Providence Patriot, Columbian Phenix

Monday Morning. Mr. Hoar closed in defence of Geo. Crowninshield, with great force, and ability. The defence rested on the ground, mainly, that Palmer was not to be believed--and it was also contended that if he were believed--to the utmost, his testimony did not criminate the prisoner as accessory before the fact. The Attorney General closed the case on the part of the Government. (it was understood that Mr. Saltonstall would have performed this service, but on being applied to he declined.) The Charge by Judge Putnam was, of course, able and impartial, and the jury returned about 1 o'clock. They returned about 5, with a verdict of Not Guilty. The moment the verdict was pronounced, there was a great shout on the part of a few spectators, some hisses and a great deal of applauding. This was soon stopped by the Court. He was then set at liberty on that indictment, but held to answer to another, charging him as guilty of misprision of felony, or the concealment of the knowledge, before and after the fact, with a wicked and malicious purpose. After some little controversy between the counsel concerning the expediency of postponing the trial, the Court ordered it for the 3d inst.--The prisoner was then recognized for his appearance to take his trial, himself as principal, and his father as surety, in the sum of $500. It was noticed, that he did not add the former adjuration to the plea of not guilty, and Hoar observed to a gentleman who sat near, I think he may as well leave that off in this case. There can be little doubt of his conviction on this indictment, if he should not happen to be about here when he is called for. The amount of bail taken, &c. has excited great astonishment among many people. It would seem to be fixed unaccountably too low, for the very purpose of enabling him to clear the coast. This however is doubtless false, but it seems a most mistaken clemency to allow the shadow of the little end of a chance for such a fellow to escape. Previous to this, J. J. Knapp has been put to the bar to receive his sentence. He is a broken and subdued man. When asked if he had any thing to say why sentence should not be pronounced--he could not answer, and after a repetition by the Judge, he shook his head, but did not articulate. His eyes repeatedly filled with tears, and he tottered, scarce able to support himself from the bar. The sentence is as follows:

JOSEPH JENCKINS KNAPP, JR.

You have been regularly indicted, tried, and convicted as an accessory before the fact to John Francis Knapp, in the murder of Joseph White. You have had Counsel assigned at your request to assist in your defence, who have with great fidelity and ability urged all matters whether of fact or of law, which could be suggested--but after great consideration, the Jury of your own selection have found you guilty: and the Attorney General, in the name of the commonwealth, hath demanded of the court that the sentence of the law should now be passed against you. Upon an inquiry in that behalf, you have shown no cause or reason why the Court should not now comply with that demand. Before we perform that duty, we are desirous of preparing your mind, so far as is in our power, to meet the tremendous doom which awaits you. It is not to aggravate your sufferings, that we address you--for your present wretchedness excites feelings of compassion and not of indignation. But we hope that by presenting to your views some of the horrible circumstances which have attended the crime for which you are to suffer, we may lead you to sincere contrition and repentance. The aged sufferer was a near relative to your wife. She was nurtured at his house, and loved and cherished by him as a child. You were admitted to partake of his hospitality--you availed yourself of the opportunities to visit at the house of the deceased, to prepare the way for the entrance of your hired assassin, to the bed chamber of the victim. You were for months deliberately occupied in devising the way and means of his death. Horrible to think! while you were eating his bread, at his own table, you were plotting against his life. The execution of this awful conspiracy spread dismay, anxiety and distrust through the country. Week after week passed away--and left the dreadful deed veiled in mystery. At length a discovery was made by means almost as extraordinary as was the crime. If such events had been set forth in a work of fiction, they would have been considered as too absurd and unnatural for public endurance. The story would have been treated as a libel upon Man. Who would have imagined that young, well educated men--having respectable connexions and means of living--could have been found in our cultivated society, ready to join in such a fearful conspiracy? Who would have imagined that the clue to the discovery should have been given by one wholly unknown to the author and procurer of the murder, and that he himself should have put it into the hands of the friends of the deceased. Who that considers these things will fail to discover an overruling Providence, which baffles all human devices and contrivances to conceal great and deadly crimes. This murder was done with the greatest secresy,--in the hour of night,--by the hands of the assassin alone--who escaped from the house without discovery, The knowledge of the crime was confined to the breasts of the conspirators. But they could not keep it there. It would come out. And what was done in secret and in darkness is now by the conspirators themselves made manifest to the world. One of these miserable men has perished by his own hand. The arm of justice hath overtaken another, who has suffered an ignominious death, and the same penalty is about to be required of you, who were the abandoned author, contriver, and procurer, of the deed of death. The wicked and profligate will note well these awful events. They will, they must see misery, disgrace, ignominy and death, following in quick retribution for the most secret crimes. While we present these dreadful events to your consideration, we would earnestly that hope: you may be able to offer to the throne of grace, a broken and contrite heart. We beseech you to call on your aid those pious men, whose duty it is to teach the consolations of our holy religion. Under their direction and the assistance of the holy spirit, may you, by prayer and penitence obtain the forgiveness of the God of mercy for your offences; and especially for the awful crime for which you are to suffer. Our last duty remains to be performed, which is to pass the Sentence of the Law. for the crime of which you have been convicted, which sentence is, and this Court doth accordingly adjudge, that you are to be taken from hence to the prison from whence you came, from thence to the place of Execution, and there be hanged by the neck until you shall be dead. "And may God, of his infinite grace, have mercy upon your soul."

[The prisoner was then remanded to the prison.]