Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1871-04-18


LYNcHINa og THos HODGES THE HORSE
THIEF.-The last issue of the Spectator had no
| account of the hanging of Thos. Hodges, the no.
torious horse thief and murderer, for the reason
that it occurred about the time that the last i'm
preston of that issue was worked of, and we
did not know anything of it, till some five hours
afterwards, as, like most of our citizens we were
| asleep at the time and, though we did not retire
till after IL o'clock, we were ignorant of it till
after we arose the next morning Hearing SER
want colored woman remark that "she thought
they ought to have given that man his breakfast
before hanging him. we inquired of her what
she meant, when she replied "Why, don't
you know that they took that man out of Jail and
hung him?' That was the first knowledge we
had Of it, and we have no doubt that four hum
dred and ninety-nine out of five hundred Of our
citizens were as much surprised as ourself when
| they first heard OF it after getting up the next
morning, for we do not believe that more than
ten citizens knew anything of it BEFORE and they
were held under arrest and required to refrain
| from giving any alarm by members of the par
| ty who were engaged in executing the sentence
pronounced against Hodges by, Judge Lynch"
| For this Decd no responsibility attaches to the
citizens of this place. They knew nothing of it
| till the act was DONE and they do not know
single individual who was engaged in it. If any
| acquaintance of theirs were in the party, they
are wholly ignorant oft Though the members
of the party were not disguised, and, though
seen face to face by those they held under arrest
as well as by the jailor Mr.. Geo. Harlan, and the
| late Sheriff. Mr.. Geo. W. McCutchen, and DIR.
/ VIM S. McChesney, Proprietor of the Ameri-
can Hotel, who know most of the citizens of the
county by sight, and though they saw them in
the presence of a lighted lamp, yet not single
one of the number was ecognized-the just in
ference from which is that they were from dis
lance, and probably from other counties. gs SID
We know that it is difficult for those at dis
ltance-who are ignorant of the manner in which
the act was complished-to believe that per-
| sons in such numbers could enter the town, break
open the Jail, and take prisoner therefrom,
without the knowledge of considerable number
of the citizens, for we know how wonderful it
seemed to u.s. and how heavily it taxed our credu-
lily when we first heard, few years ago, that
party on horseback had ridden into Lexington
and had taken a prisoner from jail, and that
most of its citizens knew nothing of it, till the
party had disappeared. 45oHT
81 We now understand how it was accomplished.
That which seemed SO strange is now as 'plain
as pike-staff" s4Q se9rA
1t can be readily understood how it may be
done, when it is considered how few citizens are
up at 2 O clock in the morning-the hour at which
Hodges was taken from the jail-and how easy
it is to arrest and overawe those few by number
of armed men-each citizen probably alone, or
having not more than one other person him,
IL n.
morning last. The few who are up and out are
arrested and required to keep silent whilst every
one else is probably in profound sleep, wholly
unconscious of what is going on. Those under
arrest and commanded not to give any alarm,
are very apt, under such circumstances, to obey,
for they do not know the parties into whose
hands they have thus unexpectedly fallen, and
do not know what the consequence of disobedi-
ence of such commands might be. They very
naturally conclude that. if they give any alarm,
it will be at the imminent peril of their lives
They know not the character or the purposes of
those who have arrested them, and some who
were thus held in enforced durance, on Tues
day morning last, thought, very naturally, that
they were in the hands of the confederates of
Hodges-members of band of horse-thieves-
who had come to rescue him frem Imprisonment,
and that any cutlery of alarm would be the sig
nal of death.
Silence is thus maintained, and the party ac-
complish their purpose, whilst the citizens
asleep When they learn, after getting up in
the morning what has been DONE they sur
prsed and can scarcely credit the intelligence.
They regret it-they deprecate it-they deplore
it-for they are opposed to Lynch law" as it
is commonly called; but they cannot prevent
1.-THE deed has been done without their knowl-
edge and in opposition to their wishes They
feel that the victim has met the fate he deserv-
ed-death by hanging-but they deprecate the
unlawful manner in which 1t was inficted-the
end accomplished in this they recognize as
good but they doubt whether the lend justifes
the means The law should not be violated-and
the officers of the law are but doing their duty
in their efforts to bring its volators to punish
ment.
We have no reason to doubt that those who
were of the party who thus unlawfully took the
law into their own hands, were actuated by good
motives, and felt that they were doing good SER
vice TO society in Kidding it of one Of its worst
enemies-a convicted felon, murderer, and no.
torous horse thief-one who was in fact, hostis
hunsari generis-an enemy of the human race
principle embodied in the Roman maxim-salus
| popuE suprenaa est ler-the safety Of the people
| is the supreme law.
| An intelligent and worthy citizen who was
present when the jail was forced, informed us
that the manner of those engaged in the act
seemed to indicate that they were acting upon
what they felt to be solemn Of public duty.
| However mistaken this view may have been, if
| they entertained it, and acted upon it, through
misconceived sense of their duty to society and
the public welfare, their conduct, however ile-
| gal, is IN toro conscientir void of criminality.
| The merchants are beginning to display for
sale their Spring and Summer stocks of goods.
Those wishing to buy should consult the adver-
Using columns of the Spectator" as these will
show where they can be accommodated and
thus save themselves the trouble and loss of time
involved in going from store to store in search of
what they need.
| We call the special attention Of our readers
| to the advertisement of dwelling house and
| lot for sale by Mr. Chas. E. Haines. This is q
very desirable property-the house is new, and
was built after the latest and most improved
plan and is situated in delightful neighbor-
hood Terms low.
| 1t is worthy of note that there will be a full