Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/407

 DELAWARE COUNTY. 883 KUcli crimes, that Judge Parker opened the Court of Oyer and Terminer. He found over one hundred prisoners confined. V He announced, that he should continue court until every indict- ment was tried, and the jails all cleared. The Attorney Gene- ral, aided by Samuel Sherwood, Esq., assisted the District Attorney on the part of the people, and the prisoners were de- fended by other distinguished counsel. The trials progressed one by one, with untiring perseverance ; and at the end of the third' week, the jails were cleared, every case having been dis- posed of, by conviction or otherwise. Two were sentenced to death, thirteen to imprisonment in the State prison,* some for life, and others for a less period ; and for the lighter offences, fines were in many cases imposed. The course pursued by Judge Parker, met with general approbation. While the anti- renters who had openly violated the laws, felt that the hand of justice had fallen heavily upon them, and were satisfied that the law could no longer be resisted with impunity, the more intelligent among them, were also ready frankly to acknowledge, that justice had been tempered with mercy. After the adjournment of the court, the military force was discharged, peace was restored, and in no instance, has resist- ance to process since occurred in that county. In the summer of 1846, Grcneva College conferred the degree of L.L.D. upon him, a distinction eminently due to his well known attainments as a scholar and jurist. In the same year, his term of office ended with the constitution then existing and under the present one, adopted at that time, he was elected a justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the duties of which office he continued to discharge until the expiration of the term, with distinguised ability. It was conferred upon him by the votes^of not only his own party, but of a large number upon the opposite side, the suffrages
 * See note, 1 Parker's Criminal Reports, published in 1845.