Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1906-08-10

~ 1tages Of the ~ p given nun w
Eurn .e by NJ Thomas f. Ryan, Will
De felt in Virginia.
THE VERDICT AGAINST SPR0USE.
The 10, and interesting trial II
Frank SprOuse for the killing of Con-
rad BOYD at Fordwick on the 9th OF
Jnne last has ,me 10 an end with a
and sentence of Is years |
in the penitentiary. The name OF
Sprouse is not savory in Augusta.
This particular sc on of he race Ia not
an Improvement on the old stock, al
though he is still boy under the age
of 81. In appe arance he measures up
very well with the average young fel-
low who makes living by working
few days in the week and blowing In
his wages in liquor on Saturday nlgn''
That SprOuse could be called desper-
do Oh the day of the killing admits OF
grave doubt, that he was dangerous
we admit. He is growing up to be OF
the ''bad man. class of course, 1T was
born in him and nothing has transpir-
ed in his home environment or else
where TO soften or elevate his natural
trend. But if SprOuse had had some
other name, and had he before the &C
tions of the day on which he shot and
killed Conrad Boyd, been of even
shade better character, be might not
have been sent on to answer before tbs
Grand Jury. lloyd, it WAS evident,
was never saint, though We believe
there was proof that be had joined the
church some time before, though it
was not shown that he bad ever risen
to the point of being trusted 10 pass
the hat, but there Was enough evidence
to disclose that citizen of high char
acter had not bitten the dust at the
hands of a terrible Desperate BOyd's
chalaat.r could not have been shown
under the court 3 rulings, we learn, so
thai whether Boyd had killed Il negro,
or done many other things calculated
to Inspire fear in the mind of "A lad like
Sprouse when Boyd from behind jump
ed on his back just after they had had
a rock battle, and when SprOuse did
not know whether he, Boyd, was
armed or not, and had no means of
knowing his Intentions, were not mat
tiers which were considered as having
much weight in the case, though they
ordinarily would have been very inn
portant. Many men have been acQuit-
ted simply because it was shown the
other fellow had made motion as if to
draw a gun. but their names were not
Sprouse, few, We will assert, ever were
ever gwen SO heavy a sentence as this
unfortunate lad when it was shown
that his enemy was on his back, the
eaemy having jumped there at most
unexpected moment, just after a seri-
GUS encounter in the shape of hard
fought rock battle. Now Boyd was
pretty we'll known to SprOuse. Boyd
had visited Sprouse's sister, now Mrs.
Pearl Robinson. Boyd had. in the
presence of Sprouse, driven Pearl Rob-
insOn, now the husband of Sprouse's
sister, out of SprOuse's home at the
point of pistol. Even this much and
no more tends to show that whilst one
of Fordwick's citizens is dead and an
other liable to change bis residence for
IL years, Fordw has not suffered
Unbelievable losses i'll either case.
But to be fair to a poor devil who
was not maliciously. but unfortunately
and badly tanked with mixture of
apple brandy, probably hot from the
still, or made of fusil oil and alcohol
and never saw an apple, and some APP
pie cider-a combination capable of
causing saint to commit treason,
strategem and spOils, We think he
has been given a most severe sentence.
He has been given in other words a
death sentence. In our humble judg-
ment the case had it no element of
murder in the first degree. Yet We
can reconcile the verdict with the sur
rounding circumstances, and sympa-
thise with virtuOus sentiment which
prompts law abiding citizens to desire
to put out of harm 3 way, and where
they can do no further harm, men, or
even boys who prefer to carry danger
Gus weapons and to tank up and get
ugly. We do not grieve since we have
learned who Boyd was, so deeply as
when his death was first recorded, nor
shed many tears over the fact that
so ambitious member of the SprOuse
family as Frank seems to be. has had
career, thus shortened. But candidly
if we had been of the jury we would
not have killed him by death penalty
in the penitentiary. we would have
hanged him straight out, or We would
have given him a sentence more usual
in cases where the party tried for the
killing was in every sense the aggres-
sOr, and not where the other fellow
seemed to be, at least when the other
fellow could have walked away from
the trouble instead of into it.
ADUAL ELECTORATE.