The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-01-29

cipies of right and justice, accorded
each of you patient and unbiased
hearing, has extended to you every
protection. has made available to you
every safeguard. has yielded to you
upon every point OF doubt or possible
mistake. has submitted on question
OF your guilt separately to juries OF
your fellow citizens. who have heard
with patience every statement and
contention offered In excuse or msti-
cation of this terrible accomplish
ment
THE whole power OF the Common
wealth has ben placed at your disposal
to compel the attendance OF each and
every witness who might speak to any
fact favorable to your defense. n
Your array of counsel, with abiI-
ity excelled only by their untiring
zeal and fidelity have presented with
force and eloquence every fact or In
ference which might favor your vim
dication, and with the result that as
to each of you twelve patient, honest,
conscientious gentlemen have unapi-
mously concurred in the conclusion
that there is no reasonable doubt as
to any fact necessary to establish your
guilt and that the acts whereby these
honored and faithful officers Of the
law were destroyed in the discharge
of their duty were OF your plan. your
purpose and your deliberate accom-
plishment. The evidence overwhelm-
ingIy sustains these verdicts."
You, Floyd Allen, were in the Gus
tody of the law, When ordered to
Jail, you uttered your defiance OF Its
authority, such a defiance as was new
err before heard In a Virginia court
Such defiance as must have stunned
into inaction every mind not prepared
to anticipate 1t. Yet, without the least
surprise or hesitation, your associates
instantly began with you this deadly
work; began 1t with promptness and
pursued it with a persistency and eff
fectiveness, which to every calm. I'M
biased mind. carries the unalterable
conviction OF anticipation and CO.
operation. Numerous other facts
clearly proven, confirm this conviction.
but the elements OF instantaneous and
fatally effective cooperation, stand
ing alone and of themselves. clint
nate all reasonable doubt OF COM
mon understanding OF mutual and
felonious purpose,
The facts relied upon for the ex-
cuse or mitigation of your conduct
have failed utterly of their proof. You
have commended that the clerk Of that
court, While you were IN its custody
endeavored to open fire on you. You
failed to show any motive for such
conduct on his part or to give an ex-
PLANTATION why he should have done an
act so utterly inexplainable and so ne
cessarily fatal to himself
There Is scarcely scintilla of EVIL
tience TO confirm this statement made
by each of you. Yet, every rule Of
law which would have been april
cable If your statement had been fully
corroborated were invoked and allow
ed for your benefit Upon every doubt
full question of law you have each
of you been favored. yet the result 10
your conviction"
LAS your conduct was of your
choice, so the consequence is of your
own creation. and 1t is In reality Your
own hand which writes the judgment
of this court.
II am not saying these things to re-
proach or distress you. This hour is
too solemn for you and for kne to per-
affis any impulse of eaeeling To =ha Gus
tertained towards you except of the
deepest sympathy. / want you, each
to realize that no man has by his will
or choice selected your punishment:
that no man has done you wrong, or
dealth with you otherwise than as the
law, to which all of us must yield UNI
questioning obedience. has demanded
of his conscience: that the Judgment
OF this court is not mans Judgment,
Dur is the judgment OF the law, ana
that I am but the mouth-piece of the
law when / speak to you these solemn
words"
The Court of Appeals of Virginia,
after all the appeals OF the sympathiz-
ers and defenders of the Aliens had
been made and after a careful review
OF all the evidence. declared:
1.-THE homicides took place in the
court room, in the light of day and
in the presence of a large number of
witnesses. In the successive trials
that took place these witnesses were
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