The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1903-04-14
LIFE IMPRISONMENT
IN PENITENTIARY.
VERDICT IN STROTHER RAPE CASE
REACHED LATE FRIDAY EVENING,
The Testimony Concluded--Able Argu-
mentS of Counsel for State and Defense
Sentence OH Saturday.

''Guilty with recommendation to the
mercy of the Court" Such was he ver-
dict in the George Strother rape case,
brought i'll by a jury Of his country late
Friday evening.
Strother was sentenced OH Saturday
morning and OIL Saturday afternoon was
taken to the State Peritentiary, where lie
will spend the remaining days of his life.
THE JUDGE TO THE PRISONER.
Judge Belinger, in sentencing Stroth-
er to life Imprisonment III the State Pen
ltentlary, told him that he might COLI
slider himself very fortunate in the out
come of this case. 1t was left to the Jury
TO say whether You were guilty Of using
any force i'll this case There was room
for reasonable doubt, and there are many
who, had they been OH that Jury, would
have voted to find you not guilty. Yet
at the same time there was enough testi-
nony to justify the verdict, and having
reached the conclusion that You were
guilty, it took very mcrciful jury to
recommend You to mercy
Judge Bellinger said to the prisoner
that the main reason lie was found guilty
was because the woman in the ca> C was n
white woman, and when this was taken
into consideration, Strother might con-
slider himself fortunate i'll being allowed
to come before his country and vindicate
himself. Even when only white pcople
are concerned in such cases. the man
guilty or illicit intercourse carries his life
iii his own hands i'll this State, not that
it is always taken by what consider the
cowardly mode Of lynching, but the rcla.
tlves and immediate friends Of the Young
woman make haste to put him out Of the
way, and do not know of a single case
III this State, said the speaker, where
man has wreakcd vengeance upon the
other man who has wrecked the family
has been punished when brought into
court. You will not be sentenced to pay
the death penalty. but your liberty will
\ be taken away from you. | do not he
lieve there is Il negro in South Carolina
who had a master or boss who would be
guilty of the deed which you confess Won
have been guilty Of. You belong to
generation which knew no master. and
you OIL the stand here said you did not
know to whom your father belonged. You
belong to race that has furnished all the
misery that the South has suffered from
Sitiiin this last generation There is a
certain class Of citizens at the North who
3 have attempted to school you in the be.
9 49, t'.ot OIL VIC Ootllicl III people are your
enemies and that your only friends are at
the North. Now you have received from
the hands Of the State the very best that
she could give you in this case You had
called special term Of the court in order
to prevent violent hands being laid upon
you. You had defense as good, as
strong, as conscientious, as efficient, as
eloquent, as any millionaire in this coun
try could have bought You had fair
trial ard your defense has been honestly
and conscientiously conducted
Judge Bellinger said it was the first
time i'll his life he had been called upon
to sentence any one, but lie did not be-
lleve he would see any cause afterwards
to regret having passed sentence upon
violator of the law. The sentence Of the
court have 40 discretion in the matter,
the law prescribes it's that you, George
Strother, be confined in the State Peni-
tentiary at hard labor during the whole
period of your natural life.
MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL OvI:RRULED.
The Judges charge to the jury was con-
c,uded at about half.past three O'Clock on
friday afternoon. The jury were absent
for over three hours AS soon as the ver-
dict was reached the attorneys for the de-
tendant, Messrs. O. l. Schumpert and Il.
ii. Dominica, entered a motion for a new
trial, which was renewed on Saturday
morning. The motion was promptly
overruled by Judge Bellingcr and the sen.
tence passed.