Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/307

DELAWARE COUNTY. 283 CHAPTER XIII. Action of the Executive — Proclamation of county in a state of insurrec- tion — Copy of the same — Its reception in Delhi — Arrival of Adjutant General Farrington— Organization of an armed force— Officers chosen — Extract from a letter — Mode of operating — Erection of tem- porary log-jails — Convening of the court — Grand Jury — Judge Par- ker's able charge — Allusion in the same to the demoralizing influ- ence of the excitement upon the county— Result of the trials — num- ber of convictions — O'Connor and Van Steenburgh convicted of mur- der — Sentence of the prisoners — Court adjourns — Attempt on the life of a guard — Eeprieve of the sentences of O'Connor and Van Steen- burgh — Revocation by the Governor, of the declaration " declaring the county in a state of insurrection" — Close — Closing remarks. Would that with the closing up of the preceding chapter, we might have dropped the curtain over this painful narative. But it remains for us to follow out and delineate the restoration of equilibrium and order. In the latter part of August, Grovernor Wright issued the following proclamation, declaring the county in a state of insur- rection. This document, both for its decided language and intrinsic worth, as having emanated from the pen of that cele- brated statesman, as well as for the recital of the disturbance, its rise, progress and results, characterizes it as an indispensa- ble link in the history of that period. And although its great length might have induced us to pass it by, yet we trust its careful perusal may avail us as a timely warning to shape our course in future.^ The following is the proclamation : " The Sheriff, District Attorney, Judges of the County Courts, and other officers of the peace, and citizens of the County of Delaware, have laid before me a body of evidence,