Daily Republican., 1878-03-25
De,aware,s Judicial murder.
WHAT Is THOUGHT OF IT OUTSIDE OF DELI
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DeIaware's Judicial Murder.
WHAT Is THOUGHT OF IT OUTSIDE OF DELLA
From the PHILADELPHIA Hressof Saturday.
An irreparable and pitirul deed was
done yesterday in Delaware. Two black
men were charged with violent out
rage Of the person Of a white woman
They were convicted and sentenced
on the testimony of the woman and her
alleged husband, and sentenced to be
hung. A motion for a new trial was
made and refused. The chief witnesses
received their very handsome fees for
testifying, and afterward the woman's
conscience seems to have Noubled her
and she wrote to parties engaged in, the
prosecution that part Of her testimony
was perjured. The point on which she
foreswore herself, on her own uncon-
strained motion, was admitted to be that
the man whom she has testified to be
her husband was not such. .-.....,
A dissolute woman is not capable Of
being outraged, and for reasons evident
on the smallest reflection. She is al
ready in the degradation to which the
reduction of pure, chaste woman is an
| insufferable crime. This chief witness
voluntarily clothes herself with all this
obloquy of self-abandonment aud of per-
jury, and thus cuts away the ground
upon which these poor, Ignorant black
men were convicted.
We are not yet through our indict-
ment of the Governor Of Delaware. He
was the only authority in the State
that could interpose. He was not asked
to pardon these poor wretches, but only
to reprieve them until new evidence
could be collected and examined. To
this course he was requested by one Of
the judges who tried the case, and by
jurymen who found the verdict. II
was an appeal that would have been
listened to by any judge or Governor
of ordinary humanity. But this poor
boon of short respite to gather new
evidence, after the old testimony had
been vitality shaken, was refused. The
men were hung on their appointed day
and hung protesting their innocence,
while the accuser convicted herself or
perjury. ... ..
1t is maxim of law, almost as old
as our courts, that it is better for a
guilty man to escape than for an inno-
cent one to be punished. Every well
founded doubt is to be construed in
favor of the accused. But no doubt
availed these poor fellows. Moreover,
it is mark and quality of civiliza.
tion that the obscurest man in society
shall be as secure before the law as the
greatest. There is barbarism in any
injustice based on position, influence,
sex or color. 1t is much to be feared
that had Collins and Chambers been of
whittier hue, yesterdays tragedy would
not have taken place. .. H...... ....
This impression is heightened by the
fact that while eleven executions have
taken place in New Castle in forty
years, five of them have been for as
saults on female chastity, and in every
case the victim was black man. In
four instances the women were white.
This looks as if the law were made to
catch the black man in its meshes, for
assuredly he is net the only one who
commits such offences. At all events,
In its administration the African alone
pays the penalty in New Castle. 1t is
much to be feared that poor Chambers
and Collins were hung because they
were 'niggers," and that Delaware has
put a foul blot on her character by their
execution. The conduct Of her Cover
nor seems inexcusable and inhuman.
From the Philadelphia Record. "a.
The hanging Of the two colord men,
convicted of rape, at New Castle, Del
aware, yesterday, was an act Of very
doubtful legal propriety, considering
the circumstances. In the first place,
the death penalty for rape has become
unusual, and there should be the most
indupitable proof Of guilt before SEN
fencing man to be hanged for that Of
fence. In this case the main witness
against the accused, who had repre-
sented himself to be the husband of the
woman alleged to have been outraged,
confessed subsequently that she was
not his wife, but common strumpet,
and that he had perjured himself in
testifying against the negroes and in
to this mans confession, a
number of police officers and others of
this city made affidavit to the bad char
acter of the woman.
Yet with all this testimony before |
him, and, Notwithstanding the earnest |
petitions Of numerous respectable citi-
zens of Delaware, Governor Cochran re-
fused to even respite the convicted men.
He seems to have been deaf and dead
to all appeals for mercy, as though he
had made up his mind that the men
were guilty and had resolved that no
of testimony, however strong
in their behalf, should change his de-
We do not wonder that
the last words of one of the convicted
men formed prayer that "God would |
prevent the State Of Delaware from ever |
eIecting another such Governor" 1t
is very serious matter to hang men on
the testimony of a reckless prostitute
and that of man confessing to have
borne false witness against them, and
Governor Cochran should have deferred |