases that day. Mr.. Emley said last
night that he would move the trial dur
ing the present term-that is. within the
next three weeks.
All along until last night the city was
dreadfully anxious lest there be dis
agreement. Plain as the States evidence
was. and convincing as it was, absurd as
was the defenee's aItruistic tale of a ride
TO give drunken girl fresh air, all Pat
erson was afraid that the jury would not
convict, especially if conviction meant
hanging and knew that il could not aequit-
One remark that Justice Dixon made in
disnlssinS the jury was frequently quoted
this morning as being especially signii-
cant in this connection The justice II IS
said, is not given 10 handing compliments
( to jury He rarely does more than
thank 1t fcr its services. and. If a verdict
has been rendered that is fagrantIy
against logic and the law. the jurors and
spectators are hardly in doubt as TO Jus
tice Dixon's opinion. even though he does
not express it directly. Besides thanking
the jury last night, he said. y congrat-
uIate you, gentlemen, on having reached a
definite conclusion in this case
Paterson swears by Justice Dixon, and
is quite ready 10 accept his dlctum as the
| final word Consequently Paterson is sat
| isfed, too, that the jury reached a def
| mite conclusion. and It was pretty hard
/ today to find a Patersonian who would
go beyond that and say what he thought
of the verdict as the logical or illogical
outcome of the trial
The Call, a morning ne wspaper printed
here. makes a Iabored defence of the yer.
diet itself and represents view that
| many persons in Paterson may hold al
though they are not now willing to say so
| openly In a long editorial the CALI
says in part:
I'VE think We can safely say that the
| verdict reached viii strike most people
as the nearest to justice of any that could
have been rendered,
NO one believes that those young men
committed deliberate murder The public
| feeling is that capital punishment should
be inflicted only for premeditated murder
| 1t is true that the degenerate surround
| ings of this crime excited a horror and
disgust that affected ones contemplation
OF the subject; yet but for those loaJh-
some characteristics there would have
been none who would have seen any JUS
tica in a first degree verdict Another
thing. Had it been a verdict of murder
in the first degree. although, OF course
the prisoners would have been sentenced
to be hanged. yet the probability would
be against its execution. There would
have been appeals and delays and stays
10 prolong il for months and years, end
ing, possibly, in a new trial
With second degree verdict, the pen
atty of which is a long-term inprison-
meut, the "a Inishment for the crime viii
be quickly carried into execution. Glad
TO have saved their clients from the hal
ter, the defendants counsel are not like
Iy to interfere with the verdict or ask for
another trial that might have a more
serious result Furthermore inaSmuch
as no mans life is jeOpardiZed il would
take strong grounds for the court to grant
anything that would stay the proceedings
now
so all things considered. both in re-
gard to the calm public idea of justice
and the certainty of prompt and inevita-
bic punishment, the verdict that has been
reached was probably the best that could
have been rendered"
One man said today, in accounting for
the verdict: If the jury had TO render
verdict in the first degree only. there
would have been a disagreement. Those
jurors have lived here in Paterson for
years. They undoubtedly knew some
thing about the prisoners and their fam
lilies. and although they would have tried
hard to forget everything but the evil
dcnCe they could not forget that these
young men came Of stock Another thing.
I don't believe that the jury would have
considered all three equally morally. no
matter how guilty they were legally. II it
came TO a question of hanging them. II
was easier to lump them when a verdict
that would not take away their lives was
possible"