The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1906-04-19
FOUR YEARS IN PEN
Sentence Given Greene and
Gaynor by Judge Speer.
ATLANTA PRISON NAMED
Fines of $575, ,e94.s0 Are Also Assess
ed, Which Defendants Can Easily
Escape Paying-Appeal Will
Be Taken-End Not Yet.

Be ! Iaken-EnS NOT YeI.
Benjamin Greene and John F. Gay
nor were sentenced by Judge Speer in
the federal court at Savannah Friday
morning to serve four years in tho
federal prison at Atlanta, and to pay
each a fine of s575,7s4.9O, the amount
they are charged with having embez-
zied.
Upon one indictment the sentence
vas to two years and upon each Of the
other indictments four years, but the
court directed that the sentence might
all be served concurrently, which re-
duced the term to four years. Thus,
with the allowance Of three months
off each yea1 during which the behaT-
ior of the prisoners may be good, thu
sentence reduces to three years.
The fine need not be paid il, on
completing the sentence, the prisoners
take the pauper's cath and make af-
fdayit that they are not possessed OF
more than twenty dollars. In lieu OF
paying the fine, they may serve thlr-
ty days longer.
e Counsel for the prisoners announce
that an appeal will be taken. An order
of court grants ten days for the fling
Of a bill Of exceptions.
Judge Speer, in sentencing the pris-
oners, said, in part:
ssThe most painful judicial duty is
the imposition of sentence to penal
seryitude. This is peculiarly true when
those convicted are men of fine intel
lisence, men of affairs, men who have
had the opportunities of education, or
who have teen trained by the teach
ings of experience. One Of the pris-
oners has been distinguished by his
state: has been an important official
OF one of the great political parties;
man of large acquaintance; perhaps,
with nultitudes of earnest friends.
i The other is graduate Of distinction
of our great military academy at West
Point, and he at one time was a cap
tain in that famous corps of engineers
whose roster bears such names as
Robert e. Lee and George Gordon
Meade, a corps whose record was
stainless before the occurrences which
have been developed in evidence here.
81 am told that it has been cynical
ly said that 10 man who has mil
lion dollars can be convicted Of crime
in America. The verdict Of this jury
of plain, clear-sighted, honest Amer
leans, has falsifed such pessimism." 4"
Notwithstanding the gravity OF
your cffense, it is not deemed necessa-
ry to impose upon you the extreme
penalty of the law by cumulative SEN
tences. Such sentences might aggre-
gate seventeen years Imprisonment
at hard labor and s5s5,749.sO fines.
Il recognize that you have been in
Jail for more than year, that both
of you are elderly men, both Of you
are educatde men, accustomed to life
Of comparative luxury and to the COM
forts of home. My sentence to you,
therefore, is far more severe that a
much greater sentence, If imposed
upon those who commit offenses which
demonstrate by their savagery and
that they are brutes without discourse
Of reason.
tIn view of your conviction for
embezzlement, I deem it my duty in
obedience to the statute relating 20
that crime to impose on you fine
equivalent to the amount embezzled.
"Your terms Of Imprisonment viii
aggregate, as expressed technically In
the sentence, flu" years in the United
States penitentiary at Atlanta.
1eI may add, however great your NOR
tification now, your case is by no
means hopeless The sanitary condl'
tions and food secured by the humane
MANAGEMENT of that great prison both
will be far better than that to which
you are accustomed.
Z trust that you will emerge from
your imprisonment restored in health
and in strength and that for the rest
of your lives you will recall the words
and cherish it's teaching of the psalm
ist, The little that the righteous man
hath is better than the riches Of many
wicked"