684
The Green Bag
reference to the controversy, we have the following order against Josiah Phil
lips entered by the General Court: Virginia, In the General Court, 20th October, 1778. Josiah Phillips, late of the parish of Lyn haven,
in
the
county
of
Princess
Anne,
laborer, who stands indicted for robbery, was led to the bar in custody of the keeper of the public jail, and was thereof arraigned, and pleaded not guilty to the indictment, and for his trial put himself upon God and the country. whereupon, came a jury, to wit: James Letate, Thomas Stanley, Gilliam Boothe,
etc. . . .,
that
the
said
Josiah
Phillips is guilty of the robbery aforesaid in manner and form as in the indictment against him is alleged, etc. . . .
Josiah
Phillips,
October the 27th, 1778. etc. . . ., who stands
convicted of robbery, was again led to the bar, etc. . ..
Therefore,
it
is
considered
by
the court, that he be hanged by the neck until he be dead.
Thus Phillips by the above order and arraignment was convicted and sen tenced to be hung for robbery along
sherifi of York county, on Friday the fourth
day of December next, between the hours of ten and twelve in the forenoon, at the usual place of execution. Copies-Teste, Peyton Drew, C. S. C.
Though the press of the colony was just coming into existence, neverthe less, it seems alive to passing events, as the following extract from Dixon and
Hunter's paper, published in Williams burg, Va., October 30, 1778, will attest: Williamsburg. At a general court, begun and held at the capitol the 10th instant, the following criminals were condemned to suffer death: Charles Bowman, from Prince George,
for murder; John Lowry, from Bedford, for ditto; josiah Phillips, James Hodges, Robert Hodges, and Henry McLalen from Princess Anne, for robbery; John Highwarden, from Fanquire; for grand larceny; Joseph Tumer, alias Joseph Blankenship, from Albemarle, for burglary; and James Randolph, from Culpeper, for horse stealing.
And from an extract from the same paper, dated December 4, 1778, there is an account of the execution of Josiah
with the following offenders for crimes,
Phillips and those sentenced to death
such as horse-stealing, grand larceny,
under the same order entered by the General Court. We can see that the death penalty was rather overdone in
etc.:— October 28, 1778. John Lowry, John Reizen, and Charles Bowman for murder, Josiah Phillips, James Hodges, Henry McLalen and Robert Hodges for robbery, James Randolph for horse stealing,
Joseph Turner, otherwise called Joseph Blankenship, for burglary, and John High warden for grand larceny, being under sentence of death by the judgment of the court yester day passed against them for their said offenses: It is awarded etc. . . . by the
the case of minor offenses, public senti
ment not having arisen to the plane it now enjoys at the horror of corporal punishment. And so ends the case of
Josiah Phillips, around whose conviction hangs a peculiar state of lapsed memory on the part of those, with the exception of the principal actor, who were most
interested.
Houslon, Va.
“ WE know that the science of law has for its purpose a contribu tion to an existence and expression of law which will satisfy human interests and necessities as they appear here and now. It is delightful to soar in the ether of pure reason, but it is better to labor for the welfare of mankind." Windscheid.
