Year: 1859

THE TRIAL OF COSGROVE.

 This trial, commencing on Tuesday, closed on Saturday, (the l4th inst ) and the jury returned verdict of guilty, after being out about twenty minutes. The principal facts in the case are adverted to in the address of the judge 10 the prisoner upon sentencing him, which we give be- low. This case has excited much interest, because of the motive that prompted the commission of the murder being so unusual in the South, and the cruel circumstances attending it. Lester was killed that Cos grove might obtain possession ot a small sum of money and the first blow, having partially missed it's aim, was followed up by siabbing and cutting the throat of the victim:

 " Murder most foul, as at the best it is;

 But this most foul, strange, and unnatural"

 While we believe tl.at "the worst use you can put man to is to hang him, yet there are crimes so atrocious and reyoliing that they call for the severest punishment which justice has in store for offenders.

 Cosgrovr was ably defended by Messrs. Williams and Jordan. who fought every inch of the ground, and did all that men could do for their client But the evidence was so full. direct, and overwhelming, that

 they could not break its force, or turn Its point.

 After the rendition of the verdict, the prisoner, being asked if he had anything 10 say why sentence of death should noi

 be passed upon him, made some remarks to the effect that some of the witnesses had done him injustice, and asserted that he was innocent. h response to the

 remarks ol the prisoner, his Honor, Judge

 Clendenin, thus proceeded 10 pronounce SENTENCE or DEATH:

 < have listened with deep attention to tho remarks you have made. and am sorry to say to you, that those remarks have not, in the slightest degree. weakened my convictions of the iustness of the verdict rendered against you. The testimony as t was detailed was overwhelming against you, and I must say that in an experience of almost twenty five years in the practice of the law and the ad- ministration of justice In this State, l have never read or heard more perfect chain of circumstances.

 Itwas proven that on the evening of the 18th of February. last you left your boarding house in compaHy with deceased about dusk you were traced. step bv step, in company with yoar yiceiEa 10 within short distance of lonely and seesedsd pot oa the bank of the Fiver-ana tasEs sas darkness of night hid you from the ayss ef naa, though the All-seeing Eye was upon T0g- Your first blow failed in part of it's ptsfpose, and the cry of agony from your victim was heard. The next morning the ground was examined the marks of a deadly struggle-the pools of blood-the trace of body dragged to the river. showed that violence had been done; portion of torn clo'hng, with letters stained with blood, to who was the victim. You were arrested yonr garments perfectly identified, were found where vou had left them stained all over with blood; the body of the deceased was found in the river, barbasously mangled. You have failed to account fer your presence elsewhere

 that aight. These, with numerous other cir

 cumstances too painful for me now to refer to, could leave no shadow of doubt on the

 minds of the jury that you were guilty. Your victim was youthful stranger from e neighboring State, who came to this, on an errand of mercy and kindness to one of his kindred, and who had selected you as his friend.

 These facts and this verdict place you be- yond the pale of human mercy and forgive ness you cannot hope or expect that man 1 NOulu pdfuSn SO tSIIiUlc d CiIule put 8Ilie your fellow man cannot pardon you, there is q source from whence youmay receive it; and 1 charge and pray you to waste not the few days which may yet be allotted to you on earth in vain hopes or expectations, but look to your GoD-ask mercy from HEM and you may receive pardon for this great sin as well as others.

 You have had fair and impartial trial by a l. jary selected by yourself from distant parts of the county. You have been defended by counsel of great zeal and ackno wledged abii ty, who have done their whole duty to you but with the evidence of this case, the elo- I.quence and ingenuity of man could have avail- ed you nothing. You sealed your own doom by the commission of this crime. and it must be expiated by the penalty of the law.

 And all that now remains in your case,

 Charles Cosgrove is to pronounce the sentence of the court, which is: That you be remand cd to the jail Of this county, there to remain until Friday the l0th day of June next, to be taken from thence between the hours of eleven o'clock in the morning and one o'clock in the afternoon, to the place of execution, and here hung by the neck until you are dead and may God have mercy on your soul"