Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1885 — SENATOR VOORHEES. [ARTICLE]

SENATOR VOORHEES.

Extracts from His Speech in Defense of Captain E. T. Johnson, at Greenville, Tennessee, Senator D. W. Voorhees’ great speech at Greenville, Tenn., in defense of E. F. Johnson, will shortly be issued from the press und«r the auspices of his stenographer an ; put upon the market. Jap Turpen, in one of his recent letters to the Indianapolis Sentinel, gives the following extracts from this great speech: “Why did the world witness that wonderful and beautiful spectacle a sho.it time ago on the northern coast of Africa? More than thirty years ago the American Consul at Tunis died at that distant place, and there was buried. He was not great as statesman, jurist or warrior He had never led in council, court or field. Why was it that one whose name will never perish as the benefactor of the present and of future generations, and as the munificent patron of literature, the arts and sciences, called back the bones and dust that had lain so long on the far-off shores of the Mediterranean ? William W. Corcoran, the most eminent citizen of the Republic, in the love and esteem of his countrymen, simply asked his Government’s permission to bring at his own expense, the remains of John Howard Payne home to rest in his native land. And then on the sth day of January, 1883, there gathered around his grave in the little cemetery at Tunis the representatives of the most powerful nations of the earth. The Christian and the Mohammedan stood together and bent with 'reverence over the hallowed spot where the American had slept so long on a foreign shore. They carefully raised his crumbling coffin and tenderly preserved every atom of his precious dust, and then in a triple casket all his mortal remains were covered with flowers, and to the music of an immortal song he started on his final voyage home. As the ship that bore him rode into the harbor of New York the auihorities of that great metropolis rose up to do him honor, as if one of the mighty dead had returned to earth. The City Hall was opened, and there his remains, although invisible, were laid in state, whil-* thousands an tens of thousands of people crowded by to catch a glimpse of the outside coffin in which t ey reposed. At Washington City, the capital of a Government of more than 55,000,000 of people, the wand ?rer’s return was hailed with an ovation never to be forgotten while American history endures. Statesmen and heroes were his pall-bearers; distinction, culture and refinement felt Jionored with a place at his funeral. Eloquence paid its lofty tribute, and music, with, its sweetest, richest and most imposing sirains, welcomed John Howard Payne to his final abode in the city of the dead. And why, now, were all these honors, without a parallel in human history, paid to h s memory ? Ah 1 how well you know the answer, how quick your swelling hearts respond! He wrote one song, jn which he embodied and embosomed the most precious de-

sire and the most undying emotion of the universal heart of man, woman and child. He worte “Home, Sweet Home.” * * * Where the shot-gun policy is unknown: “In the interior of the Dark Continent the African Prince, as the ffrst and most pleasant duty of hospitality, invites the honored guest to make a selection from among his wives, and os v are with her the pleasures of his sojourn. English speaking juries have taken the idea here advanced concerning the crime of adultery since the days of Queen Ann: “The man that committeth adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” I know how this is met in modern schools of thought. The law reads harshly as to the Woman, and the question is interposed whether she should die as well as the man; whether our civilization and our times will admit of the full application of th&fclaw. Pause a moment ; I wiDaKiswer. There came after this MuOic edict a new dispensation. rae who walked the waters of Galilee, and bade the waters be still; He at whose touch the lame and crippled rose and ran; He at whose command the blind saw; He who spoke at the grave of Lazarus and the dead came forth from the grim embrace of the tomb, brought a new and gentler administration of the divine law into practice. He modified the law I have read. It sentenced both the offenders, the man and the woman to death. The merciful Redeemer, during his last three years’ ministration on earth, granted a remission to the woman of her share in the death penalty, but never as to the man. You all know the record by heart. I have it here. “And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came unto Him, and e sat dow and taught them. And the Scribes and •. harisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery, and, when they had set her in the midst, they said unto Him, ‘Master, this woman was taken in adultery—in the very act. Now, Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned; but what sayest thou ?’ ” “There was a square question: “Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned; but what sayest thou?” You remember all the rest: “Go and sin no more.” “She was not stoned; she was not put toj death. Her accusers slunk away, a d the penalty of the Mosaic law as to the woman was remitted by the Savior. Where was it ever remitted or repealed as to the man? Tell me. Search these evangelists; search this blessed book —guide in life and comforter in death. Let doubters scoff; but it is the power that regulates life and fills the last hour with peace. Where, between its holy lids, do you find any remission of the penalty of death against man who committeth adultery with his neighbor’s wife? Christ aoftened the Mosaic law in respect to the woman. By his decision she was not put to death; but no decision was ever made by the Almighty Father nor His Son that the adulterer should not die; and I stand here in the presence of the highest intelligence of this great State, and in the hearing of the ministers of the gospel of our blessed faith and challenge a denial from any one or from all the adulterers, “the man that commiteth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that commiteth adultery with his neighbor’s wife,” is, by the law of God, under present, continuing and eternal sentence of death. There is no point of time where the sentence stops. There is no instance in the Book of Books where it has been remitted. As to the woman, it has bee .; as to the man, never! And from the moment that Major Henry, this vile monster of mesmeric power or some other satanic agency, defiled the wife of his friend, committed

