Year: 1875

On Friday, February 25, 1876.


The decision of Judge Frease on the
motion for new trial was given in the
Court room Monday afternoon, in the
presence of an immense crowd, attracted
thither by the knowledge that if the de-
cision was adverse to the defendant he
would be sentenced to be hung, The
prisoner, when brought into Court, was
pale, either from anxiety Or ill.health,
but throughout the ordeal of the alter
noon he faced the Judge unflinchingly.
The reply to fairgrounds on which Judge
Amber claimed new trial was full and
complete, and was in keeping with the
exalted reputation Judge Frease has won
for himself on the Bench. After over
ruling tie objections in particular and in
toto, he told the prisoner to arise and
receive his sentence. During the deliv-
cry of this, Mead appeared 10 be very
little affected, though his voice trembled
when he proclaimed his innocence, and
tremor ran through his body when the
death penalty was pronounced. The
Judge spoke as follows to the prisoner;


"The Grand Jury of this county, at the.
May term of this Court for the year 1875.
found and also presented an Indictment
against you for the crime of numbering.
one Elijah Davidson, at this county, by a
mortal blow, given to him by you on the
oath of April, 1876, of which he died on
the 29th of April 1875. To this indict-
ment you pleaded mot guilty" and at
this term, the determination of the issues
thus raised, was submitted to twelve good
and lawful men. You were defended in
the trial by able counsel of your own
choice, who. with great skill, zeal and
energy, have labored by every fair and
honorable means that promised al y rea-
sonable prospect of success, to secure a
verdict of acquittal, at least of the afro
cious crime of murder in the first degree
But all their efforts proved unavailing,
and the jury, after full and fair trial,
returned against you verdict of murder
in the first degree, as charged in the in
dictment. 1t is now my duty to inquire
of you if you have anything to say why
the judgment of the law should not be
pronounced against your" To this Mead
responded: Il have very little to say
l am innocent, and don't think have
had fair trial. That is all l have to
say" The Judge continued: "Notwith-
standing your proteStations of Innocence,
and your claim that you had not fair
trial, / am of different opinion. The
jury, ! am confident, was composed of
capable and honest men, and the ver-
dict, l am satisfied, is fully sustained by
the testimony, and it now becomes my
painful duty to pass sentence. But |
have no discretion in fixing that sem
tence, except the time of its execution.
l act only as the minister of the law in
announcing in your presence, in open
Court, and in due form, the dread penalty
affixed by the sovereign legislative power
of this State, to the crime of which you
stand convicted. The law, stern and
rigid as it is, is less cruel than your act.
You treacherously set upon your unsus.
pecting and confiding victim, who had
never harmed 80 much as hair of your
head, md whose gray hairs and venera-
BILE form, tottering under the weight of
years, might have appealed, and not in
vain, even to the cold heart of a savage;
and without a moments warning you
felled him to the floor, covered with
wounds and bathed in his own blood,
and there left him, it cannot be doubted,
for dead. Our statute, more humane,
provides that at least one hundred days
shall transpire, in capital case, after
sentence, before execution. The inten-
ton is, doubtless, to give time for appeal
to those having competent authority,
either to reverse or modify the sentence,
when proI er grounds may exist; and for
making preparations to leave this world,
and meet the solemn realities of another
stata of existence. / feel unable, and it
would be improper for me to hold out or
excite any expectation that any such ap.
peal, if made, would be successful, and
can only suggest that in my judgment it
would be at least the part of wisdom in
you to lose no time, If you have not al
ready done so, in the work ofsincere and
contrite repentance for your great crime,
and of fitting yourself for the solemn
event of death. 1t only remains that l
should pronounce the sentence Of the
law and of the Court, which is that you,
Samuel Mead, be taken By the Sheriff to the
jail Of this county, that you be there safely
and securely kept By the jailOr thereof until
Friday the 25th day of February, 1876, and
that on that day, bettOeen the hours Of eleven
o'clock a. m. and twO o'clock p. n,, you be
taken TO the place Of execution prescribed by
laU, and that then and there you be hanged
by the neck By the Sheriff Of this county until
ann, ore oIe11 pI