Alexandria Gazette & Daily Advertiser

Baltimore, April 20.

Robbers sentenced.

Yesterday morning Peregrine Hutton and Morris N. B. Hull were brought from prison into court, to receive the awful sentence of the law, for the late murder of the mail carrier, John Heaps—of which they confessed themselves to have been the perpetrators.

An immense crowd convened on the occasion, while Hull being asked if he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced against him, replied as follows:

"I have nothing to say against the justice of my sentence. I am perfectly aware of the enormity of the crime I have committed—My only wish is, that I had it in my power to make restitution to the woman I have widowed, to the children I have made fatherless. I indulge no hope of pardon—my only trust for mercy is in the redeeming blood of Jesus. This is all I have to say. The court can now pass the sentence of the law on me."

Hutton had nothing to remark.

His Honor Chief Justice Dorsey (there being present his two associates, Judges Ward and Hanson) then in a most feeling, affecting and solemn manner, which made a wonderful impression upon his auditory, pronounced their sentence in the following words:

"Morris. N. B. Hull and Peregrine Hutton!—you have been indicted for the wilful, deliberate and premeditated murder of John Heaps, and upon your arraignment you have confessed the 'deed of dreadful note.' In this horrid transaction, no alleviating circumstances can be found; the deceased never offered you wrong—never did you injury. You feloniously despoiled him of the treasure with which he was intrusted as a public agent, and you then plunged your daggers into his heart, to prevent the discovery of your crime. When you arrested him, he protested he knew you not; he offered you the booty; he supplicated for mercy in the name of his wife and children; the heart rending appeal passed by unheeded. You seized upon the spoil, and deliberately sent the victim of your bloody hands, to another, and, I trust, a better world.

Such is the sad tale of your misdeeds.

"I mention not these things to harrow up feelings, perhaps already agonised to the full extent of human suffering; but for the purpose of impressing on your minds this awful truth, that the doors of mercy, in this world, are barred against you—but God be blessed, mercy may be found beyond the grave, for we are instructed by Divine authority, that a broken spirit, sincere repentance, and a holy faith, may restore the prodigal Son to the bosom of his Father. That such may be your lot in the world to come, must be the wish of every christian! May your unhappy fate be a warning lesson to the rising generation. May it daily imprint on their minds the solemn truth, that the commission of one crime leads to another and another, until the guilty wretch expiates his offence against society by ignominious death.

In cases of this kind, the Judges have no discretion. The law has 'fixed its canon' against the crime of deliberate murder, and has declared the culprit shall die."

Here the Judges, the Bar, and all the auditors rose from their seats, while the Judge pronounced the decree that

"The court do, therefore, order and adjudge, that you and each of you be taken hence to the prison; thence to the place of execution, and that you there be hanged by the neck until you are dead; and may God, in his infinite goodness, have mercy on your souls."