The case of Samuel E. Godfrey is one of deep and thrilling interest to
every feeling heart. It is one of those numerous cases which stain the
records of humanity, in which the guilt of a criminal is extenuated by
the circumstances of its existence, and lost in the intensity of his
sufferings. The fertile regions of Fancy cannot produce a theme more
fruitful in incidents, and more painful in its melancholy details. It
presents to our minds two principal sufferers, one pure and stainless
as the mountain snow--a forlorn and destitute female; religion
warming her crimeless heart, and virtue sparkling in her tearful eyes,
she deserted not, in the hour of his afflictions, the companion of her
better days, but hung, like an angel of mercy, on the bosom of his
grief, and shared in every pang of his soul. The other claims not our
sympathies as for an innocent sufferer, for crime had been on his
hands, and guilt had made its stains on his heart. I do him no
injustice by this statement; but I should stain my own conscience were
I not to add, that he was a criminal by aggravation, and that had
others acted more in accordance with the dictates of either religion
or moral honesty, he would not have reddened his hands with the blood
of his fellow-man, nor ended his days on a gallows.
In rescuing the history of this unfortunate sufferer from the grave of
oblivion, I have but one motive, and this is, to do good. It contains
volumes of instruction, and much of this is needed at the present day.
Societies are formed and forming, with a view to improve the condition
of suffering criminals by such a change in the discipline of prisons,
as may conduce to their reformation; and these societies have a right
to such information, as may enable them to act intelligently and
efficiently. I also desire by this piece of history, to hold up the
yet unpunished authors of the most unearthly sufferings, to the
indignant scorn and righteous reprobation of all mankind. It is too
often the case that the crimes of men in authority are sanctified by
the duties of their office, and they screened from the arm of the law
and the force of public contempt, by the necessity of the case. But
the time has come to vindicate the sacred purity of public stations
from this charge, by taking the robe from every unworthy incumbent,
and inculcating the sentiment, both by precept and by practice, that
there is no sanctuary for crime, and no justification for guilt.
With the history of Godfrey previous to the unhappy event which
conducted him to the scaffold, I have nothing to do. At this time he
was confined in the prison on a sentence of three years for a petty
crime committed in Burlington near the close of the war. He had served
about half of this term, and his conduct had been such as to justify
an expectation of pardon, an application for which was pending before
the executive, when the gloomy event transpired which sealed his
dreadful doom. His wife, one of the most amiable of women, had gone to
lay his petition before the Governor and Council, and plead the cause
of her husband. Hope was beginning to play around the darkness of his
cell, and the anticipations of liberty were beginning to inspire his
breast. His arms were almost thrown out to embrace the companion of
his bosom and the friends of his heart. In the ear of fancy he heard
the voice of his keeper saying--"GODFREY, YOU ARE FREE!" At this
moment, by a sudden turn in the scale of his destiny, all the future
was darkened, and the taper of life began to grow dim with despair.
Driven to desperation by the unjust and cruel treatment of a petty
officer of the prison, he committed the fatal deed, which gave rise to
that train of sufferings, and developed those traits of unfeeling
cruelty in his persecutors, which I am going to describe; and which
terminated his mortal existence on the gallows.
His employment was weaving; a given number of yards each day was his
task. At the time under consideration, he took what he had woven and
handed it over to his keeper, and as usual, he was found to have done
his task, and performed as much labor as was required of any of the
prisoners, and to have done his work well. While he was conversing
with the keeper on the subject of his labor he remarked that he had
done more than he meant to.--This gave offence, and he immediately
corrected the expression, and gave, as what he designed to say, that
he had wove more than he _thought_ he had. But this did not give
satisfaction; and the master weaver coming up at the time, a
consultation was held with him by the keeper, which resulted in a
complaint against Godfrey to the Warden, for "insolence." This
complaint was made by the advice of the master weaver, who wrote it
with his own hand, as he acknowledges in his testimony before the
court. "I advised Mr. Rodgers to report him, and wrote the report."
These are his own words, and as a reason for his conduct, he further
says; "I had understood that there was a combination among the
prisoners not to weave over a certain quantity."
Such was the crime alleged in the complaint, which I desire to have
noticed very particularly. It was not that he had not performed his
full task. It was not that his work was not _well_ done. But it was
that he said--"I have done more than I meant to," which he immediately
softened by saying--"I mean I have done more than I thought I had."
And when I shall have informed you what the consequence of such a
complaint was, what the punishment it procured, you will be able to
appreciate the character of those who entered the complaint, and the
greatness of the provocation it gave to the unhappy victim to commit
the assault which followed.
The laws of the prison were very severe. When any one was reported to
the Warden for any crime, he was, without any hearing, committed to a
solitary cell, as dark as a tomb, and confined there on bread and
water for a number of days, seldom less than a week, at the pleasure
of the keepers. The cell is stone; the prisoner is allowed no bed or
blanket, and only four ounces of bread a day; and before he can be
released from this grave of the living, he must humble himself, plead
guilty, whether he is or not, acknowledge the justice of his
sufferings, and promise to do better for the time to come. To such
suffering and ignominy was Godfrey doomed for that shadow of a crime,
and who can wonder at the rashness and desperation to which he was
driven.
