Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1902-10-17
The Case of Charles poherty.


of 1900 1t failed of enactment then,
and through the action of Doherty's
attorneys in taking advantage of every
technicality of the law his sentence
is still unexecuted.
The question in this case is not
whether a man shall or shall not be
hung, but whether the conspicuously
calm. deliberate action of our supreme
court shall prevail and the law take
its course, or whether the Legislature
shall lightly overrule the courts find
ing and make its work of no effect.
The facts are. briefly, that as the
result of a trivial personal quarrel of
several weeks standing, in which
Murphy a decent, peaceable young
man, was not the aggressor, Doherty
shot Murphy in cold blood when he
was unarmed and not near enough to
Doherty to do him harm. The evi-
dence showed that Doherty had pre-
pared himself for the event by buy
ing himself a revolver and cartridges
the night before the murder, and that
when he fired the shot he said to Muir
ply, I've got you now Judge Wat
son gave Doherty a notably careful
and patient trial, admitting before the
jury and considering all the evidence
in his behalf The jury found the
prisoner guilty and he was sentenced
to death. Not even a question was
raised as to Doherty's sanity during
his trial, although his own brother was
present and sat by his side through
out
After the conviction and sentence
the case went to the supreme court on
exceptions, and new trial was asked
for on the ground of newly discovered
evidence showing Doherty's insanity.
After deliberate consideration the
court found no reason for admitting
the question of alleged new evidence
or interfering with the decision of the
lower court. The legislature of 1909
was asked to commute DOherty's SEN
tence and refused to do so, as already
stated. Doherty's counsel then got his
case re0pened before the supreme
court to hear renewed claim of
newly discovered evidence showing
his insanity. This also was carefully
and maturely considered by the judges,
and they still found no reason which
warranted their interference with the
course Of the law The sole reason,
If reason there was, for thinking
Doherty insane Was that mis- murder
of Murphy was so wanton and unprO-
voked. His suspended death sentence
was renewed, and then his counsel
ayailed themselves OF their final tech
nicality BY raising the claim that the
court ought to have fixed his sentence
after the meeting of the Legislature Of
1902, and took the case to the United
States supreme court on writ of er-
ror. asking that court to decide this
point. The case has not yet been
reached on the courts calendar, but,
under the circumstances, its decision
is not material because the desired
extension of time has been gained for
Doherty.
Sympathy for the prisoner is not
Increased when one remembers the
prolonged suffering which he inflicted
on his victim. Doherty's bullet,
fred at close range, passed en-
tirely through the cavity of the chest,
and Murphy fingered in living death
for six weeks. When he was shot,
of 10 h
an active, robust young man of "a,
weighing 1S0 pounds. When he died
in Mary Fletcher hospital at Burling-
ton April LIST, he was reduced to a
skeleton of only so pounds weight,
The suffering of his widowed mother
| during this time was hardly less than
his own. The surgical aspects of
Murphy's case are reviewed in detail
| by the attending surgeon in the re-
| Gently published Transactions of the
Vermont Medical Society, 1901" Any
| member of the legislature who wishes
| to know the exact facts in the case
and on what ground he is acting when
called to vote, should go to the state
library and read the report of the
case, as brought before the supreme
court, in the latest volume of "Ver.
mont Reports"
The question before the legislature
so far as Doherty is concerned is not
whether the death penalty is or is not
right, or as to what any individual
legislator may think about it. Here
was an unprovoked, cold-blooded mur
der, in which our supreme court has
twice failed to find any mitigating
circumstances. If the legislature
now oyerrides the judgment of the
court, it will be an arbitrary act un
founded in reason, and it will dis
credit before the people the judicial
painstaking and conscientious work
of our highest tribunal. Whether we
are to do away with the death penalty
in Vermont is a question entirely
aside While it stands on the statute
book, let it be enforced in case like
this.