Slowly the immense
audience dispersed, and for a few moments the prisoners were allowed to
converse with their weeping friends, after which they were again
conducted to their cells to await the action of the court.
A few days later they were brought quietly before the judge and their
sentences were pronounced. Dr. Johnson, owing to the existence of a
doubt as to his complicity in the robbery, was condemned to four years'
imprisonment on the charge of forgery, while Newton Edwards, Eugene
Pearson, and Thomas Duncan were each sentenced to an imprisonment of six
years on the indictment for burglary.
Thus ended this important case, and the action of the court received the
almost universal approbation of the community, while the relatives and
nearest friends of the prisoners were compelled to acknowledge its
fairness and justice.
But little remains to be told. The prisoners were soon conducted to the
state prison, and a short time afterward, having occasion to visit that
institution, I saw them again. They all bore evidences of the most acute
remorse and contrition, and their life in prison had produced serious
effects upon their robust persons. Far different was their lot now, to
the free and happy existence which had once been theirs.
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