The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-01-25
LIFE TERM GIVEN
WIFE SLAYER BY
ILLINOIS JUDGE

oregon, ILL.,, Jan. Z3.-Dr. harry Il.
Webster, Of Chicago, was today
sentenced to life Imprisonment by
Judge Richard s. Farrand for the
murder of Bessie Kent Webster last
October. In ~pronouncing sentence the
court reviewed the crime and declared
that no greater continuing punish
ment could be inflicted on a young. In
telligent man tina to imprison him for
life" The court said:
Harry E. Webster, on the anniver-
sary of your bigamous marriage with
Bessie Kent, o entered a plea of
guilty to the charge Of murder. 1t
then became the duty of the court to
hear and consider such testimony as
might be offered in mitigation Of or
aggravation Of the crime committed.
None was offered that would in the
least mitigate the offense. Your at
torneys have spoken their last words
in your behalf and it only remain for
the court to impose your sentence.
Grief Of Mothers.
During the progress of your hearing
two mothers sat before US. The heart
of one was bleeding as m re-
called the suffering and death of her
daughter. The heart Of the other was
| wrung to agony because of the acts of
her living son. Which of the two was
suffering the greatest grief, only moth
ers that hav been down in the dark
valley of gloom and despair can an
swer. All this has come a Of
your cruel act. Surely it causes one to
think deeply Of the tragedy Of life and
the mystery and sorrow of death.
THE crime of which you plead guilty
was a cruel and cowardiy one. Under
the name of husband you beguiled
Bessie Kent to a lonely spot where in
childhood days you had passed hours of
pleasure, and there in the quietude you
took her life. The brain that con-
ceived and the hand that inflicted that
mortal wound was trained and skilled
in the use of the knife. With n blow
the weapon pentrated a vital part n
almost in an instant her life went out,
and believe that while the warm
blood was still flowing from the gaping
wound you denuded her person and al
lower her body to lie on the cold
ground and the fall rains to beat on it
during the long days and lonely nights
for two weeks until by accident the
body was found in a desolate ravine-
her bed OF death-which you selected
for her.
Sought to Blacken Woman.
'Tn your bill of divorce, which was
dismissed as a fraud and imposition
on the court, you sought to blackel
the character of the dead. Aside from
the language in the bill, so filed, there
is not a scintilla of evidence in the
record j%ustifying the conclusion that
Bessie Kent was other than a sweet
pure girl up to the time you put your
debauching hands on her.
THE peoples representatives. those
who have done all the ardous labor ir
securing your confession and in pre-
pairing the cas- for trial, are not s.
ing that the extreme penalty be in
hicted upon you. This meets the APP
DrOVal of the court. You no Longer
stand in defiance of the law, but COM
before the court confessing your crime
and asking for mercy. Much lenienc1
in this case would not be a virtue, bu'
rather a conformation of the crime.
shall spare your life and be more mer.
ciful to you than you were to you
victim.
Means Greater Punishment.
81 know of no greater continuing
punishment that can be inflicted on
young, intelligent man than to i'm
prison him for life. When the iron door
of the penitentiary close behind you
you must abandon all hope of freedom
on this earth. Within those gray, COLI
walls, with the dark memory of you
wretched crime before you, you mus
remain until by death you are calle,
to approach the silent shores Of etern
: ity, and if the light which then break
r on you from the farther shore Is ra
f Of peace. it will be only because a,
! offended all wise and merciful God ha
forgiven you your awful sins.
! 1T Is the sentence of this court tina
. you be imprisoned in the penitentiar
z at Joliet for and during your natura
Il life, the first day of that Imprisonment
: to be in solitary confinement, balanc
of the time at hard labor and that yo
pay the costs of prosecution"
!