adultery with the wife of his neighbor —from that moment he walked by day and I y night under a perpetual and unending sentence of death pronounced by Almighty God. Answer this who can! Answer this who may!” The history of the case is so well known to the reading public that to give it here in detail would be superfluous. The advocate says, on the subject of the victim’s suicide: “In the case you are now trying, was adultery the only crime for which Henry had forfeited his life? On the contrary, the blood of murde. was on his hands. Had he let his neighbor’s wife alone; had he not pursued her like the sleuthhound after his prey, she would this day have been the proud and honored wife and mother, loved and beloved in her home at Indianapolis, the air rendolent of happiness around her. and the future stretching away before her as pure and bright as the flowers of spring. Why is this not so now? Because Edwin Henry murdered her. You are prosecuting this defendant for murder. I will tell you who the murderer is—the man who corrupted the woman and drove her in remorse to robe herself for the grave and put a ball through her heart; and wherever he is in the world beyond he is this hour answering not only for adultery, but for murder. The blood of that self-slam woman is on Edwin Henry’s soul. He, and he alone, was the cause that started the current of he| misery, widening into a whirling gulf of fantasy and flame, and bringing her intoa mental condition wherein death was her only refuge. In the act of suicide committed by by the despairing victim, Edwin Henry committed the crime of murder as certainly and with as much guilt as if he had fired the pistol with his own hand. Had he never lived, had she never seen him, or had he not lusted after her, she would not thus have died. I charge here that b / the law of Almighty God. as the destroyer of a home, he was under sentence of death and ought to have died, and that he died justly. I charge further that he was directly guilty of her murder, and that he was morally as guilty as if he had used the pistol. It is some satisfaction to know that remorse haunted him; that when he returned to this community; when all his wickedness was known and his victim was in her grave, men averted their faces, and the women drew aside their skirts as if they said: “Room for the leper; room for the leper!” ' Thus loathed and hated, avoided by all, he passed on to his doom. Concerning the defendant Senator Voorhees says: “When, if eyer, did such a defendant appear before you for trial ? In many of its leading features, and then takenjas a whole, this case is without a parallel. You are not trying a member of the criminal classes. You are not trying one steeped in crime or familiar with the ways of vice. His heart never went out to evil, nor have his purposes been prone to wickedness. His whole life is open before yau. His forty-three years of existence is now an >pen book. You see it all In the searching sunlight of the voluminous evidence wherein do you find an ignoble thought, w rd or act on his part ? You hear the cries and groans and witness the str aming tears and more than mortal anguish of a heart-broken man, but I challenge the most unsparing scrutiny to find a taint or a trace of dishonor in his whole checkered career. How are you called upon to deal with ~uch a character? Testifying to Mr. Johnson’s good character: “We have hard political battles in Indiana, but we have manly ones; we contest the field closely; but when the battle is over, and the bugle sounds truce as the night cloud lowers, we meet in peace, and the strife is ended. We fight like men and we have peace like breth-

ren. Col. John C. New —his name is here —who is he? The Chairman of the State Central Committee of the Repur lican party of Indiana ; ’he proprietor ot the Indianapolis Journal, the leading Republican organ of the State; the Treasurer of the United States at Washington under General Grant; the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Arthur; for years the clerk of the Circuit Court of Marion county in which Indianapolis is situated; the political friend of Albert G. Porter, Governor of the State. What suys John C. New within the last three months? He says, speaking of Captain Johson: “He has ever borne in this community the character of a moral, upright, peaceable citizen, and has commanded and held the respect and confidence of this community as such.” “I read that as a key-note to all the other depositions in your hearing as to the reputation, not intending to go oyer them again, nor long to dwell on them. They are all in harmony and equally conclusive. ; “The Judges of the Supreme Court of Indiana have not been silent. Byron K. Elliott, of that court, has known the defendant ever since he went to Indianapolis to live. Judge Elliott’s voice from that high tribunal follows this sad, broken man into this court and says to you that “his character in every respect has always been, and is, excellent.” “Whose name do I see next! “Josep E. McDonald, a name • known and honored in every State in this Union; fit and qualified by nature and by acquirements to fill with dignity and honor the loftiest : position within the gift of the American people; a broad, commanding man, warm in heart and clear in head; for nearly thirty years of the great leaders of the bar at Indianapolis and thro’out the State. Would such a man prostitute his word in behalf of the unworthy and dishonored? He indorses the estimate of Colonel New and concurs with Judge Elliott as to the standing of Captain * Johnson. The list of affidavits includes William R. Holloway, A. P. Stanton, Wm. Sullivan, Mr. Haughey, A. D. Lynch. Mr. Malcott, Colonel Holestin, General R. S. Foster, Judge Julian, and a number of ether equally distinguished citizens. * * * “How little it is known, except here in these mountains and valleys, that 30,000 men in East Tennessee took up arms for the Union. With the return of peace came the duty of the Government to its wounded and broken down soldiers, and to the widows and children of the heroic dead, and it is a historical fact that when Captain Johnson came here in January, 1883, the soldiers of East Tennessee, their widows and orphans, entitled to pensions, were further behind in their rightful allowances than the pension claimants in any other part of the Uuion. It is also a historical fact that during the fifteen months he was here as a supervising examiner of pensions he, with his assistants caused more than $1,500,000 of money to be paid out of the public treasury to the people of East Tennessee, not only doing claimants, but promoting the prosperity and happiness of all. # * * The advocate makes this reference to the evidence concerning Mrs. Johnson’s confession to her husband: “The first of these dreadful letters came to him in November at Knoxville. His son— this boy here, with a face that Raphael would have loved to paint—simply saw by the writing that the letter was froth his mother, and tells you so. Captain Johnson read it. The world grew dark. He sought to rise from his chair. He staggered and fell on his face as if a blow had crushed his brain. While we

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