The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-09-04
THE MURDER OF JAMES r. CLARK.

Inc telegraph UTliiSS US Ile ahiiouiioo
ment that James f. Clark is dead Mr..
Clark was young man of good abilities,
aud so far as we are informed of exemplary
character. deserved as soldier in the Con-
federate army, and was severely wounded
in battle. He was, until recently, editor OF
the Gazette, Democratic paper published
at Manassas, and had been elected by his
party Commonwealth Attorney for the
county of Prince William. Whatever may
be the facts in this case, the public has no
eutdence of his having wronged the young
lady whose name has been associated with
his own. After brief absence he had
returned to neighborhood where his arrest
was certain, or an attack by the parties who
conceived themselves injured.
From the Jail to which he was consigned
he wrote letter, which has been generally
published, asserting his innocence, and ask
ing the public not to PREJUDICE his case. In
that letter he says:
/ know how sensitive public opinion is and
how easily it is operated upon to the prejudice
of any one charged with q crime of this charac
ter but surely it is bare justice to withhold popu
lar outcry against me until have been convicted
before a Jury of my countrymen. Especially
does this seem to me a right which can conil-
IDENTIFY expect to have recognized by the press,
| since in no article that have seen has my pre-
vious life for rectitude and integrity in such mat
| tiers ever been assai,ed, and since came to the
| community where arrest might reasonably have
| been expected, and have never shrunK from
any investigation of the case. l feel the deep
est sorrow for all parties concerned in this most
unfortunate affair, and no earthly lll-Wili
towards any who are engaged in IA effort to
| rlvet upon me legal conviction and to place
| me in a fel on's CELL But am not gutLyiof the
1 charge aginst me, and when the case is fully IN
| vestigated and all the facts fully developed.
| have no fears of conviction by q jury. II
have violated any law let that law punish me
| through it's recognized and sworn agencies, l
am in the custody of the law and expect TO pc
discharged as the law directs and don't ask to be
- JAMES F. CLARK,
In vindication of the memory of the dead /;
in behalf of the young girl who by some
strange complications may hare been I'M
fortunately but innocently associated with
him justice demands that these words
should stand, until they are disproyed. The
dead man and his living friends, have rights
which euen savages respect. We protest
against the devilish and blood-thirsty spirit
of the cowardly mob which egged on young
Jewell to do this foul and inglorious deed,
and which now seeks to shield him from
the penalty ofhis crime.
The killing of Clark was dastardly
murder, unrelieved by any chivalric fea
ture. The annals of crime show nothing
worse. They who justify it are murderer
at heart. The officers of the law, who con
signed Clark to an unprotected prison, &C
cessible to the mob, are stained with com
plcity in the crime unless they can explain
{ their conduct by facts, not obvious to US
The community where it occurred is dis
graced before the country, unless it cal
purge itself in the most emphatic manner
In our local columns will be found the com
ments of several leading papers. Tn
Richmond Enquirer has an able leader upol
the subject this morning, which we prin
entire, and heartily approve.
The question involved in this transaction
is one that transcends every other at thi
time. 1t involves the existence of civilize,
society. 1t is not merely whether a MAJ
may kill Seducer, butt is whether MAJ
shall be allowed to redress his own real O
fanced wrongs. The advocates of murder
assume that in extreme cases of injury it il
right to kill him who has inflicted it. Blu
. what this extreme injury is, varies in eacl
case. To one it is an assault upon the vir
tue of his female relative. But another
who has no such relative, makes his owl
) reputation the supreme object Of his regard
and he may kill the slanderer. Anothe
: loves money, and he who interfere
: with his plans of making it, inflicts
t mortal injury, and may be slain. Anothe
5 still, Graves Office as the highest good, an
e is defeated by trickery and fraud. TIL
o knife and the pistol are his vindication. S
Q through the whole category Of special aim
f and desires which are supreme to eac
/ man, the principle runs, converting humal
' society into horde of degraded and bruta
: savages. We have yielded the right c
S taking life, except in the rare case of dc