Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1887 — THE OLD MAN’S DOOM. [ARTICLE]

THE OLD MAN’S DOOM.

Jacob Sharp, Chief Boodler, Sentenced to Four Years' Hard . Labor in Sing Sing. A Fine of $5,000 Also Imposed on Him—The Remarks of the Judge. {New York special.! Jacob Sharp, chief of the New York “boodlers,” has been sentenced to Sing Sing for a term of four years with hard labor,, and a fine of $-5,000 was imposed upon him. The clock was indicating almost noon, when Sharp was almost carried into the court-room. His suffering wife and son-in-law were close behind him, and deep lines of weariness* and sorrow overspread, their faces as they seated themselves beside the convicted man and fanned his livid face without bringing anything like a semblance of color back to it. Shaip sat with clasped hands and bowed head at the foot of the table, facing the bench. His fuce, almos: buried in his chest, was flushed and sickly looking under the riveted gaze of all present, who were sileDtly s'aring at the convicted railroad kiDg. Mrs. Sharp and the jest of the family* like the prisoner himself, were silent. There was applause in the court-room when Judge Barrett delivered the sentence* and outside the announcement was greeted with cheers. Sharp’s lawyer moved for a new trial* but it was denied. The Court, in pronouncing sentence, said the task he had to perform was the most delicate in his whole (irofessional career. He had received many etters from many people, pleading for mercy for Sharp. But a court was not appointed to be merciful any more than was dictated by the laws of justice. “A judge is appointed to award penalty accord ng to the offense, when all the circumstances connected with the commission of the offense have been duly weighed and considered. The defendant herein asking for mercy can give nothing as a plea for clemency but age and sickness. On the merits of the case he certiinly is entitled to none. It is absurd to state that he was not guilty of giving the brihes, as he was unmistakably the leader of the whole affair. There is not here, as in the case of the aldermen, any attempt to prove the defendant’s good character. The crime itself was an enormous one—the raising of $500,009 to corrupt half a legislature.” Judge Barrett reviewed the corrupt action of the defendant in forming a bogus company to contract with the Seventh Avenue Railway, of which he is a director* and alluded to the defendant’s receiving $1,000,000 of profit as sheer larceny, for which he could have been indicted just as well as for bribery. The Judge continued: “What is there to excite pity or mercy except the age and ill-health of the prisoner and the mourning condition of his family? With over $1,000,000 in his pocket he clamors for mercy without offering to pay back a penny of the money stolen, so that, should he die in prison, his family has a vast fortune to fall back upon.” At t: is Mrs. Sharp buried her face in her handkerchief and wept silently, while the prisoner himself did not lift his face from the table. “The Legislature does not allow us to go below the minimum penalty in such a grave offense as the present is,” continued Judge Barrett. “All cannot lie sat sfied; those who clamor for the prisoner’s receiving the full penalty of the law and those calling for a reprimand. All things have been considered, and the judgment of this court is that the prisoner be confined four years at hard labor and that he pay a fine of $5,000.” Sharp was sent back to spend the night in Ludlow Street Jail. Application was made to Judge Potter, of the Supreme Court, for a Btay of proceedings.