A Scrap Of History

Ki. CouniEK:- The last. and 1 think tlic only case of cnpltal punishment in Mii-liigan took pluce In Detroit September Mth, 1830. Tli is account U g'wen by C Cotton Lu bis "Tour of the Lakes." lic yi "On tlic 'JGrli of July, 1330, during oor stay in Detroit, tí. G. Simmons recelved the sentence of (leatb, from the proper tribuna), for thn nnmler of liis wifc, ander piíviiinstanrcR aggravated by brntaUty and savagootoo too puinful for recital; :uid in the contemplation of whieli huinaiiity shudders. The wretched nmn's OWO eliildren were tlie principal witnesses 011 whosu testimony lic had been convicted. 'In telling the story of tbeit motherV dreadful and, they b'ought their father 10 the gallow. In the progresa of the trial :i history of MVBge violence was discloaed sik-Ii. we woiiUI fain believe, as rarely passes npon the records of crime. What dflmon of liell can be more fatal to human bappineas, and to the souls of men than ardent spirits; tlie children, a son aud two daufffcten, of adult years, testitied abundantly to tlie natural araiableness and aftiectionate kindness in the conjugal and parental relations, not only of the mother but also of their father in nis sober momento. But wheu intoxica! ed lie Beemed to be possesed of the furies of a more abandoned world. "As the murderer entered the place of udgment, and was conducted to the bar to receive the sentence of the law, I observed in hira a noble human form, erect, mauly nnd dignilied; of large but wellproportioned stature; beaiinr a ftice and liead not less expressive than the most pertect beau ideal of the Roman ; with a countenance divinely fitted for the play of virtue, of every parental and conjugal alïection, and an eyc beaming out a soul which mirht well be imaorined to have teen once susceptible of the love and worsbip of, the Eterual One - all marred ind spoiled by tliR demon of intemperance; and now, alas, allied to murder of the most diabolical cast. "Karely is seen among the sons of men a more cotninandlng human form, or a countenance more fltly set to intelligence md virtue; maile, all would say, to love ind be honored. But now what a chango by the debasements of brutal appetite, and the unprovoked intlulgence and in9tigtion of a fatal passion. By wliat a fearful carcer of vice and crime, had he unie lo this. " 'What a plece of work is man ; how nuble in reason; how infinite in faculties; in t'orin and movliig how express and admirable; in action how like au angel; in apprehensions how like a god ; the beauty of the world; the paragon of aniimiils.' But when debased and ruined 3y vice bow like a fiend, in shape so unbetitting sucli a pirit, and yet, who could see the nendly stamp upon this poor ind wretched man? For he wept - he sobbed, his inmost soul heavcd with anguiíh; he bore the inarks of coutrition. As a man, and such a man - if we could toijret liis riiine - he was to be respected ; t9 n beinjt in a coiidltion of sufFering, he was to be pitied; and at seeming the mtkge of repentance, Heaven might forv uliat man could not. "It was an awful hour when he aproached the bar of this tribunal, untlcilating well his doom; for a jury of big country, as he knew, had set their seal upon it. As he entered this now awful chamber of justice, he cast his eyearound upon the expectine; throntf, whose presiH 1 and guze could only be a mockery t liis coiulition, and with the greatest NMlible cffbrt for sclf-possession, braced lis muscular energy to support his manly rame, while trcmbling under the tempest of passion which aglthted his soul. iut the moment he was seated, all his firinness dissolved iuto the weakness of a hild; lic wept - he sobbed aloud. A silence reigned through the crowd, and i thrill of lympatby Mamad to penétrate every heart. "The court, unaccustomed in that land to such an office, feit themselves in a new iind awful condition- with a fellow being arraigned at their bar, charged and convicted of a most atroclous, and In lts circumstance an unparalled crime, and bis doom suspended at that moment on their lip. Their omotion were too evident to bu mistaken, und in the higlicst degree honorable to their licart.. ' S. G. Simmons,1 the name In full being pronouncec by the court broke the sileuce of the place, 'have you aiiything to say why the Jadgmeot of the CÖurt should uot now be pronounced ? ' The prisoner aróse, convulseil and wilh faltering voice and broken accents replied, 'noüiing, if it please the court, cxcepL what I Imve already communicated,' and resumcd his seat, upon which a very approprhite, eloquent and impressive address was m:de by the court to the prisoucr. setting fortli the fact and nature of the crime of which he stood eonvicted; appcallng to hls own kuowledge for the fairncss of his trial and to his own con?ciousniis of the justiee of his doom; oommendinji iiiin to heaven for thnt olemency which he coiikl n loatr ask of men, and then the awful sentence was pronouuced. 'And muy God Alniighty,' said the judge with that subdued euipuasis and timehiug pathos which beeame llic ruspon.ibility of his oflico and tho nature of the occasion, 'have mercy on you soul.' "The prisoner, by all the teütiibötïy, was in bla nature, kind. He lored liis wife excessively, and lovod her, ftraPRo as it may seem, to the last. And for luat very lovo he was the. more truel md the greater moiiülvr. He was jcalous oí lier fitlelily without cause. Jesiougy; ¦ I i a monster be"t iipuu tself; OÖTÏÏe on itse'f, Tbat'l he that was Othello.' And only wheu intoxicated wih strong drink, thls terrible passion galned the dominion over him. In the momeiits of his sobriety he loved and contided, and oould say n company of his wife: ' My soul hath her content so absoluto. That not anollier comlort like to theo Riu'uecds in unkuown fate.' . "But it would seem that heil itself vvere scarcely more furloua or more terrible than he wheu the demon of drink issumed control of his passions. If denoniaes were now-adays about, the ïame of that man, In toch predie.unent and mood, were worthy to be writteu hs irince of the host. But in prlson, and bef re the tribunal of justice, this wretched belng, once kind in nature, stood ditpoësessal, the ffuilty mul eonscious nmrderer of her whom he espoused in htr outh and lovliness, and who was ever vorthy of his love, and whom he took to lis bosom and promised by the light and ove of heaven, to be her husband and irotector." Mr. Simmons kept a tarern on the pot where the Wayne County House tands. I spent my iirst nijfht in Micbl;an as the boy guest of Mr. Simmons. : well remember hlm and hls family, and heir kindness to the young stranger 400