Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1887 — WEEKLY BUDGET. [ARTICLE]

WEEKLY BUDGET.

TEE EASTERS STATES. By a powder-mill explosion at Wayne, N. J., four men were killed and several wounded. Aftee consulting for'thirteen minutes, the jury in the trial of Jacob ISharp returned a verdict of guilty, at New York, with a recommendation to mercy. The penalty is ten years in the penitentiary, or 85,000 fine, or both. An effort will be made to secure a new trial. A New York special says of the closing scenes of the trial: The jury in the Sharp case, after a deliberation of only thirteen minutes, found the defendant. Jacob Sharp, guilty of bribery. He will not be sentenced before July 13, for the court has been adjourned until that day. When Mr. Sharp came m he turned his chair so that he could face, without changing his position, the Judge and the jury. He clasped both hands over the head of his cane and bowed his head like a man who was expecting dreadful news. The clerk stood ’ up, record-book in hand, and called the names of the jurors. “How say you, gentlemen of the jury, is the defendant guilty or not guilty V” Foreman Canfield lost his bead for a moment. The responsibility of his position overcame him and he replied: "Not guilty.” There was a mighty start from the crowd. ’ Judge Barrett looked dumfounded. Mr. Martine and Delancey Nicoll turned pale and looked into each other's eyes. Sharp dropped hack into his chair ns'if Btruck by lightning. All these things and many more happened in much less than a second of time and the foreman recovered his sense. “Beg pardon,” Ue exclaimed, “I mean guilty—guilty as indicted.” The crowd subsided: Judge Barrett breathed again: the color returned to the faces of the District Attorney and his assistant; Messrs. Parsons and Sticknev looked gloomier than ever, and Jacob Sharp just sat in his chair and stared at the jury with his small, deep-sunken eyes. Not a quaver, not a gasp, not the slightest emotion was visible in that heavy face; those broad, stooping shoulders, those great bauds firmly grasping the cane. Yet he had just undergone conflicting feelings on account of the mistake of the foreman sufficient to break up the strongest man, and he was an old man, nearly three score and ten, suffering from disease. The clerk swiftly recorded the verdict. Once again he lifted the record book from the desk : “Listen to the verdict as recorded, gentlemen. You find the defendant guilty as charged in the indictment. Ko say you all, gentlemen?” The jurors assented. The clerk, addressing himself to Sharp, asked the customary questions as to age, occupation, residence, etc. After the jury was polled the foreman rose and addressed the court. “Ibeg your Honor’s pardon, the jury beg me to say that with the Verdict of guilty they recommend the defendant to the mercy of the court.” Mr. Stickney misunderstood the foreman. “Did.l understand the jury to say,” he asked, “that they recommend that Mr. Sharp be pardoned?” “No," said the foreman, “we recommend mercy.”