The prairie news. [volume] (Okolona, Miss.) 1851-1875, 1859-07-28
THE PITTS CASE.

in which j. Il. s. Pitts, Esq, Sheriff of
Perry County, Miss, has been treated
by the authorities of Alabama, has excl
ted no little sympathy and interest in his
behalf A short time ago we published
the names Of the persons who composed
the Grand Jury that indicted him, where
upon the Macon Beacon remarked:
We have not yet been able to under
stand under what right the State of Ala
bama had to try this case. We believe
Mr.. Pitts is highly respectable citizen
of Mississippi and it has escaped our
memory as to the how and wherefore he
came to be in the Mobile Jail, and true
bill found against him by Mobile grand
jury. If he was delivered up to be tried
by the laws of Alabama by the Execu-
tive of this State, we should like to know
whence be derived his authority. But
we must confess our ignorance of the real
merits of the case. Can the MAJOR of
the PRAIRIE News (who has not yet at
tanned his mqjority) give us an insight
into the matter.
We are always ready and willing to
tell what we think upon any and every
subject, and have, in previous numbers
of this paper given expression to the
opinion we entertain concerning this case.
Our understanding of the matter may be
based upon a false foundation, but care
full and dispassionate consideration has
thus far failed to discover the error
Mr.. Pitts is, and has been for many years,
citizen of this State, and for publishing
a pamphlet containing the confessions of
Copeland, the notorious murderer and
robber, who had long infested South Mis-
sissippi, in which were implicated some
of the citizens of Mobile, he was tried
and convicted for libel upon a citizen
of Alabama.
Between the years 1880 and 1850, the
Southern portions of Alabama and Mis-
sissippi were infested with regularly or
ganized bands of murderous marauders,
who had their head quarters in Mobile
Lead by two men, Copeland and Wages,
they committed numberless depredations,
and were terror to the whole country.
At length, Copeland was indicted in Mo-
bile for larceny, tried and sentenced to
the State prison. When his sentence ex-
pired he was delivered over to the Sher-
if of Perry County, Miss, where he had
been indicted for murder, during his i'm
prisonment in Alabama He made full
confession of bis misdeeds, and gave the
names of all that belonged to his bands.
Among those named were persons living
in Lauderdale, Clarke and Kemper Coun-
ties, Miss, who We're regarded, by their
honest neighbors, as thievish miscreants.
Three men, living in Mobile, whose names
were mentioned as members of the clan,
swore before the Grand Jury that Pitts
(who was Sheriff of Perry Co.. had IL
belled them in publishing the life of
Copeland, and the Grand Jury very I'M
justly brought in indictments, and upon
a requisition from the Governor of Ala
bama, Pitts was carried to Mobile, tried |
and convicted. This was wrong. Pitts
committed no offence against the laws of
Alabama, and that State had no right |
whatever to try the case. The injured |
parties could have obtained redress in |
this State. Our Governor acted the part |
of an imbecile sap-head in the matter
but he seems as anxious to deliver up i'm
aginary offenders against the laws of 9TH
er States. as to pardon real offenders
against our own laws.
1t is little remarkable that the petty
jury merely fined Pitts $50; but the
Judge of the City Court, indignant at
the littleness of the fine, increased the
punishment by sentencing him to three
months Imprisonment
WD Damn No o1uo,{;enJ