Soon after the complaint was sent to the Warden the prisoners were
called to dinner, and Godfrey with the rest. After the tables were
dismissed, as Godfrey was going out of the dining room, the Warden,
who was present, ordered him to stop. Knowing by this that he was
reported, and the thought of the punishment to which he had been so
unjustly and unfeelingly devoted, crossing his mind, he became
enraged, and resolved to be avenged on his persecutor before he
submitted to the authority of the Warden.
Fired with this rash determination, he entered the shop, took a leg of
one of the loom seats, which he cut away with a knife that he had
taken for this purpose from a shoe-bench; and with the knife and club,
he went into an affray with Rodgers the keeper, who had complained of
him. He struck at him a few times, but without effect, his club
catching in some yarn which was hung overhead. Seeing the affray, Mr.
Hewlet, the Warden, went to the assistance of Rodgers, which brought
Godfrey between them. Armed with sharp and heavy swords, they began to
play upon their victim, and soon the floor began to drink the blood
which, with those instruments of death, they had drawn from his
mangled head. So unmercifully did they cut and bruise him that one of
the prisoners laid hold of Mr. Hewlet, and begged of him for God's
sake not to commit murder. It was during this struggle that Mr. Hewlet
received a stab in his side, but from what hand no one could say
positively, though no one doubts it was done by Godfrey. That it was
done, however, without malice, and that he had no recollection of the
act afterwards, ought not to be questioned after his dying testimony.
The first that was seen of the knife was when it was lying on the
floor in the blood. Faint with the blows he had endured, and from the
loss of blood, Godfrey sunk down from the unequal conflict on the sill
of a loom. Mr. Hewlet putting his hand up to his side, said he was
wounded, and was led into the house, and the affray ended.
Mr. Hewlet had been afflicted with the consumption for years, and no
one who knew him thought he would live long; and he was evidently
sensible himself that his end was nigh. He would frequently complain
of pains in his breast, on which he would often lay his hand and say,
"I am all gone." In this state of health, the wound he received in his
side inflaming, he lingered about six weeks and expired. From a post
mortem examination, it was found that the knife had entered in the
direction, and near the left lobe of the liver; and as that was
entirely consumed, it was the opinion of the surgeons, that the knife
had entered it, and produced an inflammation which was the cause of
his death. It was the unanimous opinion of the surgeons that Mr.
Hewlet's death was caused by the wound.
Godfrey was taken from the scene of the affray, and lodged in the
place of punishment, and no attention of any kind was paid to the
wounds in his head. No doubt many would have rejoiced if he had died,
and nothing but the utmost care on his part prevented his wounds
inflaming, and leading to a fatal result. He used to keep his head
bound up with a piece of cotton cloth, and constantly wet with urine,
the only medicine he could obtain; and by this means he preserved his
life to endure more indignity and suffering, and die under the hand of
the executioner.
As soon as Mr. Hewlet died, complaint was entered to the Grand Jury
against Godfrey and an indictment for murder found against him.
Immediately after this was done, the keepers and guard began to
torment him with the most unfeeling allusions to his anticipated
death. They insulted his sufferings--told him that they should soon
see him on the gallows--and exulted above measure when they could
kindle his worst feelings, and draw from him an angry expression. This
was the theme of their cruel tongues continually, and I here affirm,
without fear of contradiction, that greater outrage was never
practiced on the feelings of a criminal by a mean and unprincipled
mob, than Godfrey endured from those who had been placed over him as
guards, and who were under a solemn oath to treat all the prisoners
with kindness and humanity.
Nor was this feeling and disposition to torment a degraded sufferer,
confined to the petty servants of the prison; it marked the conduct of
all, and even the highest officers of the Institution seemed to take
an infernal satisfaction in creating terrors to harass his mind. At
one time they would dwell on the _certainty_ that he would be _hung_,
and at another inform him that his gallows should be erected over the
large gate of the prison-yard, and so high that all the prisoners and
all the village might see him. Surrounded by such fiends incarnate, he
groaned away his dreadful hours till the time arrived for his trial.
There were many individuals who felt an interest in the issue of this
trial, and who had serious doubts as to his being guilty of murder.
Among these were Messrs. Hutchinson and Marsh, who volunteered their
services as his counsel. They defended him with a zeal and eloquence
which did them honor. But the die was cast against him, and he was
condemned to suffer as a murderer. It was the opinion of some that he
would be found guilty of only manslaughter, and then his sentence
would be imprisonment for a great number of years or for life. This
was mentioned to him, as a source of comfort, by his friends, but he
always spoke of returning to the prison with the utmost horror. "No,"
said he, "not the prison, but the gallows,--if I cannot have liberty,
give me death,--I would rather die than go back to prison for six
months."
It is said that adversity is woman's hour--that female loveliness
shines brightest in the dark. I have no doubt that this is always the
case; in the present instance I know it was. Godfrey had a wife, and
the best man on earth never deserved a better one. With a fortitude
that affliction could not for a moment weaken, she hung around his
sorrows, and flew with angel swiftness to relieve his burdened soul.
