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The sentencing of José Maria Martin


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This has occasionally been attributed Judge Roy Bean and other and the final disposition is reported differently sometimes /

Read more at

http://my.execpc.com/~galaxy/martin.htm

 

 

Judge Benedict’s pronouncement of sentence
 

         THE COURT:  José María Martín, stand up!

         José María Martín, you have been indicted, tried and convicted by a jury of your countrymen of the crime of murder, and the court is now about to pass upon you the dread sentence of the law.

         As a usual thing, José María Martín, it is a painful duty for the judge of a court of justice to pronounce upon a human being the sentence of death.   There is something horrible about it, and the mind of the court naturally revolts from the performance of such a duty.

         Happily, however, your case is relieved of all such unpleasant features and the Court takes positive delight in sentencing you to death!

         You are a young man, José María Martín; apparently of good physical condition and robust health.   Ordinarily, you might have looked forward to die at a ripe old age; but you are about to be cut off in consequence of your own act.

         José María Martín, it is now the spring-time, in a little while the grass will be springing up green in these beautiful valleys, and on these broad mesas and mountain sides flowers will be blooming; birds will be singing their sweet carols, and nature will be putting on her most gorgeous and her most attractive robes, and life will be pleasant and men will want to stay, but none of this for you, José María Martín; the flowers will not bloom for you, José María Martín; the birds will not carol for you, José María Martín; when these things come to gladden the senses of men, you will be occupying a space about six by two beneath the sod, and the green grass and those beautiful flowers will be growing above your lowly head.

         The sentence of the Court is that you be taken from this place to the county jail; that you be there kept safely and securely confined, in the custody of the sheriff until the day appointed for your execution.   (Be very careful, Mr. Sheriff, that he have no opportunity to escape and that you have him at the appointed place at the appointed time.)   That you be so kept, José María Martín, until —   Mr. Clerk, on what day of the month does Friday, about two weeks from this time come?

         THE CLERK:  March twenty-second, Your Honor.

 

        THE COURT:  Very well, — until Friday, the twenty-second day of March, when you will be taken by the sheriff from your place of confinement to some safe and convenient spot within the county (that is in your discretion, Mr. Sheriff, you are only confined to the limits of this county), and that you be there hanged by the neck until you are dead, and the Court was about to add, José María Martín, “May God have mercy on your soul,” but the Court will not assume the responsibility of asking an Allwise Providence to do that which a jury of your peers has refused to do.   The Lord could not have mercy on your soul!   However, if you affect any religious belief, or are connected with any religious organization, it might be well for you to send for your priest or your minister and get from him, — well, — such consolation as you can; but the Court advises you to place no reliance upon anything of that kind!

         Mr. Sheriff, remove the prisoner.

 

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12 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

José María Martín, it is now the spring-time, in a little while the grass will be springing up green in these beautiful valleys, and on these broad mesas and mountain sides flowers will be blooming; birds will be singing their sweet carols, and nature will be putting on her most gorgeous and her most attractive robes, and life will be pleasant and men will want to stay, but none of this for you, José María Martín; the flowers will not bloom for you, José María Martín; the birds will not carol for you, José María Martín; when these things come to gladden the senses of men, you will be occupying a space about six by two beneath the sod, and the green grass and those beautiful flowers will be growing above your lowly head.

 

 

Puts me in mind of
 

 

 

Lyrics and translation

 

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPDN19100310.2.2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1

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