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TRIAL OF JOHN W. WEBSTER. 321
you. And- though we have no word of present consolation, or of earthly
hope to offer you, in this hour of your affliction, yet we devoutly com-
mend you to the mercy of our Heavenly Father, with whom is abun-
dance of mercy, and from whom we may all hope for pardon and
peace.
And now, nothing remains but the solemn duty of pronouncing the
sentence which the law affixes to the crime of murder, of which you
stand convicted, which sentence is-[The Court, jury, members of the
bar, and audience rising,]-
That you, John W. Webster, be removed from this place, and detained
in close custody in the prison of this county; and thence taken, at such
time as the Executive Government of this Commonwealth may by their
warrant appoint, to the place of execution, and there be hung by the
neck until you are dead.
And may God, of His infinite goodness, have mercy on your soul!
At the conclusion of the sentence, the prisoner, who all through the
Chief Justice's address had preserved a composed and firm demeanor,
resumed his seat, and, leaning his head against the bar, appeared to
give way freely to tears.
After a few minutes of solemn silence, the Court directed the pris-
oner to be remanded, and the crier to make proclamation of adjourn-
ment.
HEARING UPON THE APPLICATION FOR A WRIT OF ERROR.
Pursuant to notice previously served upon the Attorney General, an
application was made, on the 4th of May, succeeding the sentence, to
Mr. Justice Fletcher, then holding the jury term of the Supreme Judicial
Court for Suffolk County, for the issuing of a writ of error on behalf
of the prisoner.
Messrs. Merrick and Sohier appeared for the petitioner; the Attorney
General and Mr. Bemis, for the Commonwealth.
At the suggestion of His Honor, that the application had better be
deferred, and made to the Court in bank, which would meet in a few
weeks for law-hearings for Suffolk, the hearing was postponed till the
12th of June.
SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT.
Law Session, June 12th, 1850.
Present the whole Court consisting of
HON. LEMUEL SHAW, Chief Justice.
HON. RICHARD FLETCHER,
HON. SAMUEL S. WILDE, ~ Associate
HON. CHARLES A. DEWEY, Justices.
HON. THERON METCALF,
Pursuant to the previous arrangement, the application of John W.
Webster, for the issuing of a writ of error upon the judgment rendered
against him in this Court, on the first day of April last, was this day
taken up.
Hon. Pliny Merrick, Charles B. Goodrich, and Edward D. Sohier,
Esqs., appeared on behalf of the application; and Hon. John H. Clifford,
Attorney General, and George Bemis, Esq., on behalf of the Common-
wealth.
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