She went to the governor and obtained a short reprieve for her
condemned husband; and his counsel interposed and obtained for him
another trial.
He was now remanded to the prison to wait a year before the court was
to meet and give him a re-hearing. I have no doubt that he would have
chosen death rather than this, had not the seraph tenderness of his
wife thrown a charm around his being.
During this year he experienced the same vexations that had attended
him before his trial. And the tiger hearts of his keepers even
improved on their former cruelty, and created in his mind the spectre
which haunted his midnight hours, and painted before his terrified
imagination his lifeless body quivering under the dissecting
knife.--They also most basely and falsely threw out to him
insinuations against the purity of his wife. And as if impatient for
his blood, they contrived to shed some of it before hand, as a kind of
first fruits to their unholy thirst for vengeance. This was done by
provoking him into a rage, and then falling upon him with a sharp
sword and forcing the edge of it by repeated blows against his hand,
with which he aimed to defend himself, and of which he then lost the
use.
At length the year rolled away, and he was placed again at the bar of
his country, to answer to a charge which involved his life. The same
noble spirits continued his counsel; but the verdict was given against
him, and sentence of death was again pronounced. Unwilling to abandon
him yet, his counsel obtained for him another hearing, at another
court which was to sit in one year from that time, and till then he
was obliged to return to the bosom of his tormentors.
During this year he found one friend in Mr. Adams, his keeper. This
man had the milk of human kindness in his breast, and he treated his
prisoner in such a manner as to obtain his warmest gratitude, and
deserve the respect of all mankind. During this year, few incidents
transpired worthy of notice. Godfrey had a good room, and was allowed
a few tools with which he manufactured some toys, the sale of which
gave him the means of supplying himself with such little articles of
comfort as his situation required. This was the last year of his life.
At the session of the court he was again convicted, and the sentence
of death was soon after executed upon him.
Previous to his execution he dictated a brief history of his life, and
his dying speech, which were printed and read with great avidity. In
his dying speech, he makes a solemn and earnest request, that his
remains may be permitted to rest in peace, and not be disturbed by
those "human vultures," who were anxious to do to his body what they
could not do to his soul. He had no fear of death, but he shuddered at
the thought of being dissected by the doctors. But those who had no
feelings of compassion for him while he was living, disregarded his
dying request, and his bones were afterwards found bleaching in the
storms of heaven, on a lonely spot where they had been thrown to avoid
detection.
His wife was with him during his last hours. He evinced no dread in
view of death, but with a composure almost super-human, he watched the
approach of the dreadful hour which was to release him from earth, and
as he firmly believed, introduce him to the joys of heaven. He was
treated very kindly by his humane keeper, of whom he speaks in the
highest terms in his last words. He received the different clergymen
with respect and affection, as they called to see him, and was fully
prepared, in his own mind, to leave the world. The morning of the
fatal day witnessed his parting with his wife, till they shall meet in
heaven. She entered his room--closely folded in each other's arms,
they seated themselves on the side of his bed, their tears mingling as
they fell, and neither of them able to speak a word. Their eyes were
rivetted on each other, and the expression of their looks might have
pierced a heart of marble. Lost in the dreadful reality of his doom,
they were insensible of the passing minutes, till the rattling of the
keys awoke them from their awful reverie, and signified that the last
moment had come, and that they must part. She tore away from his
clasping embrace--sighs were her only sounds, and her tears fell on
the cold stone floor of his prison as she with slow--reluctant--and
hesitating step, passed away from the object of her tenderest love.
His eyes followed her till she was far out of the room and out of his
sight. Then wiping his eyes, he said to his companions--"It is all
over--you will see no more tears from me. This is what I have long
dreaded; it is now past, and I shall die like a man."
He attended to the religious services with much propriety. After he
arrived on the gallows, he informed the concourse of people around him
that he had prepared his Farewell Speech which was in print, and that
they might obtain and read it. When the chaplain made the last prayer,
he knelt on the scaffold. After this, taking leave of his attendants,
and casting a calm look on the throng by which he was surrounded, then
on the near and more distant hills, and lastly on the clear blue
heavens, he told the officer that he was ready.--The cap was then
drawn--the scaffold was dropped--and his sufferings were ended.
In view of this melancholy history, the mind will naturally inquire,
what good reason had Rodgers and F*** for entering that complaint
which led to such direful results? what had Godfrey done? Is it a
crime deserving of punishment for a man to say, "I have done more than
I meant to," when he had done his full task, and done it well?
especially after he explained by saying, "I have wove more than I
thought I had"? Is this a crime? Was it right to treat a prisoner, who
had always behaved well, in such a manner as this? What excuse is
there for those who reported him? Let me, in concluding this sketch,
hold up to the notice of all men,--saints and sinners, bond and free,
the man who, in his testimony on the trial, said,--"I advised Mr.
Rodgers to report him, and wrote the report. I had understood that
there was a combination among the prisoners, not to weave over a
certain quantity."