How Poetic.....

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-02-19 04:09pm

United States of America v. Gonzales (1881), United States District Court, New Mexico Territory

The following is a verbatim transcript of a sentence imposed upon a defendant convicted of murder in the Federal District Court of the Territory of New Mexico many years ago by a United States Judge, sitting at Taos in an adobe stable used as a temporary courtroom.

"Jose Manuel Miguel Xaviar Gonzales, in a few short weeks, it will be spring. The snows of winter will flee away, the ice will banish and the air will become soft and balmy. In short, Jose Manuel Miguel Xaviar Gonzales, the annual miracle of the years will awaken and come to pass, but you won't be there."

"The rivulet will run its soaring course to the sea, the timid desert flowers will put forth their tender shoots, the glorious valleys of this imperial domain will blossom as the rose. Still, you won't be there."

"From every tree top, some wild woods songster will carol his mating song, butterflies will sport in the sunshine, the busy bee will hum happy as it pursues its accustomed vocation. The gentle breeze will tease the tassels of the wild grasses, and all nature, Jose Manuel Miguel Xaviar Gonzales, will be glad, but you. You won't be here to enjoy it because I command the U.S. MARSHAL or some other officers of the Country to lead you out to some remote spot, swing you by the neck from a knotting bough of some sturdy oak, and let you hang until you are dead."

"And then, Jose Manuel Miguel Xavier Gonzales, I further command that such officer or officers retire quickly from your dangling corpse, that vultures may descend from the heavens upon your filthy body until nothing shall remain but the bare, bleached bones of a cold-blooded, copper-colored, blood-thirsty, throat-cutting, chili-eating, sheep- herding, murdering son-of-a-bitch."

Kelly Antilles · Post by **Kelly Antilles** » 2003-02-19 04:11pm

Wow, they were quite poetic in the 1880's, were they not? Too bad they aren't like that any more.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-02-19 04:22pm

I remember that. That was one of the cooler more eloquent sentencings.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-02-19 05:22pm

Noolong remembers it...

God, some of us GOO's are older then the rest

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-02-19 05:24pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:Noolong remembers it...

God, some of us GOO's are older then the rest

Actually I had read it somewhere. That was more than a hundred years before I was born.

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-02-20 08:10am

I see this is on New Mexico. Something to read in the near future. [yawns] Poetry nights plus sleep dep = bad.