Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1876-06-14
4 California Mob.


both in atrocity of action and deter
mination af purpose. They have
also cast darker reflection upon ou'
civilization by ten fol-. A man was
in Jail there for killing another, hav-
ing given himself into the hands OF
,the authorities, acknowledging the
crime, bpt claiming that it was done
In self-defense. While thus securely
held, awaiting an examination of the
case, about one hundred and FIFTY
masked men entered the Jail, over
powered the jailer, tied and gagged
the self-confessed slayer, took him
away in a wagon and hung him to a
tree. The man is represented to have
been respected citizen wha unfor-
sunstely. cherished g bitter feud
against . neighbor. He went one
day upon this neighbours land to look
for some hogs of his, taking shot
gun along. He met his enemy in a
hog yard and shot him there. When
found the body had been horribly
mutilated by the swine, aud this Cit
eumstance no doubt added to the
rage of the inhabitants. Neverthe-
less the man slo did the deed was
By his own wish in the custody of
the sheriff, awaiting an examination,
when he felt sure he could show that
the act was done in defense of his
own life Men surely have mean
opinion OF justice as administered by
Law when they are not willing that a
trial should be had and an accused
person given every opportunity posi-
Bile for proving his motive for any
action or his innocence of any
charge. When the law takes its SOL
emn course and when every inch of
the proceeding against man is
watched and commended over by able
counsel in his behalf, it often falls
out that wrong thing, an awful
thing, has been done in a conviction.
Most Of jurors now have firm con-
sciences against conviction upon cir
cumstantial evidence. There is s
growing feeling in til. public mind,
born of an advancing civilization,
toward making sentences light
in cases of actual conviction
and favorable to the golden
maxim that it we're better tha,
ninety-and-nine of the guilty es,
cape than that one of the innocen.
be punished. Notwithstanding this
general moral advancement, there
are hot-hesded leaders and soft
headed followers enough now aud
than discovered to overstep the
rnles Of humanity. b.d the Law de-
fance, deny az accused person the
right of q trial--the most sacred
right under the suu-aud do them
selves IS bad . thing as that for
which they inAiet summary pun.
ishment 1t would be altogether
wholesome and corrective Of this
great evil il some Of the prime
movers were captured by the au-
thorities and made to suffer the
penalty that their crime calls for.
Besides being fragrant insult to
tue law of the land, such high
handed proceedings. supported
alone by passions the most likely
to lead from the truth, are very
prone to inflict punishment where
IT does not belong. Mob violence
viii remain popular in Texas for
long tiue to come. perhaps, but it
should be checked in settled and
highly civilized communities.
Many . man has been executed in
innocence. and the liability to such
. terrible error is doubled when an
infuriats3 mob takes the matter in
hand. George N. Fowler has re.
Gently shown in Applsson's Jour
nal some of the slips of justice
when adpiristared in Q high court.
and the chapters are sad ones. We
publshed one OF them . couple of
weeks ago. The old man who was
% unmercifully hung in Souoma
county on the morning of the 10th
inst. might have bees eb,s to prove
hinsslf clear before . compe,eu,
tribunal. Otherwise Why did he
give himself upi
TEAS must be rendezvous fo,