On October 31, 1859, John Brown was found guilty of treason against the state of Virginia, inciting slave rebellion, and murder. For these crimes he was sentenced to be hanged in public on Friday, December 2, 1859. Upon receiving the news, Northern writers, editors, and clergymen heaped accusations of murder on the Southern states, particularly Virginia.

Although Rhode Islanders were preparing for the state elections, they watched John Brown's trial with extreme interest. On Wednesday morning, November 2, 1859, the Providence Daily Journal stated that although Brown justly deserved the extreme penalty, no man, however criminal, ought to suffer the penalty without a fairer trial. The editor's main criticism of the trial was the haste with which it was conducted. The readers of the Providence Daily Post, however, learned that it was generally conceded that ``Old Brown'' had a fair trial. Concerning the sentence the editor asked, ``What else can Virginia do than to hang the men who have defied her laws, organized treason, and butchered her citizens.''

In the eastern section of the state the newspapers' reaction to Brown's trial and sentence were basically identical. J. Wheaton Smith, editor of the Warren Telegraph stated that ``the ends of justice must be satisfied, a solitary example must be set, in order that all those misnamed philantropists [sic], who, actuated by a blind zeal, dare to instigate riot, treason, and murder, may heed it and shape their future course accordingly.'' The editor of the Newport Advertiser could discover no evidence of extenuating circumstances in the Brown trial which would warrant making an exception to the infliction of capital punishment.