Year: 1874




SENTENCE OF ARTHUR FLowERREE.-
At the last term of the District Court at
SteilAcoom, Pierce county, young man
belonging to surveying party of the
N. P. Railroad. was tried and found
guilty of manslaughter. for the homicide
of J. Dudley, last summer. at Tacoma.
A gentleman who was present at the
time of his sentence by the Court, has
furnished US literal report of the re-
marks of young Flowerree when asked
what he had to say why sentence should
not be passed against him. He said:


eff your Honor please-I desire to
say few words. have been charged
with one of the highest crimes known
to the law. have been tried, and the
jury have pronounced me guilty, and
spend some of the best years of my life.
the flower of my days, in prison. l
make no objection to the manner of my
trial, nor do 1 appeal from the verdict
of the jury. Your Honor and the jury
both have my gratitude and my thanks
for the fairness and consideration ac-
knowledge was shown me upon my trial.
l have not been able to show all the
facts connected with my case. am not
able to do so now. But in the presence
of your Honor, and knowing that the
! ewes of God are upon me, do solemnly
aver, that when did the act, and at the
very moment I acted, believed and
was satisfied in my own mind, that my
life Was in instant danger. and thought
ii necessary. and was fully convinced
that was necessary, to protect and pre-
serve my own life. Of the event which
is the lamentable canse of my being
here to-day, I can only make this true
statement, and hope it may have its due
weight, in connection with my former
good character and my youth, with your
Honor in fixing the period Of my i'm
prisonment. and believe ME when call
God to witness this the truthful stGte-
ment have made


The language of his reply to the in
quiry of the Court breathes spirit of
truth which it would be difficult for
real. criminal to counterfeit, and ex-
plains the apparent leniency of the
Court and jury in their dealings with
him. Poor Arthur he is now in sit-
uation to which death in almost any
shape. unaccompanied by ignominy.
would be preferable to himself and his
friends; and yet he is no hardened GRIM
inal or perverse violator of law. Of
highly respectable Virginia family of
the noble stock of the Huguenots, with
fair natural abilities, good education
and heretofore without apparent vicious
propensities in excess of others of his
age and social standing who maintain
fair regulations in society, no suspicion
of dishonor or charge of criminality ever
before attached to him. In an evil hour
he entered one of those oens of infamy
which an unsettled condition of society
has tolerated in this frontier. known in
the vernacular Of the country as 'Mad
House." where squaw prostitutes, de-
bauched white men, low gamblers,
thieves and desperadoes, together with
many persons of reputable standing,
freed for the time from social restraints,
meet and mingle on terms of eqaality,
and each follow the bent of their own
inclipations whether the motive be lust
or idle curiosity. Young Flowerree was
set upon by one of the habitues OF the
house, between which and the railroad
party there had grown up deadly feud.
Believing his life in imminent peril, he
drew his revolver and shot his assailant
and Immediately mounted his horse and
fed to Stehcoom, where he voluntarily
surrendered himself to the civil author
tiles and was lodged in Jail to await his
examination and trial for the homicide.
There were no witnesses of the TRANSACT
ton but the keepers aud hangers-on of
the infamous den, companions of the
man who was shot, and upon their tes-
timony alone the unfortunate and indis.
CT eet young man was convicted, leaving
to the jury and the Court only the dis
cretion of awarding the smallest penalty
which the law allows.