Year: 1859

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that [ could make you, in some measure, at
/ least. feel and understand the atrocity of the
crime YOU have committed. 1 feel my utter
inability to do So l must leave this to other
and far ADLER lips than mine-to the ministers,
of God, yho are appointed to tell to you the
way to heaven. For


s.There is path that leads to God,


All others go astray


The learned COUNSEL who, with so much
ability and fairness, aided in your prosecution,
was understood by me to have stated in his adj
dress to the jury, and in your hearing, that it
was impossible for any one who was not in Bal
timore at Gambilrs trial, and at the time of
Rigdon's murder; and who was not also a part
of that community, to understand at all the
deep feeling of horror, Indignation and abhor-
ence, with which your crime filled every heart
in that city In this 1 incline to think he is
mistaken, and will tell you why But in or
der to dc so l must speak to you frankly and
truthfully. / had not been in Baltimore for
some months before Gambrills trial, nor was l
there during that trial, nor for weeks afterward.
1 had read something, but not much, concern
ing it. I had returned from holding pro-
tracted court at Elkton, in Cecil County, with
weared brain and wearied body, to enjoy
for day or two the rest of my home, among
the secluded and beautiful hills of Deer Greek,
in Hartford county, far from the turmoil of the
great city where this deed of yours was done.


On Saturday evening, the next day after
Friday, the fifth of November, the day of your
crime, L was sitting at my own fre-side my
little children, their faces bright and beaming
with joy and gladness, around me. My own
heart was full-overfowing- the happi-
ness of that hour, and trust with deep graf
itude to God for all His goodness. Some one.
do not know who, handed me package of
newspapers from the post-ofice picked up
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it. One of my children playfully pulled it
away, 1 put her little hand away and took it
again.


In looking over the paper, the first thing
that attracted my notice was an editorial article
which appeared in the paper of that day, an
nouncing the murder of Rigdon. 1 had been
familiar with the details of crime of every hue,
but this article rivited my attention. AS L
read [ held my breath, I felt thrill through
every nerve. My right arm grew hard and
strong. Itwas with an effort that prevented
myself from springing to my feet. L was
never before moved by the recital of a deed
of crime. 1t was not fear, it was not terror
no, nothing like it. 1 will frankly tell you
what it was / felt that dark spirit Of ven
gcance had uninvited entered my soul To
be sure, in a moment it was gone, but shadow
was left behind-a dark shadow, from the
wing of raven, and the happiness and bright
ness winch ndu JuSG uileu my ucdTC Was
changed as by the wand of an enchanter into
sadness and gloom.


think, therefore, although afar off, that
then felt and understood something of the deep.
feeling which pervaded that city. You may
thank your God that this deed of yours was
not done in some communities in this land
Had it been, Lynch law, that very hour, and
at the next lamp-post, would have been your
certain doom.


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more at that trying moment, although greatly
excited and deeply stricken with horror at
your crime, did not lose their presence of mind
or their reverence for the law of the land. l
rejoice to know that you had ample time to
prepare for your defense, and that you have
had patient, separate, impartial and legal trial.
L well know there is point beyond which hu-
man forbearance can not easily go, and that
point you and your associates had passed.


believe that thousands of people in this
State out of the city of Baltimore, telt as l
did-frst, the dark spirit of wrath and ven
geance, and then gloomy sadness shrouded the
soul For it is truly and inexpressibly sad 30
know that such cold-blooded and brutal MUIR
der could have been done by one reared in
Christian land-among Christian people, and
in the city of Baltimore, too, the center of the
civilization of the State, where public schools
and Sunday-schools abound, and churches
without number, from the humble and unpre
tending little chapel or meeting house to the
lofty cathedral.
If you had never entered the threshold of
one of those sacred edifces, nor heard the
preachers voice, nor the deep tones OF the Or
gan, nor the solemn chant, nor the simple
hymn of praise, yet you must have seen the
outside of these church structures-their lofty
spires pointing to the skies, and ever inviting
you to lift your eyes, to look upward. And
you must also have oftentime seen your fellow
creatures crowding the courts of these sanctua-
ries, and must have known their object and pur-
! pose. This fact alone might, one would sup
pose, have been sufficient to have arrested your
attention, and cause you to stop and think
And on Gods holy day, if at no other time,
YOU must have heard the chureh-bclls, resound-
| ing from every steeple and reverberating
throughout every street. alley and house in
the CITY, summoning all to worship Him-to
offer the sacrifice of praise and of prayer and
thanksgiving


You must have heard these church-bells.-
| In your choosing -dens' you must have heard
them in your ''gambling-hell" you must have
heard them; in your filthy brothe, in the harlot's
embrace, you must have heard them; every
/ where you must have heard them summoning G
you from the road to hell to the way to Heaven! !!
And that human heart of yours-for, in spite
of all contrary appearances, you must at least
have human heart in your bosom; my reason
tells me so; it can not be stone, for you could
not live if it were of stone. Then this human
! heart of YOURS must have felt, and often, too,
at different periods of your life, the "stings
and sorrows of guilty conscience" And the
Spirit of God, too, must have, time again,
made its power felt in the deepest recesses
of that heart of yours. To be sure, God
has said: 'My spirit shall not always strive
with man, whose breath is in his nostrils. =
He does sometimes say "Let him alone! He
is Joined to his idols-let him alone" This
may be your case. 1t may be that this is the
secret of the whole mattes-the key that un-
locks the mystery of your iniq4ity-aRd that
we have found at last ''the true theory of this
case God grant that it may not be so!


You and are about to part to meet no more,
until we both stand at the last day before the
same Judgment seat--the throne of Cod
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